On His Fifth Studio Album, Fireboy Succeeds At Turning Public Disdain Into Good Fortune.
If you were to consider fictional characters with the greatest redemption arcs, a handful of names would come to mind. Anakin Skywalker a.k.a Darth Vader for making the ultimate sacrifice to save his son’s life, Loki taking a seat at the multiversal tree and sacrificing his own freewill so others can have theirs and Zuko’s journey from exiled prince to outlaw and eventual hero. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why the name Zuko was chosen as a banter name for Fireboy, but like the banished prince who turned his fortunes around—Fireboy also takes up a new challenge on this LP.
Unlike most would opine, this writer doesn’t believe Fireboy “fell off” or anything as dramatic as that. The popstar is simply a victim of his own success. His debut album transcended the zeitgest of success and despite evolving sonically into a fully realized artiste, people have been holding him to lofty standards that are unrealistic for him or anyone for that matter.
Apollo was more critically acclaimed but it’s his worst commercially performing album. Playboy houses his biggest hits but its regarded as his worst album experience and adedamola is seen as an hapless effort to return back to the glory days. With every new album Fireboy puts out, the general audience finds new reasons to dismiss them because the music is simply not what they reconcile his brand with and it’s quite unfortunate because LTG isn’t even close to his best. This is an Achilles heel Fireboy himself acknowledged in the album’s rollout and it’s this deep seated epiphany that inspires his odyssey on this album.
Album Opener, Dear Father puts Fireboy’s psyche into perspective and highlights his conviction in facing his fears. If the motif of him facing off a bull on the cover art wasn’t any more elucidating, his lyrics on Dear Father leaves nothing to chance. Against a backdrop of sloshing waves of water and sombre piano notes—he asks God for help, because he’s terrified of falling to his fears. On Dear Father, he prays to God in a bid for redemption, but it’s an interesting dynamic juxtaposition of Zuko who was banished by his own father and set out to redeem himself.
Now that the prayers are out of the way, Fire dons his battle armor on By Fire and taunts his enemies to test his willingness to pulverize them. The fire metaphor is a bit on the nose here but it also alludes to the common practice of African Pentecostal churches in calling down fire to extinguish their enemies. By Fire is a great song that really comes alive in the chorus and desperately needed a second verse to take it to a new level. The album’s sequencing flatters Claat a little but it’s still an underwhelming anomaly on the LP despite Masicka’s impressive guest verse. It’s not a bad song, but it is a painfully generic Dancehall song.
Fireboy channels his inner Michael Jackson with a breathy rasped delivery on Goddess that evokes the king of pop’s energy on House fusion tracks. The Black Culture and Arieenati production has such a ratchet groove to its bounce that makes it elite Afropop and the cherry on top is a Lojay verse that finds a wayward pocket optimized for the most treacherous of whines. C’est La Vie is a bit old school Afrobeats with lively horns and Afro-percussion heavy drums but the charm of Fireboy’s writing seeps through as he laments about not being enough for an insatiable woman.
IMALI stands out in an Amapiano Fusion slop soundscape because it’s not trying to be Afrobeats and totally leans into the Amapiano of it all. It does help to have a maestro like JAZZWRLD on the beat and Thukuthela lending her rich, sultry chants. The song isn’t heavy on narrative and it needn’t be as this subgenre of House music thrives in the magic of it’s rhythm and frequencies. One Man Regiment heads back to Carribean territory where Fireboy sings, “it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon” thus emphasizing his priorities.
Indeed he might not be the mainstream beast he was, but he’s now focused on legacy and a timeless discography even if it comes at the expense of instant gratification. Kilowi is the quintessential Fireboy song and invariably the best track on ZUKO! because it combines all his best traits into a potent song. Profound and earnest writing with soothing, heartfelt melodies on a production that’s part R&B and part Pop, made possible through ambient, lively EDM fusion. Fireboy is arguably as talented as a popstar, as he is an R&B artist but when songs like Kilowi find a way to merge both worlds, the full magnitude of his talent is on display.
In the past, Fireboy has cautioned people for invading his solitude on tracks like Airplane Mode for reasons pivotal to remaining grounded but on ONAZO!, he simply wants to be left alone so he can bask in the full pleasures of life on vacation. His pleas are well warranted because he hopes his love interest gives him Sex Love Understanding Trust while they’re away on tropical locations for said vacation and the exotic guitar riffs and swing drums simmering beneath Fire’s crooning, helps convey the intended luxury of the track.
The sexual tension gets ramped up to an unbearable state on Light Of Dawn, another emotive R&B track that provides ample avenue for Fireboy to serenade listeners with his honeyed vocals and evoke strong imagery of the slow, but calamitous burn of two hungry lovers teasing each other to the brink of madness. Mimi Nawe is a strong nostalgic play to the pathos of older Fireboy music and it’s cut from the sonic fabric of LTG, while also being distinct with a propulsive tempo that fuses House elements in a way that’s uniquely ZUKO!
When the violin riffs and Fireboy’s chants mield together towards the ending of Mimi Nawe, it’s simply vocal ecstasy. Fireboy ends the album on the same vulnerable note he commenced with and admits he’s wearing a facade on Fighting and doesn’t have everything figured out, so he is still fighting one battle after another, drowning in toxic coping mechanisms and remaining hopeful for the future.
Fireboy’s ZUKO! is yet another stellar addition to a brilliant discography that’s sure to stand the test of time. The music here is indeed very upbeat and pop for Fireboy’s standards but there’s no playing to dominant mainstream trends or accommodating odd guest verses in favor of momentum to game easy traction.
Due to the music being more mainstream, Fireboy’s writing doesn’t get as candid as it was on Apollo or adedamola but these albums are clearly doing different things and it’s still a testament to the prowess of his pen that ZUKO! is better written than his debut R&B album. All in all, ZUKO! is yet another triumph for the best album artiste of his generation and one of the best LPs 2026 has had to offer.
Final Verdict:
Sonic Cohesion: 1.5/2
Expansive Production: 1.6/2
Songwriting: 1.7/2
Delivery: 1.8/2
Track Sequencing: 1.8/2
Total: 8.4/10
