On the deluxe version of his commercially successful album, Rema sounds triumphant like a hardened war general basking in the spoils of victory. And for good reason too, he has arguably the biggest Afrobeats record on a global level, under his belt and the evidence of his success couldn’t be more glaring.
This writer isn’t the biggest fan of album deluxe versions, especially that of great albums. You see, great albums are crafted with the intent to be a great sonic experience, from start to finish and so releasing a deluxe version, that’s basically an extended play of additional songs is only a commercial move and not much of an artistic move. Sometimes, the cohesion is disrupted. Sometimes, a song appears twice as a result of the need to capitalize on the momentum of a remix and inflate the number optics of an album.
It is an important venture for additional promotional campaigns of course, and should be undertaken in paramount moments. In Rema’s case, it is indeed necessary. Rave & Roses made its debut on the Billboard 200 some months back and has experienced some stability on it and it’s only logical to give it an extra push to new audiences. Calm Down Ft. Selena Gomez has also broadened the reach of Rema and it’s also logical to re introduce the album to some of the new audiences, that might not have gone the extra mile in checking out the artist’s discography. However, the question then beckons. Was it executed well?
Rave & Roses had its flaws, but as a cohesive album experience, it really excelled. It had some great transitions that were so seamless, they bled into the next track with some cinematic-esque instrumentals. So again, I’m not the biggest fan of the five new tracks being shoehorned into the original tracklist and disrupting the initial cohesion. Something similar was done on the deluxe of Ayra’s album and although it’s not as bad as it is on the 19 & Dangerous deluxe, it still takes something away from the album.
The motive is of course try to make the new songs; Holiday, Reason Me, Charm, Dunno Me (Freestyle) and HOV—sound like original parts of the album, as opposed to just lumping it at the end but it’s honestly better to do the latter and not compromise one of your album’s best qualities. Especially one that already has its own fair share of filler tracks.
The songs are good though, for the most part. Holiday is an Afro-Pop song with a typical Afrobeats bounce, infused with some minimal Amapiano shakers and log drums. On it, Rema is attesting to his greatness and his defiance of the criticism levelled at him on the come up from obscurity. This is one of the songs that really blurs the line between Amapiano and contemporary Afropop.
Reason You is an Hip-Hop track. It’s easy to miss the trap structure of the beat, underneath the bass-laced kick but Rema is essentially melodic rapping on the track and it’s thematic and sonic atmosphere would basically qualify it for an emo-cloud trap song. The guitar chords are so grand and larger-than-life in that cinematic feel of the entire album and it’s perhaps the song that fits the most into the album sonically, in the new set of songs.
Charm is the new song geared for mainstream dominance and it seems to be doing just that. It opens with some woozy, distant guitar strings that give way to visceral, African drums. The same type of kinetic drums that have become prominent lately in Afro-Pop and can be found in Omah Lay’s Soso and Victony’s Soweto. The song has some cringe-worthy writing, but it works on a sonic level because of its immersive production, Rema’s vocal performance and delivery also.
This writer doesn’t think Dunno Me (Freestyle) should have made the deluxe cut. It’s a freestyle as the title implies and it doesn’t do enough on a sonic or production level to make it interesting. The vocals aren’t even pristine clear like they should be. Matter of fact, the reason why it gets leeway and doesn’t outrightly get called the bad song it is, is because its dubbed a freestyle song. On an album that’s over 20 tracks long, pointless filler tracks like this one isn’t just needed.
On HOV, Rema sings “for my generation, i be HOV” and whilst this writer might not agree with the accuracy of the comparison, the sentiment is justified. Rema has always been a divergent artist that plays by his own rules and to achieve success from that is indeed something monumental. For the rest of the song, he’s only affirming his own greatness and declaring categorically that his recent feats are inspiring.
Like it or not, Rave & Roses (Ultra) is now the most streamed African album of all time, with the recent addition of the Selena Gomez’s Calm Down remix and whilst the implications of that may reach to it being one of the biggest albums out of Africa, despite it not being a classic record—one thing is sure. As a pop album, it has excelled and positioned Rema for global relevance.
–This review is written by T.J. Martins.
