International women’s month is upon us and we are spotlighting five female Nigerian artistes that deserve to be on your radar, every week across different genres. This week is for the Afrofusion artistes, so delve right in!
1. Kold AF – Lost
Even when Kold deplores the full extent of her expansive palette and morphs into whatever the production soundscape demands, she retains her sonic identity nonetheless and her dancehall leaning, Afrofusion roots are never in doubt—even on a soulful song like Lost. Asides her soothing vocal performance, Kold’s ability to bare out herself on a vulnerable record like this and make it sound…empowering is a talent that’s quite phenomenal.
2. Reehaa – Sati Ramoni
Reehaa’s seamless style of navigating Yoruba and Pidgin might make her a street-pop adjacent artist, but the soulful singer is so much more than her affinity for her native language. Her sultry voice is pleasantly disracting but it’s with it she tells compelling stories of her struggle and triumphs. Sati Ramoni isn’t any different and she glides on the pulsating beat with the confidence of someone who knows they’re going to be a superstar.
3. Jamz FR – Jamzy Vibe
Jamz entered flow state on this record, finding an artistic intersection that enabled the soul embedded in her voice to shine on an uptempo Afropop frequency. Jamzy Vibe is one of the more accessible songs on this list because it comes presented in standard gbedu format with a feminine touch, but there is so much to it than groovy fanfare. Beneath all the audacious swagger on the surface, the record is simply a self adulation letter written to Jamz by herself to keep her head up no matter what.
4. Dela – Watch Over Me
From the jump, you can tell it could only be a woman on the licentious bounce of this song and one that’s well versed at being rhythmically athletic because the beat is quite acrobatic. It’s easy for listeners to drown in the virulent waves of the production, but Dela’s simple and catchy hook acts as an anchor to more adventurous verses that showcase her mastery of flow. It’s a love song that has a unique persona imprinted on it and that’s very hard to come by these days.
5. Picture Perfect
Winny has been on the radar of connoisseurs and even casuals for a while now, after dropping her very much accomplished self-titled EP that saw her explore a myriad of Afrobeats subgenres from Pop to R&B and Soul. On Picture Perfect, she sheds her Afro roots and goes full gospel with an harmonious backing choir and lyrics that are unabashedly grand declarations of love.
This series will return next week and we’ll be casting our focus on the R&B territory of things, so stay tuned.
