New generation AfroPop star and R&B singer, Joeboy is gearing up to release his sophomore album, Body & Soul in a couple of days and anticipation is high within his fanbase and even the general Afrobeats loving demographic, at large. Joeboy has been one of the biggest stars, since breaking out in 2019 and in that timeframe since now—he’s given us an EP and a full length debut LP, Somewhere Between Beauty And Magic.
Both projects were met with positive reception and from what we’ve been able to glean and speculate from the upcoming album through the singles released, the topical direction and other intangibles—Joeboy seems to be heading in a very interesting and somewhat different direction since his debut project. What do we mean by that? Let’s delve in.
1. Collaborations
Joeboy went the solo route on his debut album, opting not to include any track with a featured artist. It is not an absurd thing for an artist not to feature anyone at all on their debut project, if they’re that confident that their dynamism and talent can carry the sheer weight of the album. Fireboy DML is another peer of Joeboy, that did the exact same and excelled at it. So Joeboy wasn’t exactly treading uncharted grounds when he pulled that off.
On Body & Soul however, there are 6 featured artists excluding skit maker, Oli Ekun on the interlude and Tempoe who is a producer. BNXN, Odumodublvck, Ckay, Oxlade, Ludacris and Kemena. Joeboy isn’t an artist notorious for collaborations on his own records, so it would be very interesting to see how he blends with other artists.
2. Thematic & Topical Direction
On his debut album, Joeboy was mostly a starry-eyed lover boy and that sentiment and emotion was properly conveyed. The pre-released singles; Lonely and Focus were songs about falling in love and drowning in the ecstasy of euphoric feelings. The cover art of the album had the artist seated on a rock in an atmosphere cloaked with clear skies and pooling currents of the ocean in the distance. What better graphical metaphor to convey the simmering nature of love than a restless ocean.
On the cover art of Body & Soul however, the pathos is dark and gloomy. There is an illuminating headlight casting a fog of red on Joeboy’s hunched figure, leaning on a vehicle. It is difficult to infer if the artist is downtrodden or just striking a pose, but one thing is for sure, it’s not conveying a sentiment similar to his debut album. The singles also deviated from the usual love, swoony anthems that Joeboy has been known for.
On Contour, Joeboy is lamenting about the wicked ways of his lover and clamoring that he doesn’t want to get destroyed in the process of her tumultuous love. On Duffel Bag, Joeboy just wants to have a good time and flex the depth of his purse without much emotional entanglement with his lover. Sip (Alcohol) isn’t even a love song and is just a confession of the artist’s not-so-healthy tendency to drown his sorrows in alcohol.
Only Body & Soul, the titular track is a love song and even at that, Joeboy isn’t professing love from a naïve place. It’s an affirming song with a lot of assurance for his lover on the days she is down and her hope is dwindling. The sentiment is matter-of-fact and straight to the point. Of course, we won’t get the full picture until the album drops on Friday, but these are interesting things to note.
3. Sonic Direction
From the 4 singles released so far, E Kelly and Tempoe have produced 2 each. Body & Soul and Duffel Bag were produced by E-Kelly, whilst Contour and Sip (Alcohol) had Tempoe on the production reins. This is somewhat of a sonic departure from Dera, who helmed the breakout sonic phase of Joeboy and produced his debut EP and a handful of the tracks on his debut album.
BeatsByKo is another notable absence that was mostly responsible for mixing and also happen to be Joeboy’s close friend. It remains to be seen if the duo will still feature on some tracks in the album. After all, Tempoe and E Kelly were also present on the debut album, but so far there is nothing to go off them making a return.
Body & Soul is only days away now and we at Album Talks are pumped to witness the next phase of Joeboy and as usual, we’ll be here to unpack and dissect the album when it drops. Hopefully, it all meets our expectations.
–This article is written by T.J. Martins.
