On His Debut Album, Muyeez Phones In A Lazy Attempt That’s Bereft Of Any Creativity.
At the young age of sixteen, Muyeez was being touted as the next best thing in Afrobeats after becoming the youngest artist to top the TTC Naija Top 100 singles chart. And while you can say he was elevated by the status of a Seyi Vibez co sign, it’s an undeniable fact that he was the heart and soul behind the Instagram song. His earnest vocals soared on the chorus and his doe-eyed sentiments defined the opening verse.
Fast forward a year and some months later, and Muyeez gets an Olamide co-sign on the rap veteran’s latest project and managed to be one of the better highlights of the LP. And yet it’s not a controversial take to say that his momentum hasn’t been managed properly. Indeed, he released new songs/projects off the back of the aforementioned co-signs but they all dropped as suprise releases with zero promo. Muyeez is nowhere near the strata of superstars that could get away with a surprise release and he deserved a full blown promo campaign that he never got. It’s with this same level of management incompetence that this album is made with.
Jazz horns open the pulsating Amapiano fusion bounce of Water and right off the bat, you can tell this is eerily familiar territory. Indeed it’s the dominant sound in the mainstream, but this particular brand of Amapiano fusion is Seyi Vibez’s bread and butter. It makes little sense to start off this album with a sound that’s so derivative of his mentor’s, when a debut album is supposed to establish your sonic identity and distinguish you from everyone else. There is little logic behind this decision because it isn’t even the sound that endeared people to Muyeez in the first place.
Kanye Crazy builds on the momentum of the opener and dials the tempo up for haphazard musings on fame, sexual conquests and money escapades. It’s not an uncommon thing for pop songs to be scatter brained in their logic, but it’s hard to get pass this one because the sonics here aren’t good enough for you to dismiss it and there is hardly a thin line of logic to follow. Ivy Carter is much better, as it ditches log drums for more visceral drums and an organic bounce. Muyeez’s writing isn’t much better and still lacks personality but it does compliment the beat here.
MLM is such a shameless rip off of Rema’s FUN, that it’s egregious that the song exists. This writer is well aware of the fact that art inspires art, but if you’re going to take inspiration from your colleagues—the least you could do is put your own spin on the production or leave your imprint on the delivery on the track. Muyeez does neither and is content with being a copycat. High Currency features thundering bass log drums and airy flutes that were a big staple of Seyi Vibez last EP and Muyeez once again is underwhelming here and does nothing of note on the beat.
At this point, it’s mind boggling why Muyeez and his team insist on a soundscape that doesn’t bring out his best and is also shockingly similar to Seyi’s. Hero is the sixth track on the LP and the first inkling of personality that we glimpse from Muyeez. The bounce here has a galloping charm to it that distinguishes it from the other tracks and while Muyeez’s writing hardly ventures beyond surface level braggadocio antics—it’s enough for this track. Unfortunately Shake doesn’t build on the momentum of Hero and heads back into formulaic, Amapiano fusion territory.
Even in 2022/23 at the peak of the sound, Shake would be underwhelming—talkless of now that the sound is dated. Location is arguably the best song on the EP for the same fact the entire album is underwhelming. The production is mara coded with a relentless bounce that lends itself to dance offs at street carnivals. Mortal Kombat sounds cut from the same sonic fabric that announced Muyeez on Instagram and consolidated him further on Free and while that’s a good thing because it seems to be a soundscape Muyeez thrives in—it’s a pre released single and doesn’t do much for the album experience, except remind you of that the album could have been better off taking that sonic direction.
17 has some soul to it that’s refreshing and it’s better off for its minimalistic approach to drums, since the production of this LP is largely cantankerous to Muyeez’s artistry. It’s a nothing burger song but by virtue of not being derivative, it’s better than most on the LP. Standard benefits from the same production choice as the preceding track and to its credit, it does have soulful melodies going for it—while Muyeez sings about better days and reaching for the stars.
Standard was the right note to conclude the album on—due to its dream chasing sentiment and calm sonic ambience but nope, we had to get another Amapiano fusion track. It’s a shame because the featured artists—Zerrydl, Famous Pluto and Ayo Maff—all bring something special to Bank Alert that makes for an enjoyable listen, but after the onslaught of Amapiano fusion tracks leading up to this—it makes the sequence tiring and the song laboring to get through.
Right from the unimaginative title and lazy cover art, it’s easy to tell that very little effort and thought went into this album. From the formulaic production that’s derivative of Seyi Vibez’s sound to the bland writing that tells us nothing about the artist behind the music—to blatantly ripping off the beat of another hit song, without so much as tweaking the drums or even the notes. It’s honestly baffling how this album got made and why it was dignified worthy of being released.
The music might not be outright terrible but by virtue of effort that should go into something as monumental as a debut album—saddled with establishing an artist’s sonic identity—the project is severely lacking and is easily one of the worst albums out this year. And what’s sad is that the talent is there, as evidenced by brief flashes of brilliance. However this album is set up to fail by the incompetence of the people responsible for elevating the artistry and the artist himself.
Final Verdict:
Sonic Cohesion: 1.0/2
Expansive Production: 0.5/2
Songwriting: 0.6/2
Delivery: 0.8/2
Track Sequencing: 0.5/2
Total: 3.4/10
