Sheldon Pearce reviews the latest release from the Nigerian singer WurlD, one of the most ambitious young artists in the cross-continental pop scene known as Afrobeats.
The Nigerian singer Sadiq Onifade, who performs as WurlD, is one of the most ambitious young artists in the cross-continental pop scene known as Afrobeats. WurlD, who was born in Lagos, first encountered American musical forms when he moved to Atlanta to attend high school. He nurtured his talent within the city’s competitive music scene, writing songs for local rappers and out-of-towners .
WurlD waited out the pandemic in his home country, releasing “Afrosoul”—a laid-back EP that honors its name with funky bass sounds—in 2020. Now, he returns with a sweeping new full-length project, “My WorlD with U,” which turns sashaying Afrobeats rhythms into a turbine for cruising, mellow balladry. Here, he fine-tunes his already sublime songcraft and achieves a new kind of narrative efficiency.
“My WorlD with U” loosely follows a single character through a journey of romantic entanglements, shape-shifting as his relationships ignite and fizzle out. In early cuts, he plays the plaintive cheater and the clueless boyfriend, his singing urgent with longing. Things take a turn on “Toxic,” with the artist playing gaslighter as his celebrity grows.
The record finds WurlD at his most sentimental and searching, and elevates his glassy vocals with innovative arrangements. It is the first of his projects to fully realize his vision of an understated global sound—music that pulsates like juju yet remains as cool and tranquil as contemporary R. & B. The drums are muted but potent, and the productions open up for synth palettes ranging from amorphous and foggy to chiming and metallic.
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