Tears of the Sun

The sophomore album from rising Nigerian star Teni is an Afrobeats-tastic affair in which the artist sings and raps in a hybrid of English, Pidgin and Yoruba while all around her, synth melodies curl, bass beats boom and vocoders turn vocals robotic, as is the way of the genre. Nigeria’s Afrobeats (that’s Afrobeats plural) has long been the domain of the male likes of Wizkid and Burna Boy, whose macho flexing dovetails with the punch and thwack of the often synthetic sound. A featured guest on works by everyone from Stormzy to Wizkid, Teni, however, leavens proceedings with her melodic vocal range and a winning vulnerability that offers up scenes from her life, from her relationship with God – the catchy, Genio-produced ‘Malaika’ – to the bouncy, hook-laden, double-time rap wonder that is ‘No Days Off’ (named by Rolling Stone as one of the songs of 2023) and ‘YBGFA (Young Black Girl From Africa)’, a paean to body positivity and an embracing of her sexuality. This is urban traditional music, as stamped by guest features by rappers including Odumodublvck (on the attitude-laden ‘Devil Dance’) and name Afrobeats producers such as Blaise Beatz on ‘Lanke’, while ‘Ino’ features the saxophone squalls of Afrobeat scion, Mádé Kuti. A work in which Teni’s emotions run the gamut, her complexity investing a sound that can feel anodyne with spice and depth.