THE TIMELESSNESS OF DAVIDO’S “TIMELESS” ALBUM.
OLAMIDE Matthew.
After taking six months break from the musical scene due to the demise of his son, The musical juggernaut “Davido” (David Adeleke, O.B.O) bounces back to the entertainment space with a 17-track album which he names “Timeless”.
This being DAVIDO’S fourth studio album and fans are heavily anticipating a project from him, he never disappointed them as he packs the album with lots exceptional tracks.
Davido never deviated from the usual “Chop life” vibe that his music gives. With features from the Grammy award-winning Beninese singer Angelique Kidjo: Nigerian-British Rapper Skepta, South African budding singers Musa Keys and Focalistic, and Jamaican singer Dexta Daps, and also collaborations with his compatriots, the likes of Asake, Fave, Cavemen and the latest signees lf Davido’s rebranded DMW 2.0 Morravey and Logos Olori, Davido was able to put together his thoughts overtime, in a way that is fun, flexible and danceable.
One would think Davido would dwell on the death of his son and make the album revolve around the Demise of the three year old Ifeanyi Adeleke but instead, “OBO” came out of the pain triumphantly and he makes the album a celebration of triumph over life’s challenging issues. This in a way shows how much Davido loves his fans and how he doesn’t want to switch the tempo, temper and mood of his music, but he puts first the enjoyment of his fans.
The album borders around the topics of money, enjoyment, pleasure, love and the growth of Davido as a person.
The opening track “Over Dem” explicates Davido taking on His braggadocio hat, addressing his foes and telling them he’s bigger than them. Just like his name, he likened himself to the Biblical David and his foes, to Goliath. Here, he makes it known to them that he’ll always be a conqueror, he then moved forward to flex his muscles and talks about his uncle, who’s the governor of Osun state. DAVIDO’S role in his uncle’s emergence as the governor is a known fact to all and sundry. “Over Dem” for sure is a great album opener.
Tracks like “feel” “in the garden” and “Kante” talks about expression of lover’s invitation, undying vows and pleasure.
He maintains his usual musical posture on the tracks.
Right from “A good time” to “A better time “ and now “Timeless”, Davido has shown a progression in his musical prowess as he continues to sharpen his edges.
Davido’s consciousness of his Nigerian identity environment roots him deeply in the use of pidgin as it tends to appeal to all (I.e his home based fans) and at the same time, maintain the retention of his international audience.
There’s an unnoticed fact in DAVIDO’S “Timeless” Album, the fact that he deviated from his usual featured guest artist list. “A good time” and “A better time” albums featured artists like Young thug, Gunna, Chris brown, lil baby and Nicki Minaj who are all American artists, but “Timeless” album was centric on African artists, Uk artist of Nigerian origin and a Jamaican artist. This is an explication of DAVIDO’S socio-cultural ideology of promoting Africa and everything that’s related to the black race.
Born in Atlanta, Davido has been able to relate with Africans in the Diaspora and this has exposed him to the yearnings of Africans in the Diaspora, in regards to our culture, music and fashion.
Now, he has become an agent of propagating this cultural values through his music and way of life.
Now, it’s few days after the Album’s release and the album has started breaking huge records both at home in Nigeria and in the Diasporic music space. This album is the “highest charting album by a Nigerian artist on the US Apple Music chart” (it peaked #2). “Timeless” is also “The biggest first day stream by albums on Spotify Nigeria”.
Owing to this, it’s believed that this album will become a major agent for bridging boundaries and breaking international records.