The Sensuality of WurlD’s World
In 2018, Sarz, acting upon the idea of a mutual friend, sent the beat of what would become TROBUL to WurlD. With the artiste turning in his vocals in 24 hours, an iconic partnership began.
Fast forward to late 2019, Sarz and WurlD have a joint project –I Love Girls With Trobul. Expectedly, TROBUL features on the 8-track EP. It is conceptualized around relationships. WurD’s writing is informed by the rocky moments of heterosexual romance, and Sarz’s production stays grounded in the familiar terrains of Afrobeats, albeit with infusion of lo-fi and soulful elements.
In conversation with Vibe (alongside Sarz), WurlD spoke of his motivation while writing for the project. “I care about the listener,” he said. “I understand how difficult it is to empower yourself through a heartbreak. It’s being vulnerable, but it’s to be free and accept a loss.” TROBUL is the focal point of the EP. With WurlD singing of about the lack of purpose in his relationships (“I don’t know why I chose you”), the song, while depicting the emotional rollercoaster of the persona arrives at the last words: you’re the only one for me.
This realization comes to many. It is the voice in one’s head, after many trials at another relationship. It is like a banging fist on a door screaming let me in. The image wears a somber color; but it is bright, too. It is holding on to the fire that’s real, rather than looking elsewhere. This contradictory feel in this sort of relationship encourages novelistic tension. And this, as captured in TROBUL, drives the narrative of ILGWT.
Love and lust is very much present in contemporary Nigerian music. However, at the risk of one imagining careful representation in lyrics and picturesque scenes in videos, I’ll bust this bubble: no such thing. Coming closely to love songs (in the mainstream anyway) is the often one-sided masculine narrative built around the trappings of money and fame. The robustness of the theme has seldom be explored. Although Brymo has pushed back the gates of acceptability with his philosophical, albeit explicit songs (see Prick No Get Shoulder and Entropy), WurlD’s positioning as a flag bearer for the new wave of artistes which pushes innovation is a delight. Although he doesn’t associate with the aesthetics-driven creatives tagged Alté, he very much channels their desire for the flagrant. And this makes WurlD and Sarz quite the pair. On the Vibe interview, Sarz expressed a similar creative drive. “I’ve always been that producer in Nigeria that doesn’t really follow trends and does stuff that other producers use as a template to make music.”
WurlD’s writing unfurls. Like a flame, it doesn’t engulf the paper in one sweep of blazing red. There’s turmoil, there’s joy and there’s mad sex. In WurlD’s world, whereas the sensual forms a bedrock for the songwriting, it is the emotive force of distance that emphasizes on the blue-haired artiste’s concept. EGO begins with the lines: “So many times I dey miss you/ I know I don’t call when I want you/ Now you got way bigger issues/ You running around like you single…” And so on it goes, WurlD seems to say on the bridge, with a tone of faux triumph when he sings “I won’t call you anyway/ Nobody wins, cos you won’t call me anyway.” It plays its hand in many a relationship’s end: ego. Were one listening to the project as it was structured, at this point, the complexity of one relationship has been painted with the generous — yet economical — brush strokes of Sarz and WurlD. SADE, the last song on ILGWT, is carried by vibrant drums and exquisite horns. WurlD sings of longing once more: in relationship to the interlude, WurlD seems to posit the ugly truth: estranged lovers are usually open to getting back together –they’re just many influencers (internal and otherwise) acting against it happening. If the question arises, whether going back is right or not, WurlD — as expected of any human — has no answers. His job is complete just as it is. As its title tells us, he loves the job just as it is.
Born Sadiq Onifade, WurlD moved to Atlanta, America, early in his life. Although born in Lagos, his tendencies as a songwriter mirror that of his western musical roots. WurlD however, isn’t estranged from the African sounds that dominated the eras before and after his birth. Encompassing a wide palette of genres from EDM to Fùji to R&B, WurlD patented a sound that has been described as Electro Fusion.
His debut album, Love is Contagious, is the first demonstration of his music’s emotive power. First because while Contagious is not his first project (that would be 2013's Evolution), it features WurlD as a more realized artiste and person, having moved back to Nigeria and was trying to break through its competitive music market.
“Show You Off,” a collaboration with Walshy Fire (of the Major Lazer trio) and Nigerian producer Shizzi, features eclectic drums and horn-driven production; and WurlD’s passionate singing. But while the song is a brilliant record, its impact in WurlD’s native Nigeria wasn’t as immense as a TROBUL which has been one of the biggest songs in the country since its release.
Here’s the thing: emotional sensibilities vary, place to place. As if a metaphor for the African demography, ILGWT is more boisterous in production and more direct in its songwriting. However, in the making of what is shaping up to be a great career, WurlD’s debut album will, to many a millennial African, rightly assume the respect of being a cult classic. Whereas its fan base (and the WurlD name) was relatively smaller at the time of its release, it was the artiste at his idealistic sharpest. And even though he had been signed to Universal Music Group, the songs show the stamp of his songwriting prior to making ILGWT.
However different WurlD’s duo of full length projects are, his artistic interest is yet romantic. That both projects were delivered in the same year is proof that WurlD is a serious musician; his partnership with Sarz was excellent, and going by the songs it produced, describing their working relationship as seamless is just about right.
But Sarz isn’t the only important alliance he’s forged recently. Last year, when Afropop superstar Davido’s sophomore album A Good Time was released on November 22nd 2019, WurlD’s name was listed in the credits as a songwriter and a feature. At first glance, the song in which he features Sweet in the Middle puts WurlD in an unfamiliar pop terrain, alongside Street Hop stars Naira Marley and Zlatan Ibile. However, after the contribution of every other artiste, WurlD came last, and the beat slowed to his style. He sang impeccably, serenading many a listeners’ ears with his soothing lyricism. On what is unarguably his biggest feature, the artiste delivered in sweet fashion and afterwards, trended on social media.
To mark a great year, WurlD held a concert amongst the slew of other Detty December-themed shows in the megacity of Lagos. Held at the Hardrock Cafe in Victoria Island, Lagos, it was a space to express love in melodies. In tune with his music, the event played like a scripted scene in some romantic haven. Joey Akan, a Nigerian journalist, proposed to his girlfriend against the backdrop of WurlD’s soothing live vocals. A fitting final scene to a play he’s been scripting. Joey’s moment was one the artiste in his pursuit of all things pristine and romantic, would have loved a lot.
By Emmanuel Esomnofu (Tweets @EEsomnofu) for Urban Central
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