It’s been a minute, though, since Joeboy broke out through Mr Eazi’s emPawa Africa platform and everything that has followed then has been quite memorable.
He’s like literally in a contest with about four other guys who also came to the scene at about the same time, so he’s gotta have some real backup plan, or fans are just gonna move on real quick.
But we love Joe. He’s talented and his vibe is catchy, and he does the afro-pop thing so well he might be regarded as the next big thing after Mr Eazi. Of course, again, there are a couple of other guys who lay claim to that tag, too.
His biggest hit, “Baby”, which blew up nationwide and even managed to sweep off feet across the continent, in countries like Kenya. No doubt, his online campaign is quite massive and maybe it’s the business approach they’re taking with him, but somehow, he has made one of 2019’s most viewed Nigerian music videos on YouTube, amassing views that are more than some regular pop star could pull. And he did it all, within such a short time.
- SEE ALSO: How Wizkid disrupted The Headies 2019.
But it’s all about sequels, right? How hard is the follow-up, that’s the point, ain’t? In this case, Joeboy didn’t disappoint when he finally surfaced and released “Beginning” a track which became an instant hit and was a major commercial success. We could even say it was bigger than “Baby”, in all ramifications. And not long after, he was in the Headies nominations.
I can’t say this enough, he was (still is) in kind of a contest with some really good guys who are all newbies and have the same potential of becoming the best thing since sliced bread and the slice of pizza. So, he didn’t win the so much coveted Next Rated award at The Headies 2019. But that doesn’t really change anything, he’s still the Joeboy everyone loves and he’s been here for just a little while. We could say he still got time.
But in this industry, your time is better passed doing great and cool stuff or one could lose his relevance faster than he gained it. So, no one’s trying to sit down idle, shouting “I was nominated on the Headies” around. Man’s gotta get in the booth and do some music. Well, Joeboy did just that. How did it go?
For a start, if we’re comparing with the other guys on the Next Rated 2019 nominees list, Joeboy’s gotta be the only without a relevant project. At least, since a week ago when Zlatan dropped “Zanku”. Context. Rema has an EP, Victor AD has one, Fireboy DML had a whole album with his vibes on it. But Joeboy’s got two songs, which as hot as they may be, are still ‘just’ two hits. I guess there’s nothing like a two-hit wonder anyway.
Point is, Joeboy had all the reasons to drop an Extended Playlist. And five hot tracks are not really bad. Not unless two of the songs from it are your biggest hits and nothing else on the album bangs like them.
“Don’t Call Me Back” with Mayorkun, is average, to say the least. His attempt to switch up on “Blessings” wasn’t totally catchy and “All For You” isn’t totally good enough, for someone who did “Beginning.” That leaves us with only two songs from the album, worthy of listening to. Sad story, we’ve heard both before. In fact, they’re hits. What does that tell us?
Joeboy might not be an album person, or maybe just isn’t ready for something like that just yet. If “Love & Light” EP, is just to make money for Eazi and PawaPlay, this could be worth the effort anyway. But this isn’t the kind of project you use to prove you got stuff coming. It’s not even good enough for dessert. But since Joeboy has done this more than once, he could always try again.