Having “a good time” is relative in different spheres. For Davido, it is a fusion of “enjoying the best moments and persevering through the worst ones”.
His second studio album, ‘A Good Time’ was released on November 22, 2019 – exactly 24 hours after the singer’s twenty-seventh birthday. A 17-track album that includes his earlier released singles. ‘Fall’ (2017), ‘If’ (2017), ‘Assurance’ (2018), ‘Blow my mind’ (2019) all made it to the album. Hours after its release, the album soared to the top of the US pop album chart on iTunes and also amassed over 4 million views on audiomack.
‘A good time’ couldn’t have come at a better time than now as the singer marked a pivotal point in his career this year – selling out the 20,000 capacity London 02 Arena for his concert, made collaborations with international artistes, performed on-stage alongside international musicians like Chris Brown and 50 Cent, got engaged to his long-time girlfriend and welcomed a son with her. Davido took to Instagram hours before the release, saying: “It’s been a long 7 years. A lot has transpired in my life since my debut album ‘Genesis’, and I, David Adeleke (aka Davido) have gone through a process of immense changes and growth. In sad times I lost close family and friends (RIP) and in my happiest times I’ve created lives (Imade, Hailey & David Jr). I fell in love and got engaged to my PHENOMENAL fiancé, Chioma. I’ve fought battles of all kinds and on all fronts: spiritual, physical, mental, emotional even political.
“With less than 48 hours left of the 7 year wait for the album of the century; A Good Time reflects on the ability to trust the timing of your life, enjoying the best moments & persevering through the worst ones. There’s no time like the present and it’s A Good Time to be alive, to be a PROUD AFRICAN and to fight for the freedom of one another – in unity. This is my album cover art and it reflects the culmination of my 7 year journey in audio/visual form, I present to you, “A Good Time”. OUT Nov 22!!! #AGoodTime,” he added.
However, finding the link between the album’s track list and its title is a daunting task as the tracks depicts a chronology of his musings, wealth, vanity and love life, albeit the songs on the album blend dancehall, afropop, afrobeats and specks of highlife. He enlists the help of Chris Brown, Popcaan, Wurld, Summer Walker, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Dremo, Peruzzi, Naira Marley, Zlatan Ibile and Yonda on the album while production was undertaken by Shizzi, Speroach Beatz, P2J, Kiddominant, London on da Track and a host of others. The track list ranges from fast-tempo tracks (like ‘1 milli’, ‘Risky’, ‘Disturbance’, and ‘Blow my mind’) to the not-so-fast-tempo ones (like ‘Get to you’, ‘D&G’, ‘Sweet in the Middle’, and ‘One thing’).
The tracks speaks much to the fact that Davido is an artist that leaves his comfort zone most times to achieve certain effects with his music while not straying off from his original style and avoiding monotony simultaneously. He picked lines from a Fela Kuti’s 80s track, ‘Beast of no Nation’ to merge with his afropop style on the ‘One thing’ track which produced a euphony as a result. He experimented with a South African tune on ‘Get to you’ and it paid off. The track is one of a few shockers off the album. I am convinced it would have made massive airplay if it was released as a single.
The quality of his collaborations cannot be overlooked as well. ‘Sweet in the middle’ can contest comfortably for collaboration of the year. Wurld with his fascinating vocals, Zlatan Ibile with his usual propagation of the “Nigerian razness” and the most incredible of the lot, Naira Marley, who took a departure from the normal routine to deliver his verse in an unusual style. ‘Risky’ had Jamaican singer, Popcaan, on it which isn’t a bad connection who brought his dancehall reggae fusion to the mix. ‘Blow my mind’ with Chris Brown can be described as the track that set the pace for the album’s release. Released a few months before the album, the song unsurprisingly got massive online streams and views on YouTube. Yonda’s influence on the ‘Animasaun’ track is just too overbearing… in a good way though. His flowing Yoruba lines are top-notch. No doubts, one of the reasons he is signed to Davido Music Worldwide (DMW).
However, the album is not without its defects. Tracks like ‘Big Picture’, ‘Check am’ and ‘D&G’ gives the deja vu feeling. It’s not to say they failed production-wise but they do not give that extra that’s required of an album from an artiste of Davido’s calibre. Although, the guitar chords fused in the song’s beats as well as Summer Walker’s mesmerising vocals which has got a lot of people talking though but it still doesn’t meet up with that much-required extra.
So much work and time goes into compiling and producing an album than listening to and criticising it. From the album title, timing of release, to the quality of production and collaborations on the album (with some defects though), it can be inferred that Davido has made an album that will blossom and hasn’t disappointed lovers of his music.