The
success of soul music in Nigeria has been a very tricky one, mainly because
there are only two genres of music in Nigeria as of late: Afro-pop and
everything else. Lindsey’s debut Brown
falls into the latter. Despite the success of international stars like Nneka
and Asa, the cross-over appeal of Darey and the artistically refined Bez, soul
music in Nigeria hasn’t really found its footing. Its biggest home-based star
is Darey, who for years flew the genre’s flag only to be met with
disappointment on his debut album despite being a runner-up on Project Fame and making many lists of
stars to look out for at the time. He crossed-over for his sophomore album and
finally found some commercial success.
However it was Asa who produced the
genre’s most successful album, her self-titled debut won over critics and fans
alike in a year pop acts P-Square dropped their third and arguably most
successful album and the then recently formed Mo-hits dropped their compilation
CD. The genre struggled shortly after with Asa and Nneka being courted by the
international markets and Darey releasing a mish-mash double CD (a rarity in
Nigeria) of pop and soul hits. Then came Bez, the genre’s new prince. Bez’s
problem was from the beginning he seemed to play only to a niche market, add to
that his people seemed to have no idea how to promote him. His first single was
the confusingly slow, “More” (Nigerian listeners tend to have a phobia to slow
strumming guitars and piano playing that might lead to a poetry recital), add
to that for some reason, someone thought it would be a great idea for Bez to
die in his first video. Really?! Who was in charge of this?
That brings us to the genre’s newest
star Lindsey or Miss Lindsey or whatever Puff Daddy-inspired name change she
might go through in future. Lindsey is one of those behind-the-scenes artists
who is finally getting her shine on. After singing back-up hooks for stars like
M.I and Jesse Jagz (she was on the best two songs on Jesse’s debut if you ask
me) she’s released her debut EP titled Brown.
I don’t know why it’s called that, when for the most part it’s quite colourful.
The EP has one major fault, but let’s start with the good.
The EP was largely produced by Atta
Lennel who seems to have a knack for producing songs of this genre. The album
actually picks up from the third track, tracks one and two serve as a
re-introduction as to who Lindsey is, you know kind of like how the Avengers starts with that scene with
Loki just to remind you what’s been happening from the previous films, those
tracks are just to remind you she can sing and she brings a friend on track two
(Eve). Atta’s production hits you like the snare drums which sneak in on the
back of Don’t Look At Me That Way. I
applaud him.
Lyrically the EP is straight-forward,
that’s a technical way of saying simple. Some of the concepts however are
higher on tracks like Man To Woman
and to a lesser extent Taxi. The main
fault with the album for me is the sequencing. People generally take sequencing
for granted and it’s been a major problem with many a Nigerian albums. For
those who are clueless, sequencing refers to the order in which the tracks are
presented (rappers are supposed to be good at this, because they often have an
intro, outro and possibly skits. I say supposed to, because M.I 2 had one of the worst sequencing,
on the other hand S.D.C’s The Dreamer
Project had the best sequencing on any album I’ve heard this side of the
Atlantic. I’m not being dramatic, it’s true!).
I never would’ve opened Brown with Taxi, unless the idea was for
her to meet her lover on the last track of the album. She doesn’t. Personally I
would’ve opened with the more fitting The
Letter, the track is backed by nothing save for vocals and finger snaps; a
befitting intro featuring a striped down sound, opposite to the drum-heavy
songs that populate the airwaves. Taxi
really should’ve been the last song, a befitting outro as we hear her sing
about leaving in a taxi to go meet her lover, don’t you think? Also while her
cover of Fela’s Trouble Dey Sleep Yanga
Go Wake Am is quite admirable, I can’t feel the same about her cover of Asa’s
Jailer, it’s become one of those
records that’s really hard to cover without people wishing for the original. It’s
like trying to cover early Whitney Houston, you don’t do that, Whitney covered
you and did it better.
Personally I’m in awe of Lindsey and the
fact that she even did this to begin with. Waiting to get signed is not the way
to go these days, especially when your music falls into Nigeria’s “everything
else”. I applaud her.
RATING: 7/10.
Suggested singles/videos:
The
Letter
When
You Don’t Drive Me Mad
And just for nostalgia sake, maybe The 90s Song.
Download Brown here: http://iblend.net/music2/download-lindsey-brown-the-ep/
Download Brown here: http://iblend.net/music2/download-lindsey-brown-the-ep/
