As you browse through digital music platforms, here are five new albums across different genres, from afro-pop to reggae, R&B to country, recommended by BDLife for your listening pleasure.
Charisma
The Motions
Music fans first got to hear of this singer, songwriter in 2018 as the distinctive vocalist of the group, Le Band, when he was still a university law student. Today, 28-year-old Charisma (official name Fidel Eli Shammah Omusula) is among the hottest talents among the new generation of urban artists in Kenya.
His debut album The Motions is a diverse collection of styles and moods, from sensual ballads to rumba influenced dance songs.
“The album is about the emotions that a young person goes through and how life is not linear when you are young, there is no stability, you don’t know if you will be in love or out of love,” Charisma explained in a conversation with BDLife last week.
The 10-song album is packed with collaborations with his contemporaries: Okello Max, Trio Mio, Bensoul, Ywaya Tajiri, Coster Ojwang, Watendawili and Mutoriah.
“Even a couple of weeks after the release of the album, I am still bumping to the tracks as if they are not my songs,” he acknowledges. “This album is all that is playing in my car.”
Highlights are the deeply romantic Let You Know, Form with its dancehall rhythm and the amapiano-influenced Away (Omale)
Fireboy DML
This is the fourth album from the Nigerian who became a global star, thanks to the 2021 smash hit Peru. On this album, Fireboy DML (Adedamola Oyinlola Adefolahan) takes a nostalgic look at his past, for inspiration.
“I feel like this album is me reconnecting with my roots on a more personal level, because it has me reaching to my true self,” the 29-year-old tells Apple Music.
Among Kenya’s new generation of urban artists, 28-year-old Charisma is one of the hottest talents.
Photo credit: Pool
His collaborates with his compatriots, Lagbaja on Back and Forth (fun fact: the legendary musician who conceals his identity behind a mask, did not allow Fireboy to see his face during the recording) and Seun Kuti who plays sax on Ecstasy.
Grammy award winning US singer, producer and pianist Jon Batiste is featured on the album’s slowest song, the soothing Ready.
Recommended tracks are Call Me, a funky old-school vibe, flavored with a sweet solo trumpet and the catchy Afrobeats of Wande’s Bop featuring Nigerian DJ/producer, Spinall.
The Wailers
The Evolution
Bob Marley’s legendary band has just released a new album of songs with famous Jamaican names as guest vocalists: Marcia Griffiths, one of Marley’s back-up singers, the I-Three, Michael Rose of Black Uhuru fame and Gramps Morgan of Morgan Heritage.
The Wailers have undergone several reincarnations since the beath of Bob Marley in 1981 and all the original members have either left the band or are deceased.
The present line up is led by Aston Barrett Jr, the son of the legendary bassist Aston “Family Man” who died in February 2024.
The band retains the Wailers brand and influences of the trademark reggae roots, but as the title of the album suggests, the music has evolved into a more inclusive, contemporary sound, influenced by other genres.
The highlight of the album is the gentle rootsy rhythm Close My Eyes, one of two tracks featuring the exquisite vocals of Michael Rose.
Tyrese
Beautiful Pain
In 2015, coming off his Grammy nominated album Black Rose, Tyrese declared that his music recording career was done.
Surprise, surprise! the singer-actor makes a comeback with a double album, 17 new soulful tracks that are throwback to the golden era of R&B vocalists.
The subtext of the album is personal anguish: divorce from his wife in 2020 (sample titles like Don ‘t Think you Ever Loved Me and What Happened to Forever and When Was It Over)
Tyrese also pays tribute to his mother Priscilla Murray Gibson who passed away in 2022 due to complications from Covid-19 on Wildflower (watch the accompanying short film on You Tube) a cover of 1974 classic by R&B band The New Birth
Another notable cover from the 1970s is Neither One of Us originally by Gladys and the Knight and the Pips on which Tyrese duets with singer, songwriter and actress, Tamar Braxton.
The A-list of guest artists also includes Lenny Kravitz, El DeBarge and Kenny G with his signature saxophone on Unbelievable.
Post Malone
F-1 Trillion: Long Bed
“When I turn 30, I’m becoming a country/folk singer” tweeted rapper Post Malone in 2015, two months before turning 20.
“Nine years later, the artist, whose official name is Austin Richard Post, pivots to country music with a double album of 27 songs, at a time when the genre is enjoying unprecedented mainstream appeal- thanks to being embraced by stars like Beyonce (Post Malone was featured on the track Levii’s Jeans on Beyonce’s country album, Cowboy Carter).
Different generations of county icons are featured on the album, like Morgan Wallen on the US No 1 hit I Had Some Help, Dolly Parton on Have The Heart, Blake Shelton on the infectious Pour Me a Drink, Luke Combs on Guy for That and Brad Paisley on Goes Without Saying.
