6/10 Rating – Simi Newly Lauched Album Titled ”Simisola” Album Review

ALBUM INFO Album -Simisola Artist – Simi Record Label – X3M Music (2017) Duration – 54 minutes Lets get started with the Album Tracks review. 1. REMIND ME She is singing in this angelic voice, stating her flaws and asking to be reminded how to love in the first verse. This piano playing, My Goodness! This is Epic. Simi’s lyrical composition beats every other of her female counterparts. Hands down. Oscar on the beat. This is great, yo!. Short and leaves us wanting for more. 2. JOROMI Pre-released and seems to be pushed out as the hit of the album. Groovy song, Bears no semblance to the Victor Uwaifo classic. 3. AIMASIKO This is fuji. The drums are good. She’s telling us to have faith in God. This is gospel driven. The hook is something I have heard before. A popular Yoruba gospel song, this sounds like a beat first given to Adekunle Gold. I can only imagine ‘Oya na’ sung from the depths of these drums. Solid! 4. COMPLETE ME Imagine if Fela ever sang a love ballad, tuning down his Afrocentricy and madness for a second. Oscar, Mr Producer, This guy is good. No doubts on this, Simi has voice. Simi can sing. Simi writes like a sage. Simi should just sell lyrics to Rihanna if she ever decides to quit singing. ‘No one completes you more than me.’ She sings to her lover. What’s a heart without a beat? This beat has gradually eased into soft fuji. This album came with a lot of drums. 5. GONE FOR GOOD She’s telling a story, a returnee lover. He brings back memories and she wishes he never returned. We always have that person from the past that threatens to crack open the wounds that have mended over time. This acoustic offering melds so perfectly into the emotions in Simi’s voice. 6. ORIGINAL BABY Reggae feel! Trumpets, drums, keyboard. Simi enters into this seamlessly. ‘Money don’t drive me, I drive my money.’ Simi goes all the way into preaching originality on this one. Preach on baby! 7. ONE KAIN Celebration Song for a night of drinks. A guy’s looking at her one kain. She’s shy? She does look the shy type though. This song is laid back and the beat transcends genres but Simi is so Nigerian that garri makes the cut. 8. TAKE ME BACK (Ft. Adekunle Gold) This is the only ‘collabo’ on the album. No Forget for me, didn’t live up to expectations. The song starts with a guitar riff. This beat makes good setting for this story. Take me back, she says Home? The guitar is great. Mr. Adekunle is great on this, though his verse is short. He trades a back and forth with Simi. Kunle, stop forming and go back to our darling Simi jor!. One of the best songs on the album, this beats No Forget, to me. I’ll be coming back to this. 9. O WA N’BE The famed Yoruba craze for parties. Trust Simi to talk about it. The sound is upbeat. You have to move to this. She name drops King Sunny Ade and Olamide. Come to think of this, the YBNL honcho would bless this perfectly. I see radio potential in this. 10. SMILE FOR ME In my opinion, Simi’s best song ever. But hey, I won’t fight Hulk Hogan. Even for you. 11. ANGELINA This is another reggae offering. She’s threatening her cheating lover. She has to let him go. He cheated on her with Angelina. Why does this beat scream for a Patoranking or Burna Boy feature? 12. HIP HOP HUYYAY Feel good jam. Hip Hop Yuyyah! This is the song for a laid back Friday with the homies. Feels good! Sounds good!. Sounds nothing like Hip Hop but then, maybe just Hop your Hips? BONUS TRACKS Love Don’t Care, JAMB Question, Tiff. (You’ve all grooved this many months ago na.) Early Favorites: Remind Me, Original Baby, Take Me Back, Smile For Me. Not so Early Favorites: Joromi, Aimasiko, O wa N’be OUR VERDICT ON THE ALBUM The self-titled SIMISOLA album is a solid take on who this young lady is fearless, unapologetic lover. Halfway into the album, I wondered if her themes were not shallow then I realized, this is her. She isn’t a political artiste, she is Simisola. She wants to explore love and heartbreak. This album works, its brevity works. One or two more features were needed however still, solid from the Songbird. The Review was written by Emmanuel Esomnofu