Rema, Young Jonn, Yemi Alade, FOLA and More on New Music Friday
This week’s New Music Friday is doing a little bit of everything.
There is Rema being emotionally confused in the club-adjacent hours of the night, Young Jonn asking for physical affection with the confidence of a man who already knows the answer, Yemi Alade reminding us why she’s one of Nigeria’s. most exported female artists, FOLA dragging Bella Shmurda and Zlatan into his emotional world, J’Dess and The Cavemen making something warm enough to feel familiar.
Five songs, different moods, dfferent energies but definitely worth your while.
REMA — “OH NO”
Rema is, once again, in love with a woman who is making his life unnecessarily complicated.
“Oh No” is not really a seduction song. It is a man trying to understand what exactly is happening in his relationship while simultaneously being extremely attracted to the person causing all his problems.
He wants her “body and soul.” He does not want her to leave. He has plenty of things he wants to show her. Very straightforward.
Then the story starts getting less straightforward.
She is from Marbella. Her friends are telling her to enjoy herself. She is going to clubs. Rema is checking her friend’s Instagram story. He is lying awake thinking about her and wondering what he did wrong.
Perhaps he should stop checking the friend’s story.
Nonetheless, the song is fun. Rema is not presenting desire as some grand, sophisticated emotion. It is messy. It is horny. It is insecure. It is that slightly embarrassing stage of liking somebody enough that their Instagram activity has suddenly become part of your personal investigative work.
Rvssian gives Rema a sleek, rhythmic backdrop that leaves enough space for his voice to float through the song. The melodies are smooth, the hook is immediately sticky, and Rema sounds completely comfortable moving between vulnerability and his usual cool-boy confidence.
The best thing about “Oh No” is that it does not overcomplicate itself.
Rema likes this girl.
The girl is stressing him.
He still wants her.
End of story.
YOUNG JONN — “HOLD SOMEBODY”
Young Jonn has spent enough time behind the scenes of Nigerian pop to understand that sometimes the smartest thing you can do with a song is give people one thing to remember.
“Hold Somebody” does exactly that.
The title is basically the hook and the hook is basically the song.
Beneath the repetition is the same playful, slightly extravagant character that has always made his solo music so easy to enjoy.
He is talking about fine girls on the internet, ignoring people who have too much to say, spending money, living well and generally behaving like somebody who has no intention of letting anybody spoil his mood.
It is flirtation without the unnecessary seriousness.
“Hold Somebody” is centered on enjoyment.
A little romance, a little money, a little waist movement.
No thesis required.
J’DESS & THE CAVEMEN — “CHINYERE”
There is warmth here.
There is chemistry.
There is highlife.
There is that particular Nigerian musical quality where the instruments seem to be smiling at each other.
“Chinyere” has the kind of rhythm that makes you sit with it. You can hear the musicianship without the song becoming a demonstration of musicianship. Nothing feels like it is screaming, “LOOK! WE PLAY INSTRUMENTS!”
It is simply there.
Beautifully.
“Chinyere” is also a useful reminder that Nigerian music does not have to keep sprinting toward whatever sound is currently dominating streaming platforms.
FOLA, BELLA SHMURDA & ZLATAN — “IT’S OVER”
The title is “it’s over,” but FOLA, Bella Shmurda and Zlatan do not sound like three men who have collectively accepted that anything is over.
They sound like three men who still have plenty to say about it.
FOLA is the soft centre.
His voice gives the song its emotional weight, carrying that familiar sense of vulnerability that has become such a strong part of his music. He does not need to oversing the feeling. There is already enough resignation in his delivery.
Then Bella Shmurda enters and the atmosphere shifts.
Bella has always been particularly good at making pain sound conversational. Even when he is singing about something heavy, there is usually a little streetwise shrug in the delivery — that feeling of yes, this thing hurt me, but what exactly do you want me to do about it?
Zlatan kicks the door open.
That contrast is what makes the record interesting.
The production stays relatively clean, allowing each voice to occupy its own space, while the melodic centre keeps the song accessible even when the street-pop energy starts pushing through.
“It’s Over” is therefore less interesting as a breakup song than it is as a demonstration of chemistry.
Three artists who could easily have made three completely different records manage to sound like they belong on the same one.
YEMI ALADE — “ALHAJA”
Yemi Alade has never sounded particularly interested in behaving like she is waiting for permission.
That attitude is all over “Alhaja.”
The song arrives as part of IT’S YEMI ALADE, her 16-track album, which also includes collaborations with Don Jazzy, Spyro, Bien, FAVE, JeriQ, Ferre Gola and Singuila.
There is something very fitting about Yemi Alade making a song called “Alhaja.”
She understands spectacle.
She understands glamour.
More importantly, she understands the Nigerian woman’s complicated relationship with enjoyment. You can be hardworking and still want to dress up. You can be ambitious and still want somebody to spoil you. You can have your own money and still enjoy being called beautiful.
“Alhaja” lives in that world.
The production moves at a brisk pace, and at 120 BPM, it is clearly built with movement in mind.
This is Yemi Alade doing what she has always done particularly well: making femininity feel active rather than decorative.
There is no shrinking here.
Just enjoyment, confidence and a woman who knows exactly how she wants to be seen.
There is no shrinking here and there should be expansion in your playlist as well:
