By Charles Novia
When ‘Timeless’ by Davido came out in 2023, I must have listened to that album so many times that year. It was in my most streamed album for that year, according to the music streaming platforms I’m subscribed to.
Davido’s new album ‘5ive’, released a few days ago, has been getting much of mixed reviews from a lot of people. I have listened to the album a few times and at first, it seemed to me that it took off from where ‘Timeless’ stopped. It feels like there were some songs curated from ‘Timeless’ which didn’t make that album and got pushed to ‘5ive’. Songs like ‘Anything’ (which is growing on its own strength) and ‘Lately’. And I’m not surprised by that. I believe Davido wanted to play safe with this album. Why change a winning formula which worked two years ago?
The curation of ‘5ive’ seems deliberate though. And I think that itself, is the ingenuity of the A & R team behind the album….Hold a chunk of the ‘Timeless’ crowd and build a new listenership with new tracks. Davido has succeeded in pushing out what I feel is his most intentional album since his career began. With ‘Timeless’, I felt he was going for the Grammys and deservedly got his nomination for that album. But with ‘5ive’, Davido just wants to make music and build on his fan base with new collaborations. From catching an amorphous fan base of Odumodu Blvck and a cool tempo audience of Chike in the hit song ‘Funds’, to pushing the boundaries of finding a cross over carribean audience in ‘Awuke’ the collaboration with YG Marley, the album tilts towards going beyond the present commercial era of Afrobeats. Davido aims for an album with a long shelf life and one which will be referred to in the next two decades.
I believe it is an album which will grow on people as it finds its space. My favourite songs in the album are ’10 Kilo’ (which is very heavy on rhythm and melody), ‘Titanium’ (yet another impactful collaboration with Chris Brown), ‘Offa Me’ (a head turner song with Victoria Monet) and the one I believe is the sleeper hit in the whole album; ‘With You’ (featuring Omah Lay)
That song with Omah Lay is prepping to be the Song of the Summer in the next few weeks as it takes an organic life of its own. Its pulsating beats and stirring guitar riffs with the ingenuity of music Producer Tempoe behind it, makes this song very different. Omah Lay is the Next Big Star on the horizon with his style of Afrobeats and Davido correctly caught on that buzz. If any song in that album is to give Davido another Grammy nomination, it would be ‘With You’. It’s on its way to being a classic.
I feel like this ‘5ive’ album is Davido’s best curated album. While in ‘Timeless’, he was coming from a spell of pain, with ‘5ive’ we can feel his release and joy.
However, there’s something poignant about the album. It’s almost as if the album is telling us that the era of Afrobeats in the last five years has reached a climax and going forward, we expect the next new hybrid from that era.
If there’s going to be a ‘6ix’, it would come at a time when a new generation of fans would demand something different.
*Charles Novia is a veteran Nollywood producer and pop culture critic. He shared this review on on his Facebook page.
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