It is an exciting time to be an African musician, more so for CKay. The Nigerian singer-songwriter and record producer is sitting at the helm of contemporary African music alongside other superstars who have been able to traverse geographical and cultural borders with their music. To end what has been a pivotal year in his career as a global artist, he paired up with director Tee Tash to deliver his newest music video for By Now, a fan-favourite of his debut album Sad Romance.
His most recent video for Mmadu, which premiered on the 9th of November, is a work of art. The song and its visual companion piece celebrate intimacy and sensuality. With By Now, the storytelling is more direct, helping the viewer to misunderstand very little about CKay‘s intentions. Tash follows CKay as he pursues a love interest who isn’t as forthcoming as the singer hopes she would be. As such, his persistence drives the story from scene to scene, steadfast and unrelenting.
CKay and his Sad Romance
CKay took fans on a journey with Sad Romance, one perhaps not all were expecting. The superstar’s music was always going to be dissimilar to other Afrobeats releases at any given time by both the singer’s dedication to and his fans’ infatuation with Emo-Afrobeats. His debut album dove much deeper into that fantasy. From the choice of instrumentation, production, collaboration, and the soundscape the album orbits around, Sad Romance is a unique, reflective, and emotionally charged project. It’s an album that requires fans to go further than merely listening but asks them to reimagine the breadth of what an Afrobeats record might sound like. The intrigue of the album is its devotion to vulnerability and tension, which are consummate elements of the project’s rich energy.
To celebrate the premiere of the By Now visuals and surpassing one billion views on the platform. CKay will be hosting a live Q&A session on YouTube. It will allow fans to catch up with their favourite musician hours after he’s performed in Lagos, Nigeria, since his album launch in September.
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