Review: Obongjayar’s ‘Paradise Now’

Obongjayar has today treated us to his second studio album titled ‘Paradise Now; born in Calabar, Nigeria, and an artist with a truly unique voice (both literally and figuratively), he blends West-African folk, afrobeats, and more Western pop into his own unique palette on the new project.

‘It’s Time’ is a particularly raw emotional cut to open with. Marking the moment where one starts to move on after a break-up, he talks of trauma’s resistance to time in a potent way: “we haven’t spoken in years and I still carry arrows in my flesh from the last time we did.”

‘Talk Olympics’ is a ludic frenzy of rapidly spoken word. It is almost meta in its
musical representation of someone with vocal diarrhoea – the main refrain is
Obongjayar repeating “talk talk talk” at lightning pace. Little Simz is featured here but minimally. Her contribution seems slightly bolted on.
There is some lovely guitar work on ‘Prayer’ – especially the high, palm-muted riffing at the close. ‘Sweet Danger’ features some airy afrobeat drums with a salient, unison melody between voice and brass emerging sparsely. The steady roll of this tune makes for a laid-back, yet driven, rhythmic feel.

There are more than a few moments of postmodern experimentation here – the mashing of musical features from varying genres is something Obongjayar excels at.

‘Jellyfish’, released as a single in mid-May, is probably the darkest moment on the project. Yet it still contains his trademark playfulness: he sings “how you sell your soul for numeral, no backbone you jellyfish”. As we get to the last line of the song, it becomes clear who the “jellyfish” jibe is being thrown at: “Bomb bomb spawned by the Stars and Stripes.” The diss on US foreign policy rests on an overwhelmingly gritty instrumental. With a descending, synthetic horn line evocative of early grime and bearing the eccentricity of Young Fathers, the sonic backdrop effectively hammers home the political message.

‘Born In This Body’ is also a highlight. With contemplative lyrics regarding body image, societal pressures, and accepting oneself, Obongjayar blesses us with some short, sweet vocal runs between exclamations of “I was born in this body” and “I’m in love with this body”. Obongjayar’s voice contains the rare ability to convey joy and melancholy simultaneously. His timbre is a great vehicle to express the contradiction of beautiful pain.

Overall, this is a very impressive release, although it does feel like Obongjayar’s
avant-garde side is pining for more visibility. Songs like ‘It’s Time’ and ‘Born In This Body’ are stunning vocally and lyrically but the instrumentals beg for more experimentation, especially when most of the best moments on here are the weirder ones. The line between innovation and commercialism is a hard one to walk, particularly for an artist in the early stages of their career. As he matures, I hope he gains the confidence to make his forward-thinking more obvious.

3.5/5 stars

Words by Charlie Edmondson.