At the end of February 2025, Darkoo had a suite of songs that she believed would make up the follow-up to 2020’s ‘2 in I,’ but something was amiss.  “I loved the records on there, it made sense, but there was a side of me that didn’t feel content,” the singer quietly explains over a Zoom call early in June, just weeks before the release of her new project,  ‘$exy Girl $ummer.’ To assuage the unease she was feeling, Darkoo flew to Zanzibar with her team of producers and writers to decompress and enjoy some time in the sun. 

In Zanzibar, with a pool a stone’s throw away and a gorgeous view to relax her mind, Darkoo recorded a new set of songs that felt intuitively suited to the new arc of her career as a summer hitmaker. “Being in London with the moody weather while you’re trying to make a song for summer can be hard,” she explained. “You have to be in it to feel it. Waking up every day and seeing how beautiful Zanzibar is with the beach and clear seas just evokes a different feeling in the sound.” That quest to stir a strong feeling has been central to what Darkoo has been about for much of the last two years. 

Since the release of 2024’s “Favourite Girl” with American rapper Dess Dior – and a remix with Rema – Darkoo has swaggered to the forefront of Afropop thanks to a cache of singles that pay homage to the 2000s era of Nigerian Pop and Dancehall while being almost exclusively crafted to soundtrack feminine joy and enjoyment. “Men make music that speaks about women, but they don’t make music for women,” she explains. “They don’t make music for women to feel good, to listen to, and feel empowered. Or feel like they can dance to, or that it’s about them. I feel like I’m just filling in the gap, and it’s something I enjoy doing.”

For casual listeners of Darkoo, the pivot from a Grime-influenced MC to an emotive singer might have come out of the blues, but a closer listen to her music reveals the same sentimentality that birthed her summery-ready hits. 2019’s “Gangsta” is built around a promise to hold a lover down regardless of what may test their love, while the 4Keus-featuring “Cinderella” is a swooning dedication to a love interest. She’s keen to show the depth of her artistry, holding on to her Nigerian heritage from the start and releasing music that references the music culture back home.

“I move through UK rap with ease because that’s where I started, but Afrobeats is in my DNA,” she says. “I’m Nigerian and British, so both worlds naturally show up in my sound. I don’t box myself in. One day it’s melodic rap with bass-heavy drums, the next it’s a feel-good Afro rhythm that makes people move. For me, it’s all about emotion and authenticity. If it feels real, I’ll tap into it no matter the genre.”

These days, she’s leaning into music from Nigeria more than ever, flipping nostalgic anthems from the early 2000s into chart-topping hits. It came from a period of serious re-education for the singer, who took time out to reacquaint herself with the anthems that formed the foundational roots of Afropop as we know it today. “There was a period when I was just listening to a lot of old-school music,” Darkoo says.  “I kind of got bored with making music, and I just decided to go down that rabbit hole. I educated myself about those sounds, and I locked in with my producer to reinterpret those sounds. We tried to make those sounds feel like how they felt in the early 2000s.”

Crucially, she has a knack for selecting just the right songs to flip. A sample of the classic Dancehall bop, “Diwali Riddim,” animates “Favourite Girl” while  P-Square’s smash hit, “Gimme Dat,” inspires “Focus on Me (All the Sexy Girls in the Club). There was some legal wrangling around the release of the song, but Darkoo is sanguine about the disagreement that threatened her song, chalking it up to differences in opinions. “It was more of a misunderstanding and misalignment than anything else,” she clarifies. “The clearance for P-Square’s “Gimme Dat” on “Focus On Me” actually did go through, but the process around it wasn’t the smoothest. These things can get tricky, especially when it comes to honoring legacy records while still trying to push your sound.”

The sound that she put forward on her new project, ‘$exy Girl $ummer,’ carries proof of her evolution six years after “Gangsta” as she sets her sights on global domination. “I’m stepping into who I am, not just as an artist, but as a woman,” she says. “I’ve found my sound, my confidence, and I’ve learned how to make music that speaks to women, not just about them. There’s a deeper understanding now. It’s not just vibes, it’s intentional. I’m more sure of myself, more in control of my art, and this project is the reflection of that growth.”

An indication of that growth is in how she’s finding herself tethered to her roots once again through music. “Your Number,” one standout off ‘$exy Girl $ummer’ samples “Gongo Aso,” the seminal hit by 9ice. Rapper, Zlatan, was instrumental in making the song happen, connecting Darkoo with ID Cabasa. “I saw that Zlatan had done something with ID Cabasa on one of his ‘Reimagined’ songs,” Darkoo explains. “So, I hit up Zlatan and asked if he could link me up with Cabassa. He linked me up, and I played him the idea because, at that time, it was just an idea. We got into talking, and he loved it.”

Just a few weeks ago, she was featured on “Billionaires Club” alongside Wizkid off Olamide’s self-titled 11th studio album. It’s much-needed validation that she’s headed in the right direction. “It’s an amazing feeling to have that respect from people who are at the top of their game,” she says. “I’m not going to lie to you, it makes me feel amazing. I’m human, so on some days, I’m not feeling myself. Working with these types of artists just reinforces to me that you’re the shit because these guys have been doing it for years and they make amazing music.”

Importantly, she’s ignoring snide comments about her working with old classics. “I feel like some people see the songs and don’t like them, but they don’t realise that music is a circle,” she explains. 

“Everything comes from something. Even the creation and the process that gives birth to the songs. I’ve been in the studio many times and tried to make a song that sounds like something I just listened to. There are some elements from that song that’ll carry over.”

Listen to ‘$exy Girl $ummer’ here.