For the longest time, CKay cut a polarising figure in the music industry. His early career was dominated by industry-wide conversations and unrelenting social media-led critique of his emotive style and where it fit within the wider Afropop plexus. Between a buttery voice tailor-made for soundtracking the afterhours and an innate knack  for the softly sensual, some of his earliest work didn’t channel his best qualities. Back then, it often felt like the scattered-gun effort of a creator figuring out a path to his instinctive core. Things finally seemed to click into focus on ‘CKay the First,’ his 2019  extended play that distilled his warm melodies, soft whispers, and languid take on Afrobeats into a cohesive piece – and birthed his smash hit, “love nwantiti (ah ah ah).”

Riffing off the belated global success of  “love nwantiti (ah ah ah),” in 2021, CKay emerged with a vision of himself as Africa’s Boyfriend, a wholehearted embrace of his endearing interpretation of Afropop’s romantic side. If CKay’s motif was to present himself as a bleeding heart romantic, the sonics – swirling violins, tender guitar riffs, and pristine keys – set the stage; but the lyrics didn’t always follow through on that reality.  If anything, the messaging often snuck hints of the toxic edge bestowed on R&B by 2010-era stars like The Weeknd and Brent Faiyaz. The contradiction between his zest for love and those darker impulses made songs like “WATAWI” and “come close” off his debut album, ‘Sad Romance,’ fascinating listens that displayed a knack for expertly dramatizing the minutiae of modern relationships. 

On his sophomore album, ‘EMOTIONS,’ CKay picks up right from where he stops on  ‘Sad Romance,’ completing the metamorphosis from lingering, occasionally jilted lover, to flaunting his comfort navigating contentious romantic dynamics. Where a lot of ‘Sad Romance’ was spent just inching towards the carefreeness of proposing a one-night stand or situationship, he leans fully into that noncommittal instinct on “THAT FEELING,” the opener of ‘EMOTIONS,’ warning a love interest not to catch feelings for him while promising to give her supreme thrills at every turn. CKay has always understood the emotional resonance of his Eastern Nigerian heritage as a springboard for some of his most inspired work and on “EGWU EJI,” he proclaims the beauty of African women over a relaxed blend of Amapiano’s log drums, guitars, and the Igbo oja flute. The idea for “EGWU EJI” sounds thrilling enough, but lines like, “Shey your nyash na the fake one abi na the real one,” betray the lack of emotional rigour that CKay has built his second arc on. 

That misstep aside, there’s a lot of soul-searching  on ‘EMOTIONS’ that shows the range of CKay’s talent. Like his predecessors in the brooding and anguished variation of R&B that took root in popular culture around the late 2010s, CKay can be paranoid and distrustful. On “RIDE OR DIE?”, he’s asking a love interest to prove the depth of her love for him while warning that he’s also distracted by his search for money. In between all of this, he’s also dodging police officers and sex workers in Lekki while out with his lover – it all feels like an epic, slightly fantastical, journey through the rowdy maze that is Lagos.  “IN MY BED” feels like the spiritual twin of “RIDE OR DIE?” as CKay asks, “But is this love?” Sadly, its pace is ponderous –almost lethargic – mirroring the listlessness that creeps into parts of ‘EMOTIONS.’ 

Per CKay, ‘EMOTIONS’ is not strictly about love or romance. In an interview with Apple Music, he said that it was a full portrait of his life as a young Nigerian. “It’s a lot more than love on this album,” he explained. “It’s my story and my struggles, all the stuff I had to go through to get to this point. It’s basically me talking about how many battles I had to fight, even with people that I love just because they couldn’t see the vision at the time. I just trusted that it was a good fight, like fighting you in love in the sense that when you understand you’ll catch up.” 

The moments that go beyond the high drama of his romantic life are few and far between but they make for some of the best parts of the album. In recent years, CKay and Olamide have struck up a great chemistry and they keep their streak going on ‘EMOTIONS.’  “VANITY” reflects on the journey that CKay has had to undergo to make a success of his musical drama. It also holds the best spurt of melody on the album that comes when CKay brings up the monumental battles he fought for his spot. “I fight my enemies / Fight my friends, I fight my family,” he affirms. Characteristically, he defers back to love, reminding everyone that, “I do it for y’all /  I’m a warrior,” while setting the stage for Olamide to contribute a verse about his own come-up and the struggles that he’s had to face. 

The guests on ‘EMOTIONS’ are especially memorable, sparking life into CKay’s work at different turns. On “Dorime,” Los Angeles-born shapeshifter, Ty Dolla $ign, joins CKay for an ode to their fantasy women. It’s a trilingual effort that sees both artists adopt the stylistic cadences of each other’s country for a smooth blend that is easily CKay at his titillating best. There is a bevy of groundbreaking guitar work across ‘EMOTIONS’ done by Mauritian guitarist, Mooneesawmy Devadasen. Devadasen’s work on the opening stretch of “WAHALA,” another Olamide collab, is instrumental for setting a tropical vibe that carries through the song and creates the perfect conditions for CKay’s voice to shine through with another verse by Olamide that suggests that the YBNL head is still reaching new artistic heights despite all his years in the game. Nigerian highlife duo, The Cavemen., are perhaps the best stylistic companion to CKay in Nigerian music and they fit like a glove on “ADDICTED,” complimenting his balmy flow with their raspy delivery over a soft percussive base, as they moan about being addicted to a lover. 

At its best, CKay’s music represents a bold, new direction for Afropop that embraces the importance of free-flowing emotions and candour, over faux performativity. On the flip side, CKay’s weaker songs feel like dispatches from a deep abyss that maintains a callow obsession with sex and the simulation of love for the sake of a good story. “MYSTERIOUS LOVE” falls into the latter category, lacking the will and inventiveness that powered songs like “emiliana” and “Kiss Me Like You Miss Me.” When that same level of half-hearted introspection is applied to even weighty matters like getting his thoughts on self and his industry off on “THE FINAL BOSS,” it feels disjointed.  The self-adulation on “THE FINAL BOSS” feels like the sort of chest-thumping brags that we’d make among friends — but on ‘EMOTIONS,’ it’s a underwhelming end to an album that promised so much but, ultimately, delivers only a narrow variety of emotions.