Nigerian Afrobeat icon Femi Anikulapo-Kuti announces his eleventh album, Journey Through Life, due in late April. The announcement coincides with the release of “After 24 Years,” the album’s second single and follow-up to last November’s “Politics Don Expose Them.”
Written and recorded in 2023, months after Nigeria’s most recent general election, “After 24 Years” is a critical and mournful reflection of the lack of positive, wholesome growth since the West African nation returned to democracy in 1999. Kuti indicts Nigeria’s political elite for failing to “bring salvation” to the Nigerian populace and essentially “bastardiz[ing] the country.”
In his 35-plus years as a headline artist, the Afrobeat scion has constantly spoken truth to power while moving Afrobeat to a more progressive present – from collaborating with a wide range of artists to making accessible pop-format songs. Journey Through Life is expected to capture that same potency, considering the powerful punch of “After 24 Years” and “Politics Don Expose Them,” which scoffs at citizens used as propaganda tools for politicians for tribal and religious sentiments.
Kuti expands on the album in a press release: “Journey Through Life is basically a summary of my life from childhood to adulthood. All through my life, family has been a solid foundation; from my parents, grandparents, to my siblings, cousins, and now my children, my nieces and nephews, and soon my grandchildren, and true to my song at the end of the day for me family is all that matters. I believe many events in our lives draw us away from each other like an undercurrent, but the essence is to manage such events and let love prevail.”
“Most importantly, too, is to forgive oneself for mistakes we make in life, as we strive to make corrections to improve our well-being and characters and always find peace and harmony with our minds, body, and soul.”
The new album comes four years after Stop the Hate, which served as one-half of Legacy+, the double album that also housed For(e)ward, the debut album by Made Kuti, Femi’s son. Legacy+ was nominated for Best Global Music Album at the 2022 Grammys, while Femi’s “Pà Pá Pà” was nominated for Best Global Music Performance.
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