One of the real pleasures of Afrobeats is how omnivorous it is. The other is how fun it can be. There’s always something unexpected in Work of Art. There are trumpet sounds and buzzes and piano licks and vocalizations in the thicket of sound that catch me by surprise no matter how many times I hear this. There’s so much detail in these album that rewards attention but this is also a hell of an album to just turn on and have fun with. It’s great groove after great groove in songs full of ideas and motion and I cannot sit still when “Amapiano” starts up. The only issue you can have with this album is how hard it is to stop playing it when you need to go and do anything else.
Amaarae does a lot of things with Fountain Baby. Some of it is great, some of it less so but the variety is tremendous. The best part of it is the horniness. “Sociopathic Dance Queen” has it in spades and is excellent for it and the same is true for “Co-Star.” This is also just clever music. The layers in “Disguise” are greatly compelling. There are some misses here, like the punk of “Sex, Violence, Suicide” but there’s a lot of things that work well and a lot of good music and you’re sure to find plenty to groove to.
I would have thought Afrobeats was too new to support something like THE ANGEL YOU DON’T KNOW, but it’s clear that Amaarae is not the type to wait around for other people to catch up. THE ANGEL YOU DON’T KNOW takes pieces from the rapidly rising Afrobeats, but mixes in influences from all over the place to make something that is impossibly even more catchy than any of its sources.
This is exemplified by the sublime “HELLZ ANGEL.” It has a clever, tripping beat and her art-pop high pitched voice plays against it well. When the song gets going, it’s compulsive and then she switches her tempo before diving into a quick rap with the excellent “I don’t make songs / Bitch, I make memories / I don’t like thongs / Cuz they ride up in jeans.”
She has a lot of fun in the album. “SAD, U BROKE MY HEART” is the most Afrobeats of the tracks here and it uses the playfulness of the genre to great effect with the gentle singing and the blunt title and on the complete other side of the spectrum, she brings in some emo-rap for the very cute “FANCY.”
For all of that though, the other album highlight is the amazing “JUMPING SHIP.” The tenderness in her voice is exceptional and the song hits all the right notes of regret. It does a lot to ground the album after all of lightness surrounding. it.
In this fusion that Amaarae found, she’s accomplished something extraordinary. This is an infectious, clever album and some of the best music of the year. You should not miss it.
Top Five Records 