#AlbumReview: 5 Takeaways from Kizz Daniel’s 'Maverick'
With the release of his fourth studio album, the superstar singer enhances his reputation as a maestro and we pick five talking points from the project.
Right from his breakout year in 2014 with the release of Woju, Kizz Daniel has been staking a claim to being Nigeria’s king of Pop. By the time he followed it up with Laye and Mama, it was obvious that his dedication to the style was going to be absolute just like Niniola to AfroHouse.
What is perhaps spectacular about the singer, real name Oluwatobiloba Anidugbe, is how he manages to switch up the elemental components of his offerings. It sounds like the same beat, a similar tempo, yet never appears stale, always refreshing. Some of the pre-album singles, Buga and RTID, had done crazy numbers, with the former taking over charts and social media trends and challenges.
With the release of his fourth studio album - the previous being New Era (2016), No Bad Songz (2018) and King of Love (2020), Kizz Daniel elevates his Pop game to the point of impressive cohesion, arguably perfection.
Some critics have labelled the self-acclaimed Vado D’Great the king of singles and Maverick seems to be a response that his talent and nous transcend any box they want to put him in.
And following the successful release of the 20-track Maverick, here are some takeaways after perusing Kizz Daniel’s latest music project:
1. His Pop style is going nowhere
Kizz Daniel has been an unflinching exponent of Pop all through his career and it is what has brought him glory and accolades. Kudos to Vado’s producers on how they refine Pop beats for him, as only a few tracks - Feran You Two which he featured his two kids on and the opening Red & Green - were the exception.
The collaboration with Johnny Drille, Feran Mi, is outstanding and seeing Johnny Drille flow so easily suggests that he would do well if he decides to explore outside his Alte confines.
2. Impact of Fatherhood
Right from the Maverick’s opening track, Red & Green, on which Kizz Daniel talks about the loss of Jamal, one of his triplets, it was obvious that fatherhood has changed the man and the musician.
He dedicates track 8, Feran You Two, to his two boys and his lyrics generally show that his priorities have changed as he embraces more responsibility and cares less about naysayers
3. Most cohesive project yet
Maverick, by a mile, is the Water Engineering graduate’s most cohesive project yet and this is further underlined by how he manages to sustain the listening experience of the album without a significant change in the style and tempo.
4. Ambition
Like many of his colleagues in the industry, Kizz Daniel also dreams of winning a Grammy, in fact many, such that the gongs will overflow his trophy cabinet (ref. My G, track 2).
5. Amapiano immunity
Quite surprisingly, Kizz Daniel resists jumping on the Amapiano trend unlike other practitioners in the music industry who have incorporated the South African sonic style into their music.
While Amapiano seems to have come to stay in Nigerian music as many now weld Amapiano and Afrobeats together, Kizz Daniel appears to be taking his time as he keeps AfroPop flying high.
Additional reporting by Adedamola Adegoke.
This beautiful review really captured the beauty and magic of the album💯
Well done!