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Monthly Music Playlist: May
“Come Rain Come Shine”
Welcome to May! The season where the weather is still bipolar and you won’t look too crazy for being with an umbrella.
This May there’s been no in-between. It’s either too hot or raining cats, squirrels, and dogs.
But over here, we like a challenge, and we’re taking this bipolar weather as inspiration to make our mixed playlist, “Come Rain, Come Shine”. The music today will be the perfect mix of 'sunny at heart' meets 'perfect for a rainy day romance', and to spice things up, we’ll be featuring a number of TikTok hits that stayed stuck in your head for summer. You're welcome in advance
Milky: Just the way you are
Nothing screams ditzy summer love like Milky’s “Just the way you are.". It’s the song that feels like a pocket full of shine. The lyrics capture that sickly sweet feeling of love and daydreaming about the one person who gives you sunny butterflies. Being enamoured with everything about them and loving them simply for how they are. It’s a meet-me-by-the-tree kind of love.
Yet even though this song feels like a bop you heard in 2022 and couldn’t forget, it didn’t just come around. On the contrary, it’s been around since 2002 (talk about way ahead of its time). Thanks to the gods of the TikTok algorithm, a new audience has been enraptured by the decade-old single and has now pushed it back to the top. The new Milky & Mall Grab version just hit number 5 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronics song chart. So don't miss out twice in a row; check out Milky's "Just the way you are"
Someone to Call My Lover: Janet Jackson
In light of another daydreamer summer anthem – also ahead of its time, it feels like it popped in yesterday – we have Janet Jackson’s ditzy pop hit song “Someone to Call My Lover”. This song, released 25 years ago, is making its rounds again, and we suspect there are a few reasons why. First, it may be the intriguing and catchy guitar line it begins with, a famous and well-done sampling of the Ventura Highway. Or perhaps its rhythm, like an undercurrent of water holding it all together, an interjection of Erik Satie’s 'Gymnopédie No. 1’. Or maybe it’s the eerie sunny summer feel it comes with. Like ice creams and beach dates. Like sandals, ice lollies and sundresses. Like summer love and all the brightness in your chest, a honeymoon phase. Or maybe it’s all the beautiful samples it' inspired other music to remix or perhaps the renewed love for MJ and the Jacksons spilling all over. Either way, every second of this song is worth it. An exciting fact about the song is that it was released on the 1st of January 2000, capturing in essence the love and glittering softness of new beginnings. New years, new hopes, new dreams. The pop popped that year, and peaked at a no. 3 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Also, it was produced to perfection by a triage of Jackson, Jimmy Jam, and Terry Lewis. Lovey, breezy, exciting, like sparkles and joy in your chest – make sure to check "Someone to Call My Lover".
La La - Davido & Ckay
The comebacks aren't over yet, as La La, by Davido ft Ckay also made its own fiery comeback, thanks to DJ FAAJI’s insane mix with Asake’s sunshine. It gave this song another extra dose of sunshine, and this time it’s sweet sunny romance with optimism in the mix! This is the song that deserves a spin around the block so take your ass there!
Don't Lie: Tay Iwar
If there’s anything I know about rainy day romance, it’s that Tay Iwar always has it on lockdown!
But this time, it's the hard parts of love. If you haven’t heard this one yet, you’re on the wrong side of music. “Don’t Lie” is the song that lets you know you let a good thing go. The one you can completely sink into, while he helps you reminisce on good romance, the one you let slip from your fingers. Loving them enough to know you may have scarred them, but willing desperately for another chance. It is yearning personified. Now for a fair warning: you might hear this one and start thinking, “Maybe I should circle back, take another spin around the block, and see if my ex is home."
And I may not be able to help you break out of that spell but as the music develops, you see Tay Iwar address that the fault does not lie on one side, and we are left with two people scarred from each other. The artiste expertly reminds you of that gnawing feeling, being scared and scarred to put your heart back out there. So if you listen to this, I implore you to fall in love with love, the what-ifs, and the tough parts, but also to sit in it and try to let it be just that, a feeling to love for the sake of love
HER: JVKE ft Oxygen
The rainy day romance strikes even hotter with the newly certified and formally released version of HER. 'The lover boy, the lover boy'; Oxygen, a newly emerging, refreshing and talented artiste popularized by TikTok, crosses a huge win with this one as his beautiful, simplistic and raw Yoruba spin on an open mic verse of the riveting pop star JVKE’s single HER, gains its own official song version and has been added to JVKE’s HER covers playlist. This song not only opened a wider range and audience to the pop star’s song but also helped to build a wave of self-love and confidence, as many Nigerians constantly use the sound in videos apprecating themselves or dearest ones in a way that hits closer to home, acapturing a more accurate depiction of how they feel and how they can look in the mirror and love themselves a little extra. It is no doubt dear to the heart. So there's no need to rush to tiktok just to hear the sound one more time, because JVKR heard the call and we now have our official HER Nigerian version.
Stars Misaligned II: Shilloh Yodellé, oSHAMO, Abefe
The high tone, low tone duet drives us in Stars Misaligned II certainly puts us in a frenzy. On this song Afrobeats takes R&B’s hand to be wed in the cutest way. It’s also another win for cover glory, as Shilloh and oSHAMO adds TikTok star Abefe to the mix.
The song which originally featured just Shiloh Yodelle and oshamó, is an intimate duet that has you almost feeling like you’re interrupting something special. A duet that’s just the cozy thing you’d need for this rainy weather.
It kicked off with a feminine high tone and was followed by oshamó’s low masculine low, reverberating in the best way. But it took a step further there, when it made another TikTok “cover” icon’s dreams come through. Abefe comes in to add more coziness to the music, hitting it with a lazy yet intense drawl that seeps into your senses with deliberate ease
Abefe’s unique music style rapidly captured the hearts of fans online and had people referring to themselves as “Abefeholics”, intoxicated with his sound and unique covers. He faced skyrocketing fame when he covered Amma’s “I love you”. Though he didn’t win that open mic challenge, he certainly won fan’s hearts and finally captured the attention of the new blazing star in the Afromusic industry; oSHAMO. Now his killer verse shapes the music in the best way. The romance definitely continues with “Stars Misaligned II”
That’s all for today, guys! And we hope we were able to fulfill your sunny/rainy romance dreams in great detail. Until next time, Ciao Bella!
Don't Lie
That’s all for today, guys! And we hope we were able to fulfill your sunny/rainy romance dreams in great detail. Until next time, Ciao Bella!
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