#Throwback Album Review: Davido’s “A Good Time” Is Unpretentious In Its Cheesiness
It’s been years since a post-pubescent David Adeleke, yet to celebrate his twentieth birthday at the time, screamed "e ma dami duro, ye, emi omo babalowo" in a sleek car under bright city lights, announcing his entry into the Nigerian music scene in 2012. A lot has happened to the DMW frontman since then, as an artist and as a man.
Davido has enjoyed a colourful and stellar career so far, one that has seen him court controversy at half the same frequency as he has earned acclaim for his craft. He is winner of multiple awards, but he has also had to deal with baby mama drama. He has successfully floated a label, but he has had to explain the circumstances surrounding the death of a friend in a night of revelry gone awry.
One major question which he has had to face all along his artistic trajectory, however, is that of his talent. From derisive jabs at his vocal ability to speculations bordering on "buying" songs from less popular acts, Davido’s career has come under intense scrutiny from objective critics and detractors alike. For some, the belief is that his father’s wealth provided a huge boost, and neither the scoring of international collaborations nor the churning out of chart-topping hits over the years has been enough to change their minds.
Maintaining relevance is a huge challenge faced by today’s music-makers, and in modern times, you have to be an Adele (or in Nigerian context, an Asa) to stay for more than three years without releasing a full-length project. Fans are fickle, and when a mainstream act takes too long to put out new music, they will move on. Wande Coal’s case comes to mind: there was a six-year gap between his first and second album. In Davido’s situation, however, there is a little difference: while fans have had to wait for seven years since he released his first album, he has kept them happy with smash hit after smash hit.
A Good Time, Davido’s second LP, was released through DMW, RCA Records and Sony Music. Seventeen tracks long with a listening time of roughly sixty-one minutes, it presents a number of high-profile international collaborations, as well as production input from Kiddominant, London On The Track, Shizzi, Tekno, Speroach Beatz, P2J, Ray Keys and Teekay Witty.
The album gets off to a mid-tempo start with “Intro”, where Davido expresses self-awareness as he yells “everything I do is a lifestyle” over well-strung acoustics, before proceeding to ruminate on media criticism and social media trolls. In “1 Milli” he samples D’Banj’s “Olorun Maje” refrain while assuring a love interest of his commitment as well as financial stability. It’s hardly different from the flavour of radio hits like “Flora Ma Flawa”, but why change a formula that appears to work?
Things pick up with “Check Am”, where he is at his flirtatious best amidst good instrumentation by way of percussion. He enlists label mate Peruzzi on “Disturbance”, a track wherein he samples Drake “I think I’ll ride for you/I think I die for you” line from “Controlla”. The sound on this particular collaboration is reminiscent of more than one DMW track, but that takes little from its melody. “If” needs no introduction: it’s the track from whence the famous “30 billion” phrase was derived.
The London On The Track-produced “D & G” has Davido spewing eye-rolling lyrics like “when I look into your eyes/all I see is your waist/that African waist/no time to waste”, but the song is rescued by Summer Walker’s ear-soothing vocals. “Get To You” features well-blended backing vocals and is rendered in a vibe that Tuface Idibia would have been proud of. Canadian star Popcaan lends a hand and a few vocal notes in “Risky”, a track whose hook is a product of Davido’s much-maligned freestyle session caught on U.S radio, and which portrays just how megahits can be manufactured from creative debris.
If there is any track which conveys the spirit of this record, it would be “Sweet In The Middle”, where the 27-year-old combines with Naira Marley, Wurld and Zlatan Ibile to lethal effect. It is weird to listen to Marley sing in English, otherwise everyone holds their own on this potential banger. Beyond its strategic position in the album, “Sweet In The Middle” is as sensual as it gets.
The novelty of “Fall” may have worn off, but it finds a way to fit in nonetheless. On “Green Light Riddim” he earnestly craves for female company as he croons “imma put you on the low babe/don’t leave me on my own, babe”. He teams up with Gunnar, Dremo and Boogie With A Hoodie on “Big Picture”, a track which would go down as one of the album’s least memorable fillers.
The opening lines of “One Thing” is a subtle nod to the first verse of Wande Coal’s 2009 hit “You Bad”, while he attempts a metaphor by claiming that he is “Michael Jackson dangerous”. He manages to squeeze in the overplayed “Assurance” in a bid to keep up with the lover boy narrative, before expressing his desire to go “freaky freaky” for the object of his lusts in “Blow My Mind” with Chris Brown joining in. “Company” is another percussion-reliant track, and he proceeds to call for vocal contributions from Yonda on “Animashaun”, the album’s curtain-drawer.
Davido is at his best when he is displaying a little bragaddacio and holding out his playboy persona, but he is at his worst when he is using foreign expressions like bloodclaat and trying too hard to serenade. The boy-meets-girl theme that runs across all the tracks almost threatens to send the album to monotony, but the melodies ameliorate the situation, and what Davido lacks in lyricism, he makes up for in musical arrangement.
A Good Time is a body of work that is unpretentious in its cheesiness. Davido knows what works for him, he does not aim for faux lyrical depth or paper-thin introspection, and while this album is by no means a masterpiece, its uplifting instrumentals combine with Davido’s charisma to ensure a fairly enjoyable listen. His harshest critics may not be won over, but they would be dishonest if they did not move their heads a little bit.
Rating: 3/5
