Not many countries have the depth and quality of the Nigerian scene, and breakout singer-songwriter Fave sits centric to that. Newly signed to Bad Habit / Atlantic Records, she’s a hotly tipped name in the Afro space, and has now solidified her acclaim with the release of her sophomore EP, “Dutty Love”.
The project traverses stylistic singularity, stirring an eclectic array of genres—from dancehall to R&B, Afropop to amapiano—in a vibrant and rousing melting pot. Lyrically potent and poignant, vocally effortless and captivating, it’s a truly impressive work that raises the bar ever further for Nigerian newcomers.
Listen to “Dutty Love”…
Fave took the time out to walk Wonderland through the new EP, track-by-track…
“Dutty Love”
My favourite thing about this song is the sample cause I listened to Nelly Furtado a lot growing up and I always admired how electric she sounded especially whenever she teamed up with Timbaland. “Boy you don’t mean no nothing at all to me” so I wrote about why this boy means nothing at all to me. Because he hurt me when he said he loved me. To me, it’s the perfect entrance into this dutty world.
“Complicated”
“Complicated” is a song I obsessed over for months from the first night I vibed to it with Damie. Describes the perfect dilemma of not wanting to lose someone over exclusivity yet you’re getting too jealous to be satisfied with crumbs. “I don’t want a piece of you: I want it all. I want it all”. It’s a Gen-z thing I don’t know why haha.
“Controlla”
For a long time I wouldn’t jump on an amapiano beat. Can’t believe this is me now. We made this beat from scratch inspired by a P2J beat and we just ‘duttied’ it a little bit. Don’t miss the first few seconds… It’s like the best part. My love goes out to Saszy.
“Juju”
Juju is ‘charm’ ‘jazz’ ‘voodoo’ in African culture. It’s common in my country to hear people say “you don use your love jazz me” and as much as people really are doing that, most times it’s just a figure of speech: Like this song. Cause this person won’t call me, won’t text me yet I’m willing to fight for what we have. What do we have?
“Lose My Mind”
“Lose My Mind” is really just one of my many odes to God. He’s such a wonder. Highlander is so sick with the drums.
“No Games”
Chxf Barry invented a new bounce on ‘No games’. We had a show in Uganda and later that night, we recorded this. I had never heard anything like it. I still haven’t. Sky B was my inspo for a couple pronunciations. ‘I’m calling’ was my favourite song for a long long time.
“Belong To You”
“Belong To You” is my closer. It’s the end. It’s the fall. It’s the verdict. It’s where it all comes crashing down. The realisation of how twisted you just may be. How willing you are to carry on in a relationship that may not be good for you, just because your heart is unwilling to let go. Unwilling to start over. How do I let go when I belong with you? Axon produced this track. I can’t wait to go to Uganda again and invent more songs.