I Love Girls with Trobul.
Declarative and acknowledging, perhaps even romcom cheeky—this is the title of the first EP collaboration between blue-haired American-bred and Lagos-born crooner WurlD and Sarz, Benin-born music producer with a remarkable shelf-life and bragging rights.
The knee-jerk response is to say, Yes, me too, I love girls with ‘trobul’ while the next impulse is to furtively check if anyone is watching. This is not the most political correct assertion to make at this time—and this is just one of the difficulties of this album.
The album was released late last year to compete in the annual last quarter of the year album glut. Dropped to catch the November rush, Sarz and WurlD may have been grandiose to think they had a chance in the most successful year since Afrobeats began courting global relevance.
The concern is not quality, not by a dozen yards of lace. WurlD has already proven his vocal prowess with his EP, Love is Contagious. On the album produced, mostly, by Shizzi, WurlD’s silky-smoky voice showed range and lyrical dexterity. We were clear on his concerns about matters of the heart and the transience of human affection.
Sarz, on the other hand, has been midwifing big hits for at least one decade. A frequent collaborator with the likes of Wizkid, Reminisce, and most recently Niniola—he is clearly a stakeholder in what Afrobeats has become. His personal growth and preferences have always been top-most on his mind. Sarz, it would seem, has never been fully comfortable and satisfied with the back-bencher role producers play in the Afrobeats pantheon.
Producers, obviously, are the unsung heroes of every song. Conceiving the beat of a song is integral to making songs; they are the framework, the skeleton of which songs are formed. In recent times, Sarz has distanced himself from the mainstream Afrobeat trend to embrace house music. This switch is easily evident in his work with Niniola.
I Love Girls with Trobul seems to further this tendency. Bring in the smoky and silky on the frill vocals of WurlD to the sultry and surround ambient of Sarz’s house music—but don’t forget to bring girls and their troubles. Venture to mis-spell trouble and you get the idea.
In 27 minutes or so, you pace through seven tracks and a hilarious girl-talk skit, and you dance around the difficulties of heterosexual romance. It is a concept album that tries to build a quick circuit of the processes of love.
WurlD is able to meander between different nuances of love even within the same song. And all the time, the music is thumping and tempered for dance. Fancy regretting love while still able to groove to it. Of course, affection is never fixed. It is in a constant state of flux and influenced by perceptions, feelings and feedback. WurlD’s spot-on song-writing and Sarz’s hypnotic rhythms makes this EP irresistible.
The best way to enjoy this album is to listen to it in one large gulp—and to rinse and repeat.
