Tiwa Savage takes things personal on her fourth studio album, This One Is Personal. The album brims with aching memories, unhealed bruises and a longing for unconditional love.
The energetic and colourful Afrobeats rhythms that once defined her sound are hushed, giving way to a soulful, velvety R&B soundscape.
Within the arc of her career, from Afrobeats hitmaker to global star, this rhythmic pivot feels daring and defiant, an indication that she’s now making music for depth, not charts.
Choosing legacy over hits, she reveals that age is the accumulation of scars, and singing them truthfully is therapy.
The album is quasi-biographical; Ms Savage begins by recounting her hurts. On the opening track, “I’m Done”, she sings about being lovelorn, confessing that every time she feels like she’s found the one who loves her unconditionally, they always let her down. “I lost hope, I feel like giving up,” she sings, doubting if she’s meant for love because “it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.” A true believer in love, she opens her heart again and again only to have it broken again.
In a conversation with the Uncut Podcast, Tiwa explains that she cried while recording the song because of how her heart was tortured by her ex-partner of the past two years. Not willing to share the burden of her love life with the world, she initially removed the song from the album, but it was reinstated by her label as the opening track. Though healed, she still can’t perform it because it reminds her of how wicked her ex was.
“I’m Done” is a preamble to her story of love and its vagaries, setting the stage for a heartfelt narrative about an unrequited romantic relationship. “Why do the boys I love always take my kindness for weakness?” Ms Savage asks on “You’re Not the First (You’re Just the Worst).” She sings of partners who want peace until they get her, then leave her in pieces, despite her giving until she’s empty. But like a rose that grew from the crack in the concrete, she is always ready to embrace the sunlight of love. And over and over again, she gets crushed.
On the title track, “This One Is Personal”, Ms Savage reflects on loving her partner more than herself and feeling unappreciated in return. The relationship ends in bitterness, leaving her wounded and conflicted, filled with regret and resentment. Still, even in despair, she refuses to surrender to loneliness. Unconditional love remains a purpose for her even if sometimes painful, sometimes fleeting, but always necessary. That tension between heartbreak and hope is the emotional driver of this album.
The collaborations on this album are sparse but impactful, carefully curated to match its soulful intimacy. Ms Savage features UK-Nigerian rapper Skepta in “On The Love,” singing about keeping their affair away from the public eye. Skepta’s verse is top-notch, celebrating his lover and dedicating time now that he isn’t touring. On “Addicted,” with the honey-voiced Taves, Ms Savage is drawn to her lover’s mind and the way he loves her. The closing track, “Change,” featuring James Fauntleroy, provides catharsis to the emotional discomfort that opens the album. Their breathy vocals, throbbing percussion, and gentle guitar strum weave intimacy into transcendence. The production throughout, warm, minimalist, yet layered, gives her vocals space to bloom and her emotions room to breathe.
This is Tiwa Savage at her best. Her vocal performance is stellar with unmatched precision, and the songwriting marks a higher artistic level. The album is cohesive, unfolding like a story about unrequited love that edges toward healing. The transition between “Scared of Love” and “Pray No More” is sleek and impressive, moving from anxiety to tranquillity with seamless grace.
With its emotional honesty, This One Is Personal feels like the culmination of years of grind and growth. What makes it remarkable is Ms. Savage’s bold refusal to chase hits in a hit-driven industry. Instead, she chooses vulnerability and manages to create in the process, an exceptional R&B record that is intimate, cohesive, and defiantly against the grain. In doing so, she not only redefines her career but also challenges what it means to make lasting music in today’s fast-moving Afrobeats culture.
***Michael Kolawole is a screenwriter, playwright, poet and cultural journalist/critic. Catch him on X @mykflow
