Fast-rising Nigerian singer and songwriter, Joseph Akinfenwa Donu, popularly known as Joeboy, recently released his debut EP titled ‘Love and Light’ but it fell below expectations.

The Afropop and R&B singer had announced to excited fans that his first-ever EP was dropping, leaving them eager to hear the maestro.

On his Instagram page @joeboyofficial, he wrote,

“Ladies and gentlemen!! My first ever extended playlist is out!

“Thankful to everyone that has been part of my journey so far! Now let’s spread LOVE and LIGHT!

“Lets get it to number 1! When you send #LoveandLight to loved ones, send my EP”.

The recording artist, who came into limelight when he released his Ed Sheeran ‘Shape of You’ cover, which was well-accepted both in Nigeria and worldwide, is one of Nigeria’s hottest upcoming artiste.

This was made obvious when he was nominated alongside Fireboy DML, Zlatan Ibile, Victor AD, Rema for next rated at the recently held Headies award 2019.

The EP which comprises of five tracks titled ‘Baby’, ‘Beginning’, ‘Don’t call back’, ‘All for you’ and ‘Blessings’, is all about love and relationship.

The problem with the EP was not the theme but the clear laziness with which it was assembled. Only two, out of the five tracks, were new songs and they did not quite hit the mark.

The first track, which was released over a month ago “Baby” is known to be the hit track among all the tracks he later dropped to form the EP because of its melodious signature, appealing lyrics and dancehall vibes.

This was affirmed by some of his fans, who took to their twitter handles to express their love for the music.

@Prettysync1 “Keep it up joeboy, I love your music.

@Youngcrown said, “This is a banger, much love for the song Baby”.

Subsequently, Joeboy released another track titled ‘Beginning’, which was more like a continuation of the love story he was telling with the earlier song titled ‘Baby’.

This was more appreciated by his fans because both songs had the same storyline but a different sound and lyrical content.

On the flip side, the five tracks lacked diversity as all the tracks except for ‘Blessing’, centred on love/ relationships.

Joeboy also featured only one artiste on the project, that is, DMW star Mayorkun on the track ‘Don’t call me back’.

In fact, this song, which was the last he dropped before compiling the EP, was termed as ‘the last good music’ by fans.

This is because the other two new songs did not match up in lyrics and production.

The new songs were viewed by his fans to be less entertaining and more like a “rush work” according to a post on twitter by a fan @Cashflow23.

Furthermore, the fourth track on the EP, ‘All for you’, was described by an Instagram fan @Zanks11 as being too boring because of the repetition of its chorus and having only one verse.

Generally, the EP lacks freshness as some of the tracks have been on air for over a month before the official release date thereby making the EP fall below the expectation of his fans.

It should be noted that the singer did not put in all his time and energy to create his debut EP.

Instead, he put together his previous singles and added two more tracks which were not up to par and relaunched them as his official debut extended play.

This fiasco could be as a result of his upcoming album, which is said to be dropping next year according to the singer.

Nonetheless, Joeboy made some of his fans proud with his debut EP but other fans expected that majority of the songs on his debut EP should be a combination of newly released songs and not songs that had been on air for quite some time.

Realistically, the two last songs added to the EP ‘All for you’ and ‘Blessings’ were not really appreciated by his fans.

This was not only because of its low production quality but Joeboy essentially created an EP for two underrated songs. (NAN)