Review: Afrofusion star Burna Boy confronts success

GLOBAL

Burna Boy, "Love, Damini" (Atlantic)

Burna Boy — the Nigerian songwriter Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu — has ascended steadily to international stardom over a decade of recording. His sixth studio album is a trove of material: 19 full-fledged songs. He summoned an international roster of collaborators including blockbuster hitmakers J Balvin and Ed Sheeran along with Khalid, Kehlani, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Jamaican singer Popcaan and British rapper J Hus. And like Burna Boy's previous album, the Grammy-winning 2020 "Twice as Tall," his new one both parades his accomplishments and admits to the doubts and regrets of an obsessive achiever.

Burna Boy calls his music Afrofusion. Its core is the elegantly minimal percussion connected to its worldwide kin: R&B, Jamaican dancehall, reggaeton, Congolese rumba, hip-hop and more. His voice, a velvety baritone, has a suave composure that can hint at easy assurance or melancholy reticence, and while his melodies don't immediately seem sharp-edged, he places each note to add yet another layer of polyrhythm.

His guests often join him as fellow strivers. J Balvin trades verses with him in "Rollercoaster," a bilingual Afrobeats-dembow blend, with Burna Boy expressing gratitude, renouncing "the fast life" and resigning himself to ups and downs. And with Sheeran, he shares "For My Hand," a wedding-song-worthy vow of mutual devotion through rough times.

Work-life imbalance destroys a romance in "Last Last," the album's most agitated song. In "How Bad Could It Be," he's convincing as he details depression, alienation and anxiety. He has other concerns, like the smog in his hometown, Port Harcourt. And even when he's promising carnal delights — in "Dirty Secrets," "Science" and "Toni-Ann Singh" — they're mixed with ominous undercurrents.

On "Love, Damini," Burna Boy could easily have congratulated himself and strutted through new conquests instead of looking inward. But even now, he's not self-satisfied enough to party — not this time.

Burna Boy performs July 22 at the Armory in Minneapolis.

JON PARELES, New York Times

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