The year is 2022, quite a plethora of music artistes have promised to drop a project in the calendar year, be it an album, mixtape or EP but the climax of the year (December) is near and only a few have dropped yet, increasing world’s hunger by a whooping 30% as their fanbase continue to starve for that delectable promised dish of an album from their favourite(s) artiste(s).
What an ubiquitous way of starting this write-up! Now that I have your attention, I would like to say I’m sorry not sorry but lest I digress again, this article is meant for the purpose of building up hype for albums projected to drop in 2022. Some have been confirmed by the artiste, be it in title and/or date or through circulated social media rumors while for some, we (the fans) only hope these artistes do well to feed our curiosity by blessing our hears with continuous good music in project(s) form.
It is time to get straight to the subject matter, shall we?
1. Confirmed Titles/Dates
• Adekunle Gold – Catch Me If You Can
One of the Nigerian music industry MVPs from last year–Adekunle Gold, is finally ready to unleash his much-anticipated fourth studio-album album come February 4. He revealed this in a tweet yesterday (Jan. 14) on his Twitter.
NEW SINGLE – “MERCY” – OUT JAN 21st
NEW ALBUM – “CATCH ME IF YOU CAN” – OUT FEB 4th
Save the Dates.— Tequila Ever After (@adekunleGOLD) January 14, 2022
With a fantastic roll-out in “Sinner”, “It Is What It Is” and “High”, one can only expect Adekunle Gold aka AG Baby to continue his impressive run of outstanding albums. Finally the teasing is coming to a nice ending plus let us not forget this hint from Adekunle Gold himself: “Look out for all the songs starting with letter “S” on my next album. All fire!“
The album is titled: Catch Me If You Can. It is available for pre-order on major DSPs.
• Blaqbonez – Young Preacher
On why he titled his next album—Young Preacher, rapper, singer, songwriter and all round entertainer, Blaqbonez says: Anytime I release a song or an album, people always say “Preach” because I speak facts so yeah “Young Preacher” because I’m preaching and I’m young. He candidly answered DJ Semtex on his Hip Hop Raise Me podcast, on which he also says Young Preacher would be released in August’s latter days.
Blaqbonez arguably had one of the best, if not the best album in Nigeria last year in “Sex Over Love” and already confidently declared Young Preacher to be 2022’s album of the year. On what to expect, we are kind of in the clouds currently but we can expect Blaqbonez to continue exploring sounds and genres and oh, the Wizkid feature too.
• Rema – Rave & Roses
Afrorave genre act, Rema revealed the title of his debut album to be: Rave & Roses. This was made public knowledge on July 1, 2021 by the “Soundgasm” singer on his Twitter page. When Rema revealed this last year, fans were hyped and optimistic to hearing his first LP during the 2021 calendar year but as the year went by, hopes began to dwindle and optimism turned into prayer as Ravers (Rema’s fanbase or Stans) earnestly yearned for a body of work from the 21-year-old artistes.
From the onset, Rema showed the caliber of music he can and would create. Safe to say, he doesn’t miss, he continues to surpass expectations set for him. So anything below a 7.5/10 rating from Rave & Roses would be below par from Rema but we fear not for we expect nothing but another banger from the Mavin and Jonzing World signed act.
• Fave – Riddim 5
No one could have predicted a better premise to Fave’s outstanding 2021. Starting off with a cosign from Olamide, featuring on two songs—”Want, “PonPon”—on “UY Scuti” and being signed to Mr Eazi’s emPawa label, then moving on to release “Beautifully” and “Baby Riddim”, the latter which went on to rule music charts across the country, beautifully peaking at the summit (no pun intended).
Riddim 5 reportedly contains 5 tracks, a needed segue to a blossoming career of the fast-rising singer who dwells in vulnerable, passionate, sensual, sultry lyricism and vocals.
• Wizkid ‐ More Love, Less Ego
After an outstanding 2021, Ayodeji “Wizkid” Balogun is poised to release yet another classic (as stipulated) with his upcoming album: More Love, Less Ego.
To celebrate the 1 year anniversary of “Made in Lagos”, Wizkid penned on his Instagram: ““1 year already! Thank you for riding with me. I’m just very grateful for all the love and blessings. Promised not to make you wait too long for the next one. ‘More Love Less Ego’ dropping on the last day of tour!“, revealing his next album’s title in the process.
But judging by how long it took him to release his last album—a total of 3 years, is Wizkid to be trusted with the proposed release date timeline for More Love, Less Ego? Only time will tell.
2. Confirmed Artistes/Proposed Title
• Kizz Daniel – Afro Classic
Kizz Daniel is one of those artiste widely renowned for not having a bad song. His last project, “Barnabas”, was released in November 2021 which many believe is only a build-up to his forthcoming fourth studio-album, proposed to be titled Afro Classic.
The Afro Classic proposed title does not come as a surprise nonetheless, since the singer tipped it on the cover art of the 7-song “Barnabas” with the smallest of fonts compared to other typography visible on the artwork. (The “Afro Classic” words can be seen written above Kizz Daniel’s head).
Also the caption: “We go again next month #AFROCLASSIC” on a September 2021 post might be a giveaway to the Afro Classic title.
Kizz Daniel will embark on his “Afro Classic” tour from February to September 2022. Hence, a late January or early February release is the best guess for Kizz “Vado” Daniel to drop his album.
• Burna Boy – Outsider
Burna Boy tweeted some series of tweets hinting to as what might just be the title of next album.
This next album. I need you to hear the pain in my voice, The pain of an OUTSIDER, Forever marked by my skin ,my past and the place I come from No matter how skilled I am or how honourable I proved myself.
— Burna Boy (@burnaboy) May 7, 2021
OUTSIDER
— Burna Boy (@burnaboy) May 7, 2021
Outsider would be Damini Ogulu, popularly called Burna Boy, sixth album. If he is gunning for yet another Grammys nomination, maybe a win, then we should expect it to be released before September 2022.
3. The ‘By God’s Grace’ List
• Buju – Is Sorry I’m Late the premise for Buju’s debut album? Or the wait would linger?
• Fireboy DML – “My third album is loading“.
• Simi – Personally I feel “Woman” and “So Bad” serves as roll-out to Simi’s next album.
• Wande Coal
• Davido – Davido teased this on many interviews last year, plus are we finally getting the Davido-Drake collaboration?
• Tiwa Savage
• Tems – Tems revealed that she and Drake have an unreleased song together and it would be on her album during her interview on The Beat 99.9 FM.
and many others
Whose project are you most hyped for?