Three Nigerian artists, the likes of Rema, Ayra Starr and Tems, have made RollingStone’s 2024 Album of the Year list.
RollingStone said the 2024 top albums of the year staff list reflects the global rise of Nigerian stars.
Rema’s sophomore album ‘HEIS’ is the highest-ranked Nigerian album with a number 11 entry after enjoying commercial success that was recently capped by a Grammy nomination for Best Global Album Performance.
Describing the album, RollingStone said: “Rema has taken to calling his own style of Afrobeats “Afro-rave,” in the tradition of Burna Boy and the like who have fought to differentiate themselves from what became a catchall for African music in general.
“Yet, there was no real sonic signifier for Rema’s Afro-wave — he seamlessly traverses hip-hop, house, R&B, and dancehall. Heis sounds more like a rave than almost anything Rema has made prior (excluding the excellent loosey “Bounce,” for example, raging while everything else simmers. The result is the buzzy, visceral, sweat-it-out music that no one else in the mainstream is making.”
Tems’ highly anticipated debut album ‘Born In The Wild’ was placed at number 37 following a successful tour and record-breaking Grammy nominations for Best R&B Song and Best Global Album.
RollingStone describes the album as being so rich that its listening experience offers both emotional and physical comfort.
“Tems has already remade Nigerian pop in her own image. Her debut album measures the soul work it’s taken to get here. All of it has paid off on an album so rich that the listening experience is a physical one as much as it is emotional. “Wickedest” is primed for the dance floor, while the single “Love Me Jeje” is a masterpiece, soaked in the sun and major-key dopamine. Her vision is made timeless via a seamless blend of stripped-down ballads, the cool of 1990s R&B with flecks of SWV and Sade, joyous high life, Afro-dance music like amapiano, and rugged hip-hop.”
Ayra Starr’s sophomore album, ‘The Year I Turned 21’ was praised for being one of the finest Afrobeats projects of 2024 as it comprehensively displays her abilities and ambitions as a global popstar.
RollingStone describes it as an album showcasing maturity far beyond her age.
“With the follow-up to her 2021 debut, Ayra Starr asserts a musical maturity that could be considered far beyond her years, but perhaps more aptly serves as a reminder of the emotional depth, logical prowess, and enviable passion young people often possess. Across it, Starr refreshes tried-and-true
Afrobeats elements with the type of songwriting that SZA fans flock to, darting between Nigerian Pidgin, Yoruba, and English with endless finesse and attitude in all three languages.”
The inclusion of Rema, Ayra Starr, and Tems on RollingStone’s top 100 albums of 2024 is a reflection of their status as international stars and the popularity of Nigerian pop music globally.
In 2023, Asake’s ‘Work of Art’, Burna Boy’s ‘I Told Them’, Mr. Eazi’s ‘Evil Genius’, and Adekunle Gold’s ‘Tequila Ever After’ all made the list.
