Wizkid – ‘More Love, Less Ego’ review: For Love, And Love Only

The Nigerian superstar expands his heart on album number five.

It's been two years since Made in Lagos consolidated Wizkid’s ascension into global pop. “Essence,” the 2021 universal song of the summer continues to rack up accolades for its impact, recently picking up the first trophy of the newly created ‘Favorite Afrobeats Artist,’ category at the American Music Awards.  Add that to its historical win as the first Nigerian entry on Billboard Hot 100 and Global 200, and you have classic status sealed for eternity. In the time since Made in Lagos, began its work, Afrobeats have witnessed a global explosion, as an increasing contingent of Nigerian artists access new homes and hearts in distant countries and markets where the homegrown movement has made inroads. Wizkid's position as a leading light of the culture hasn’t changed. His work speaks for him, the lights on the scoreboard continue to switch in his favour, and his decade-long impact on the culture rings across generations. No other Nigerian artist has succeeded at packing out London’s O2 Arena for three nights. No other Nigerian artist commands the fierce loyalty of motley defenders bounded under the  ‘Wizkid FC’ banner.

More Love, Less Ego arrives on the back of Wizkid’s global acceptance, hounded by escalating expectations of excellence and an encore of the highs its predecessor delivered. For the singer, legacy is in focus, and his only goal is “to live forever,” a confession he’s made to the Guardian UK. The new album leans on the winning formula from his recent past, with a focus on refining the cross-cultural sonic expression, representative of the demands on Nigerian artists seeking new ground. Throughout the LP’s 13 tracks, Afrobeats ceaselessly meets Caribbean influence, with interspersed R&B delivery mostly helmed over production by favoured collaborator, P2J. 

A typical Wizkid record is a meandering compendium of how virile men and women can find common ground. It often assumes form as a repeated expression of love, or an accompaniment to the mating dance, where erotic feelings meet local poetry and expansive production sew it all together for a run in the public square. Long-time listeners have heard him endlessly explore “boy-meets-girl-makes-her-his-lover-and-spends-on-her,” from the final stretch of his teenage years, through navigating adulthood, fatherhood and global stardom. This approach has spawned 5 projects, a world of awards, and led the charge for the installation of Afrobeats in the global music world order. And for More Love, Less Ego, Wizkid mostly cracks open that same bottle, recruits familiar faces as supporting cast, offering his expertise in soundtracking romance. It’s another spin on the same tale, retold with masterful experience and a sound that continues to polarise local listeners.

‘Money & Love’ provides the opening assertion of self, and a precursor to what is on offer throughout the album. There are outsized declarations of individuality, displays of material wealth, and direct professions of sexual prowess. That note is held and translated into the silky confession of surrender on ‘Balance,’ and the exultant, ‘Bad to me,’ a focus track cut from South Africa’s Amapiano. Ayra bestows a welcome infusion of energy and intimacy, as she croons and complains into a pliant Wizkid on ‘2 Sugar.’ It’s a cross-generational duet, reminiscent of the star-making ‘Essence, which helped launch Tems to global touring lanes. But, where Tems asked for carnal exclusivity, Ayra just wants to be left alone from the world’s ills.

How do love and ego intersect? Does the abundance of one culminate in the erosion of the other? Are they twin internal forces, pushing and pulling within the human experience? A ying and yang type deal? Enter Maya Angelou, the American memoirist. “I am grateful to have been loved and to be loved now and to be able to love, because that liberates. Love liberates. It doesn't just hold - that's ego. Love liberates,” she explains on ‘Everyday.’ This exploration of personal liberation via love turns up across the entire length of the project where Wizkid extends himself as a longing troubadour. While time and experience have provided him with refinement in delivery, he maintains the rawness of vulnerability. “No do me something wey go make me stress. Give me less of that. Give me more of you,” he sings on ‘Frames (Who’s gonna Know).’

In the few moments when Wizkid breaks from whelming sappiness, he embraces experimentation with his supporting cast. Shenseea and Skillibeng form a welcome Jamaican pivot on ‘’Slip N Slide.’ across the AfroBashment affair, with the former’s vibrato showing intent as she instructs her lover, “Wet, wet, wet, slip it and slide / Set, set, set, grip it up tight…” Cactus Jack signee, Don Toliver glides over probing guitars on ‘Special,’ while Nigerian and UK unite as Naira Marley and Skepta find astonishing connection and energy on ‘Wow.’

Wizkid has been on a public journey to adapt his sound, catering to newfound markets with a multicultural approach to delivering his projects. 2020’s Made in Lagos, might have afforded him a winning proof of the potency of his current artistic iteration. He spins the block again on More Love, Less Ego, maintaining all the winning elements, and advancing his position.

There’s a hangover from the expansive approach of the previous project, a one-note insistence on curating ‘chilled vibes’ over any other demand for more. 10 years after he made history in Nigeria, not much has changed about Wizkid’s approach to creativity, even with advancement in personal life and career. You will take his love, and you’ll be happy with it.

Wizkid can provide so much more, and there are growing calls from his audience demanding he shows up in more ways than one. When fans listen to ‘Ojuelegba,’ a Starboy career essential, they dream of diversity of thought. Fans who fell in love with his art from inception can track the self-evident growth of his sound. But they will have to be content with the unchanging content of his heart. The defence of this one-theme creative policy lies in his insistence for artistic freedom and space. Space to be truly himself as a romance singer, especially when it provides winning moments like ‘Flower Pads.’ Space to love, listen to women and amplify all the ways he’s found succour, nourishment and happiness in bosoms, bodies and femininity. And then there’s the little matter of how much it all commercially checks out. Love, humanity’s highest level of vibration, continues to bring in the streams, pack out arenas, haul in trophies, and keep the books in the black. Who wouldn’t play a winning hand?