Body & Soul (album)

## ***Body & Soul***

* Album
* Pre-Release

## **Singles from *Body & Soul***

1. "Sip (Alcohol)"
Released: 24 September 2021
2. "Contour"
Released: 19 August 2022
3. "Body & Soul"
Released: 20 January 2023
4. "Duffel Bag"
Released: 7 April 2023

***Body & Soul*** is the sophomore studio album by Joeboy, released by emPawa Africa on 19 May 2023. It was preceded by the four singles "Sip (Alcohol)", "Contour", "Body & Soul", and "Duffel Bag". Featured guests include BNXN fka Buju, Odumodublvck, Oli Ekun, CKay, Oxlade, Ludacris, Tempoe and Kemena. He told *Okayplayer* that around the time he dropped the title track, "Body & Soul", he thought it would be great for the album's name because of the music that "comes from a very sincere and honest place".

## Synopsis

There are few hitmakers of Joeboy's ilk anywhere in the world. Since capturing the Nigerian mainstream's attention with 2019's "Baby," the singer born Joseph Akinwale has mined the depths and intricacies of romance and love for his Afropop bops. Joeboy's tender yet keen interrogation of love found broader expression on his 2021 debut album, *Somewhere Between Beauty & Magic*. The album solidified his status as one of his generation's leading lights thanks to his hypnotic vocals and semi-autobiographical musings on fame, affection, and self-perception.

The two years between *Somewhere Between Beauty & Magic* and his much-anticipated sophomore album, 2023's *Body & Soul*, have seen the singer grow and refine his music into a more rounded outlook on his experiences with attraction and romance. "*Body & Soul* is my state of mind," he tells Apple Music. "It contains the topics I want to speak about. It's a more vulnerable project and has a darker side. *SBBM* was really just good vibes all through. *Body & Soul* has a bit of darkness, which I feel is more realistic. Because there will always be good and bad. There'll always be pros and cons."

In many ways, *Body & Soul* is a synthesis of his loving worldview as well as the pressures and pleasures of operating at the peak of Afropop. "The idea for this album is just that you can actually be yourself and you don't have to be perfect," he explains. "All you need to do is be yourself and focus on being a better version of yourself." Read on as Joeboy takes us through key tracks from *Body & Soul*.

## Background

He announced the album's release date on the same day of the release of "Duffel Bag" on 7 April 2023. Along with this, the cover artwork for the latter showed partial titles of the first three tracks from the record. On 15 May, the track listing was revealed.

In an interview with American network BET, he said of the project, "I would say I'm more honest, or at least from a personal perspective in my music, like I was a bit more personal than I was on my last album. So expect more personal songs and a lot of realness on the songs also. And definitely [it contains] amazing music. There'll be an obvious difference in my sound from the first album, there's an obvious growth and I'm more confident with the sound basically".

He shared to Apple Music Africa Now Radio of the album's themes, "It's like the best of both worlds—there's the love ideology there, [and] there's the toxic love—because at the end of the day, love is not just a bed of roses, there are battles and challenges that people in relationships have to go through. There's this social media idea that love is perfect and white as snow, but that's not it. Love is war, basically, so I've come to understand that and the album doesn't just touch on the positive aspects of love, it touches on the other aspects of love. Not just the good part". During the creation process, he also experience a creative block due to the pressure on himself to "[try] to make the next hit record". When he spoke to one of his producers, E Kelly, the advice given was "'[J]ust make music without any forms of barriers or boundaries, just make music that comes out naturally. Don't try to make it sound a certain type of way, make it like you're enjoying yourself'. At the end of the day, before the fame and the money, music was something I just loved doing, like I enjoyed doing, so I just really went back to that point". While Joeboy didn't collab with anyone on his debut album, this one featured different artists that he "really love[s] and respect[s]".

The record took around a year to create, where he recorded many songs and found it could transform into an album. He added as a takeaway message for his audience: "That it is totally okay to be yourself, and you should love yourself enough to know when to leave certain situations. To love somebody does not mean you should not have sense. Just the idea of real love, not the fake social media stuff".

## Critical reception

*PREMIUM TIMES* wrote positively, "effortlessly transcended boundaries (possibly set by himself), solidifying his position as one of Africa's most promising musical ambassadors". *Pulse Nigeria* described it as "His lover-boy persona shines through the album" and "able to take the sticky elements of his music and incorporate them with mainstream elements for a balanced project". *ModernGhana* penned in their review, "Joeboy grows personal and proclaims of his knowledge about a higher power [...] [he is] able to create songs that you can feel and strongly connect to".

## References

1. ↑ Adebiyi, Adeayo (7 April 2023). "Joeboy Drops New Exciting Single 'Duffel Bag', Announces Date for Sophomore Album 'Body & Soul'". *Pulse Nigeria*.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Falola, Ifeoluwa (25 May 2023). "Interview: Joeboy Wants to Take on the World". *Okayplayer*.
3. ↑ "Joeboy (@Joeboy)". *Twitter*. 7 April 2023.
4. ↑ Adebiyi, Adeayo (15 May 2023). "Joeboy Features BNXN, CKay, Oxlade on Upcoming Album 'Body & Soul'". *Pulse Nigeria*.
5. ↑ Meara, Paul (19 May 2023). "#Unboxed Vol. 14: Joeboy's New Album 'Body & Soul' Is the Culmination of Soul Searching and Self-Acceptance". *BET*.
6. ↑ Adebiyi, Adeayo (23 May 2023). "I Had a Creative Block When Making My New Album - Joeboy". *Pulse Nigeria*.
7. ↑ Emmanuel, Solution (21 May 2023). "ALBUM REVIEW: Joeboy Transcends Boundaries in Sophomore Effort, 'Body and Soul'". *PREMIUM TIMES*.
8. ↑ Adebiyi, Adeayo (19 May 2023). "Joeboy Embraces His Identity & Delivers Artistic Quality with 'Body & Soul'". *Pulse Nigeria*.
9. ↑ Kingsley II, Agwuma (7 June 2023). ""Body & Soul" Review: Joeboy Is One of the Masters of Afro-pop". *ModernGhana*.