Josh brings us the runner up to Idols West Africa, because we always like the runners up more…
[Video][Website]
[7.71]
Iain Mew: “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, good evening” — that’s a hell of a GET ON WITH IT opening, and indeed Omawumi being up to the tricky task of sounding as impatiently urgent as the beat is the biggest triumph of “Somori”.
[7]
Mallory O’Donnell: SORRY CAN’T STOP BODY TALK LATER.
[10]
Josh Roberts: This song wouldn’t work half as well as it weren’t so over-energetic. So much of this threatens to be offputting — the Auto-Tuned whoa-ohs in the background, that thing where she name-drops both herself and her producer at the beginning, the (rent-a-)rapper who adds absolutely nothing to the song that Omawumi couldn’t handle herself — but it just isn’t. The way that Omawumi effortlessly drops every word over that relentless beat, she’s earned as many unnecessary flourishes as she wants.
[8]
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: This afrobeat jam clacks and clatters along to a surprising degree, staying on its feet in the meantime, cutting drums short and piling on the instruments (Rhodes keys and guitars and, hell, why not some Auto-Tune). A bundle to take in and uphold — it joyously (and inevitably) fumbles to a close, the seams of its countless polyrhythms showing.
[7]
Zach Lyon: For a song to be so dominated by the personality on the throne isn’t a bad thing in this case, but I’m still way more interested in the teeny promo song clip that plays at the end of the video.
[6]
Anthony Easton: One of the most exciting things about pop this year was how brilliant the African influence in Black American spheres was, a returning and a branching out, in a Pan-African mode that lacked some of the problematic politics that marred the 1960s and 1970s. I cannot imagine that this was accidental, and the remixing of imagery and sounds here are as smartly trans-global as Matangi (but perhaps just a bit more fun).
[8]
Brad Shoup: I love the line “you must be hungry”. It’s like a motherly putdown. I’ve already deployed “song-length taunt“, but this would figure prominently in a list of songs that mock those who won’t dance. Omawumi jukes sweatlessly from boasts to callouts while the percussion circles our poor sitter and the guitar pulls faces. A fantastic slice of naija pop that uses club touches for enhancement.
[8]