More Lust, Plenty Ego
More Lust, Plenty Ego – Review of Wizkid’s ‘More Love, Less Ego’
After months of teasing an album, Wizkid decided it was finally time to share More Love, Less Ego on 11 November 2022. My first listen was at 1am on the Friday the album dropped. After a long day, I decided listening to the album was a much better alternative to sleep.
Wizkid has consistently expressed his desire to make music which does not address or discuss socio-political ideas or issues. Wizkid’s artistry is not designed to make us think critically about the world and its problems, so why is his music so impactful, not just to me but to so many fans across the world? What is it about Wizkid’s music that kept me up past 1am just so I could listen to the album despite being so tired? I think it’s the comfort I feel from his music, the familiarity that comes with hearing his melodies, the understanding of who he is as an artist, and feeling as if I was there from the beginning to see his trajectory and transition from a hungry artist manifesting his success on songs like ‘No Lele,’ to the household name committed to taking life easy and reflecting this ‘No Stress,’ ethos through his recent music.
As a fan of Wizkid, I enjoyed the album and thought it had a good collection of songs with replay value. I particularly like the last song on the album – ‘Frames (Who’s Gonna Know),’ because Wizkid sounds like he has a better grasp and understanding of his vocal limits, capabilities and range. ‘Frames (Who’s Gonna Know)’ holds your attention from the beginning with the way Wiz starts the record and it’s just one of those songs I keep returning to. Other songs I really enjoy from More Love, Less Ego are ‘Pressure,’ ‘2 Sugar,’ featuring Ayra Starr and ‘Slip and Slide.’
However, as an objective listener it goes without saying that the title of the album is not reflective of the work. Although Maya Angelou’s words on ‘Everyday,’ present a rebuttal to this point, it still remains that Wizkid uses someone else’s view on love without ever mentioning or acknowledging his own perspective. Instead, he focuses heavily on lust, sex and escapism throughout the album, conveying very little emotional vulnerability. This is particularly ironic, considering the title of the album is ‘More love, Less ego.’
I see many parallels between More love, less Ego and Made in Lagos. Both albums rely on a similar formula, where Wizkid experiments with different genres to create a soft and smooth collection of music. For instance, Wiz’s interest in dancehall and how this intersects with softer afrobeats is clear on both Made in Lagos and More Love, Less Ego. On the more recent album, he features Skillibeng and Shenseea on ‘Slip and Slide,’ and on Made in Lagos, Wiz features Projexx on True Love. I would have liked to see Wizkid try a different ‘formula’ to what he created on Made in Lagos and do something entirely unexpected. In other words, I would have loved to feel like More Love, Less Ego was a completely different and unique body of work. Instead, the album feels like an extension of Made in Lagos or Made in Lagos ‘Part 2’. This is not a negative comment or statement, it just begs the question of whether we can expect disruption from Wizkid in the foreseeable future- are we in for five more years of albums that feel like sequels to Made in Lagos? Will Wiz simply stick to this style of music because it works and the music is sonically good?
The old saying ‘if its not broken, don’t fix it,’ is a probably the rebuttal Wizkid FC will have ready if they get hold of this review. However, its worth interrogating whether that is enough. Often times, good music should be enough but when an artist is exceptional, (and I consider Wiz to be an exceptional artist), its not enough for the music to be good or even excellent as such artists have set that as the base standard. In such cases, audiences and music lovers can dare to demand disruption, a more abstract as opposed to formulaic pattern and more subject matter range from our biggest stars.
Although More Love, Less Ego feels like an extension of Wizkid’s 2020 album, this does not make the album a complete replica of Made in Lagos, as there are certain factors and songs which differentiate both works. For instance, Wizkid took more risks with the sounds he explored on More Love, Less Ego. One of the standout songs for me is ‘Special.’ This is an incredible record created by two artists (Don Toliver and Wizkid) I would not have typically paired together. ‘Special,’ is a great song because it demonstrates the malleable nature of Black music. In this instance, Black music showcases itself as a medium of expression which gives a trap artist (Don Toliver) the space to sing his auto-tuned melodies on a completely different type of beat which hardly intersects with trap music. In theory, trap and soft afrobeats might sound like contradictory forms of music that shouldn’t be mixed but in practice, ‘Special’ completely proves this theoretical assertion wrong. The song demonstrates that with great production (from Juls), any mix of supposedly contrasting sounds can work well to create great music.
More love, Less Ego feels like an extension of Made in Lagos but it also has its standout moments; showcasing Wiz’s latest project as a sequel, not a complete copy. From a purely music perspective, Wizkid has done a great job with showing his dedication and attention to the more technical aspects of his craft, such as vocal control, understanding his melodies and also giving his audience what they want – music which makes us temporarily forget that stress exists. However, on the less technical and emotive factors, the album could have benefitted from more lyricism or song writing which reflected the concept of ‘More Love, Less Ego,’ and what these two phrases mean to Wizkid.
