There is a thing that happens with women in Nigerian music who reach a moderately successful level of popularity. They seem to always wait out the glory of their highest peaks before petering into irrelevance, never trying anything new, or doing anything differently. There are two plausible explanations for this phenomenon. The first is what happens to every artist whose well of ideas run dry, the other is the need to hold on to a perceived role model image. While the former plausibility is inevitable for the untalented, the latter is a tight corner in a small box.

The societal expectations placed on women across cultures are part of a larger ongoing discussion on gender equality and female rights so I won’t bother emphasising the common sense of it all. However, the artistic consequence of being under the spotlight in a society with a patriarchal gaze of female achievements is the need to downplay opinions, risk-adjacent subject matters and individual branding to preserve misogynistic sensibilities. Sadly this also narrows the field of depth for content, giving way for triteness and repetition of concept.

But true art is not to be shackled by social norms, and for greatness to be born, boxes must be broken

Eye brows were raised when Yemi Alade flagged off her ‘Mama Africa’ campaign as part of publicity for her sophomore album of the same name last year. Early debates questioned the singer’s early claim to a Mama Africa throne previously chaired by Mariam Makeba, Brenda Fassie and Anglique Kidjo amonsgt other revolutionaries. But the Mama Africa backlash didn’t come full circle until much later in the same year, with Yemi Alade becoming the butt of internet memes over her songwriting capabilities.

While it’s safe to say her campaign to mother Africa was not total success, 2016 was a good year for Yemi Alade all around. Her Mama Africa sophomore still managed to crease iTunes and Billboard charts and besides touring numerous countries in the last twelve months, Yemi Alade also got appointed to be one of five global representatives endorsed by Shell Oil to promote clean energy. For those who are wondering what’s next for the Yemi Alade that gave Mama Africa, well, her latest single proves for starters that she may never come back, but is also holds hint that Yemi is finally ready to do the ‘sex’ thing.

You notice “Charliee’s “ distinction on a whiff. It’s an electronic deviation from the earthy acoustic production that made up her Mama Africa album. Soft drops and synths create a simple Afrotrap baseline for her vocals to meld with. Yemi comes in with flirty lyrics on a cheeky vocoded refrain before a sultry auto-tuned bridge sets into the composition. Yemi Alade’s “Charliee” appears to have been pre-prepared for sub-textual interpretation, and you hear this when she attempts to slur her words on a sexually suggestive bridge about liking ‘it’ and wanting ‘it’. But even this is a precursor to Yemi’s description of skin-on-skin action like a ‘sandwich’ and even more bawdy references to fellatio and orgasms.

In the past Yemi fell into the same category of female artists who played it safe to avoid scandals or be maligned with tabloid-worthy narratives. Though she achieved a notable level of success nonetheless, her lack of sex appeal over the years has been a direct result of a deliberate PR move to take attention away from her sexuality. In fairness to Yemi and her team, no one will be quick to forget the double standard rhetoric of indecency that followed Tiwa Savage’s catatonic “Wanted” video nearly three years ago. However with perfect timing for gender issues and “Charliee” on her side, Yemi Alade may inspire a new generation of female artists, who are not afraid to embrace all parts of what makes them women.

Yemi Alade’s team hasn’t indicated if her latest single if off an upcoming project or not. It is expected however that Charliee will do two things for the singer: prove her Mama Africa campaign was a PR move critics need to take as is, and emerge a new era in Yemi Alade’s discography where she’s damning the consequences to embrace her womanhood and femininity.

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