Nigerian Afrobeats star, Ayra Starr has made a huge success with her latest album, “The Year I Turned 21,” amassing 375 million gross streams on its first day.
This impressive achievement reveals her rising influence in
the music industry and highlights her exceptional talent for creating songs
that captivates her audience.
“The Year I Turned 21,” a 15-track album, includes
collaborations with renowned artistes such as Asake, Giveon, Coco Jones,
Anitta, and Rvssian.
With ‘The Year I Turned 21’, Ayra Starr has set a new standard for Afrobeat artists and has proven herself to be a trailblazer in the industry.
Ayra’s songwriting has always been refreshingly honest, but she taps into level of earnestness here – which is only bolstered by the whimsical intro-recalling background strings – that captures the innate naïveté of young love without embarrassment or shame. Always a dependable heartache crooner, Giveon’s baritone delivers a perfect complement to the Ayra’s deep voice, as the two attempt to convince themselves that this is the last time they’ll waste their lives pining over heartbreak.
The Year I Turned 21 successfully achieves a balance that evades many sophomore albums. Ayra builds on the confessional nature of her debut and enlists new collaborators that substantially add to her sonic universe without sacrificing her Afrobeats foundation. In an era where many Afrobeats stars are keen to reject that label, Ayra fully embraces its past and present, while fashioning a future for the genre that’s refreshingly female-forward.