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ALBUM REVIEW
LV N ATTN by Lojay & Sarz
(Written by Sam George Mac)
On his debut extended playlist, titled LV N ATTN, Lojay flourishes on several sounds like Electro, Dancehall, RnB, and Amapiano all properly and skillfully blended with the Afrobeats genre of music. LV N ATTN is a joint EP between Lekan Osifeso Jr, professionally called Lojay, and Nigerian veteran record producer, Sarz.
Stream LV N ATTN by Lojay & Sarz below:
The project, released on 4th June 2021, was intended to be recorded without a feature at first, but the plan changed when Sarz played LV N ATTN, a song off the EP, to Wizkid’s hearing in 2020, several months before it was released. Wizkid had gone home with his part of the song which was recorded about more than a month after, to Lojay’s surprise.
In an interview held by OkayAfrica with Lojay a few months back, the singer had revealed that he met Sarz through his own personal lawyer. Sarz had listened to Lojay sing, while the latter hoped to have a single recorded at the producer’s studio. Surprisingly, Sarz objected to the idea of a single, stressing that Lojay would express himself better with an extended playlist. This is how the LV N ATTN extended playlist was birthed.
Even before one opens Lojay’s EP for playing, one instantly notices the creativity that is evident in his artistry right from the title of the project; LV N ATTN is an alteration of the phrase “Love and Attention”. Aside from this artistic title, one also notices the twist in the way Lojay delivers his lyrics when one finally delves headfirst into the five-track EP that runs for a total of fourteen minutes.
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Lojay perfectly but meaningfully delivers words like “flamengo”, “tonongo”, “bloam bloam”, “militanto”, “miliki”, “je la tan”, “bulala”, “legedes”, to add electrifying rhythm to his flow. These are words that may not readily make meanings outside music. Lojay gives them meanings with the way he uses them on each song on which they specifically appear on the EP.
Lojay’s pronunciation of words, especially Yoruba words, too is always altered; creatively, he pronounces words in a manner that soothes him and the kind of song he is singing. How these pronunciations are done sounds playful, something a kid might do. Lojay just expresses the most serious of feelings with several lines of playful lyrics. This is the biggest difference between Lojay and his counterparts in the industry. This is a trademark and an identity. This is creativity. It is great!
On LV N ATTN, Lojay takes the wheels of singing, while Sarz settles for production works on what is his third joint EP in the space of two years. He had recorded I Like Girls With Trobul EP with Wurld in 2019, Sweetness EP with Obongjayar in 2021, and LV N ATTN with Lojay in 2021 too.
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LV N ATTN begins with an Electro-meets-Afrobeats track titled Tonongo. Although Lojay loses all senses of proper reasoning at the sight of a “bum bum” that “covers my oblongata”, he is calm enough to make his sexual fantasies blunt to the listeners.
With a not-too-slow rhythm carrying carefully selected lyrics, Lojay sonically paints the effects the sight of a specific female body has on him. This unnamed female makes things “go tonongo” with Lojay. Lojay would go on to sing her compliments as a “fashion killer” who makes “it easy to fall in love”.
Lojay is soon talking about love on Park O, a Dancehall with some elements of electronic music. One discovers Lojay is head-on in love with a girl he is ready to follow to a “Methodist” church. Though he is not a churchgoer, he is ready to “park” his “Mercedes” outside the church, waiting for her to finish worshipping her God. Crazy what love makes us do! Lojay is that liberal type of lover who doesn’t see religion as a barrier to loving and relationships.
With gruff basslines forming the bases of some Dancehall instrumentals, Lojay and Wizkid express love and sexual fantasies on LV N ATTN, track three, an eponymous track, named after the title of the EP. The energy is a matter of reciprocity; though Lojay struggles to get love and attention from his lover, Wizkid, however, seems to be enjoying both already from his own partner as he declares “she tell me say she love me pass me” and goes further to fantasize about the “yansh” that “high me pass palmwine”.
Lojay becomes explicitly lewd in the choral lyrics of Panty. Panty, an Afro-fusion sound, is characterized by lust and sexual desires. It becomes absolutely clear when Lojay tells us that “girl, I love you in your panties”. These are sexual activities between two lovers.
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Chronologically, Panty, track 4, sits at the right place on the EP. After a woman prickles Lojay’s lustfulness on Track 1, the singer follows her to church all in a bid to win her over on Track 2, then the singer demands for a hundred percent attention on Track 3, and finally makes his sexual desires known to her on Track 4.
However, Track 5 uncovers the name of this female who we’ve heard so much about on the first four tracks of the EP. On Monalisa, Lojay rides on the fame of Amapiano to map his territory; this is called territoriality, a reproductive behavior, in Biology. Lojay makes it clear that “your miliki (breast) for front na for me” and nobody else.
On what is definitely a contender for the Amapiano Song of the Year, if there is ever such an award, Lojay and Sarz are all lively as the singer orders his woman, Monalisa, to dance “máa jó Monalisa”. I guess after the good sex on Track 4, dancing and partying is the next thing in the lovers’ bucket list. Once more, Lojay praises her “ibadi” (buttocks). It must be so massive, for Lojay to have talked about it more than twice in the space of five songs.
Two songs off this EP perform well across several streaming platforms in Nigeria. Both LV N ATTN and Monalisa have done so well online, and Monalisa particularly, whose visuals were released about a week ago, is now growing on a lot of Nigerians who take the song to be the best off the LV N ATTN extended playlist.
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With LV N ATTN, Lojay has shown three things: his versatility, easily noticeable on each track, his creativity, clearness in his lyrics, song titling, and song delivery, and lastly, his child-like vocals. LV N ATTN is convincing enough. With a proper push and promotion, the EP, most definitely, will be a success in the international music market. However, rather than strive for another EP, Lojay should consider releasing an album anytime he feels is right for such.
© Sam George Mac, 2021.