''More Love, Less Ego'' is the fifth studio album by Nigerian singer

Wizkid Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun (born 16 July 1990), better known as Wizkid, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. Born in the Ojuelegba suburb of Surulere, Lagos, Wizkid is a voice in the emerging Afrobeats movement. His music is a blend of Afrobea ...

. It was released on 11 November 2022 through

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

and Starboy Entertainment. The album features guest appearances from

Ayra Starr Sarah Oyinkansola Aderibigbe (born 14 June 2002), known professionally as Ayra Starr, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter born in Benin Republic. She achieved mainstream international recognition in 2022, with the release of her hit song "Ru ...

, Skillibeng,

Shenseea Chinsea Linda Lee (born 1 October 1996), known professionally as Shenseea (), is a Jamaican dancehall singer-songwriter and dancer. She is best known for her guest appearance alongside Roddy Ricch on Kanye West's 2021 song " Pure Souls," whic ...

Skepta Joseph Olaitan Adenuga Jr. (born 19 September 1982), known professionally as Skepta, is a British grime MC, rapper, record producer and DJ. Alongside his younger brother Jme, he briefly joined Roll Deep before they became founding members of ...

Naira Marley Azeez Adeshina Fashola (born 10 May 1991), known professionally as Naira Marley, is a British-Nigerian singer, songwriter and rapper. Education At the age of 11, Fashola moved to Peckham, South London, England. He graduated with a distinctio ...

, and

Don Toliver Caleb Zackery "Don" Toliver ( ; born June 12, 1994) is an American rapper and singer. He emerged to fame in 2018 with the release of his debut mixtape, ''Donny Womack'', and his feature on the song "Can't Say" by fellow Houston rapper Travis Sco ...

. Production was handled by P2J,

Kel-P Udoma Peter Kelvin Amba popularly known by his trademark It's Kel-P Vibes is a Nigerian record producer, singer and songwriter. He is the founder and the CEO of Bully Entertainment, and is currently signed to Universal Music Publishing France, U ...

, KDaGreat, Sammy Soso, P Priime,

Juls Julian Nii Ayitey Adjin Nicco-Annan (born 25 October 1985), better known by his stage name Juls, is a British-Ghanaian record producer, disc jockey, and musician. He is known for his music contributions, particularly in Afrobeats circles, and fo ...

, Kofo, and Euro. It serves as the follow-up to Wizkid's previous album, ''

Made in Lagos ''Made in Lagos'' is the fourth studio album by Nigerian singer Wizkid. It was released on 30 October 2020 by Starboy Entertainment and RCA Records. The album features guest appearances from Burna Boy, Skepta, H.E.R., Ella Mai, Tay Iwar, Projexx, ...

'' (2020). The album was supported by two singles, "Bad to Me", and "Money & Love". ''More Love, Less Ego'' is a

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

, R&B, and

Afrobeats Afrobeats, not to be confused with Afrobeat or Afroswing, is an umbrella term to describe popular music from West Africa and the diaspora that initially developed in Ghana, Nigeria, and the UK in the 2000s and 2010s. Afrobeats is less of a st ...

album that includes lyrics about falling in love with women and engaging in sexual activity. According to Wizkid, he named the album the way it is because "everyone fights with their ego and that's where I'm at", explaining that "I'm still trying to shed my ego, like everyone else".

Release and promotion

On 30 October 2021, the one-year-anniversary of Wizkid's previous album, ''

'' (2020), he announced the title of his next album and stated that it would be released on the last day of his tour for it, which would be 22 January 2022. However, this did not happen. The lead single of ''More Love, Less Ego'', "Bad to Me", was released on 14 September 2022. The sole promotional single, "Money & Love", was released on 28 October 2022, the same day Wizkid announced the release date of the album for the week after that. However, three days later, fellow Nigerian singer

Davido David Adedeji Adeleke (born November 21, 1992), known professionally as Davido, is a Nigerian American, Nigerian-American singer, songwriter and record producer. Davido was born in Atlanta, U.S, and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. He made his mus ...

's son died at age three from drowning in a swimming pool, in which Wizkid deleted a promotion tweet for it and pushed its release back by exactly one week to show his support.

Critical reception

''More Love, Less Ego'' was met with "universal acclaim" reviews from critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 87, based on 4 reviews. Nigerian-based

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The Native ''The Native'' (stylized in all caps) is a Nigerian-based music magazine publishing in Lagos. Founded in 2016, ''The Native'' focuses primarily on music, style, and art, championing the sounds and culture of tomorrow, today. History ''The Na ...

'' did a review on ''More Love, Less Ego'', in which it stated that the album "still sounds pristine and does not suffer from any deals", also noting that he brings new collaborators "into his colourful world where ego takes a back seat to the pursuit of love and genuine human connections". Writing for ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'', Kyann-Sian Williams gave the "appropriately-titled" album a perfect five-star review and felt that it "is a masterful connection that sees Wizkid beginning to truly perfect his universal

sound". they also praised the title of the album, opining that it "wishes to replicate the musicality of" Wizkid's previous album, ''

'' (2020), "using similar sonic templates - steady flowing melody, top production, and rich features while discussing the stress-free, wealthy, and hedonistic lifestyle of a megastar", while also positively writing that it "offers sonic coherence achieved through incredible sound engineering that delivers the luxurious sound needed to elevate the content and offer gratification".

Track listing

Notes * signifies an additional producer * signifies a co-producer

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2022 albums RCA Records albums Wizkid albums Albums produced by Kel-P Albums produced by P.Priime Albums produced by P2J Albums produced by Sammy Soso