''Rave & Roses'' is the debut studio album by Nigerian singer

Rema Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

. It was released on 25 March 2022 via Jonzing World and Mavin Records. The album included guest appearances from 6lack,

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to '' Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempo ...

, AJ Tracey, and Yseult.

Background

In May 2021, Rema announced he would be calling his sound "Afrorave", a subgenre of

Afrobeats Afrobeats (not to be confused with Afrobeat or Afroswing), or Afro-pop or Afro-fusion (or Afropop or Afrofusion), is an umbrella term to describe popular music from West Africa and the diaspora that initially developed in Nigeria, Ghana, and ...

with influences of Arabian and Indian music, saying "my album seals this claim for good". In an interview, Rema discussed the importance of the album to him saying "breath of fresh air for him as an artist."

Recording and production

Rema recorded the majority of the album in

Benin City Benin City is the capital and largest city of Edo State, Edo State, Nigeria. It is the fourth-largest city in Nigeria according to the 2006 census, after Lagos, Kano (city), Kano, and Ibadan, with a population estimate of about 3,500,000 as of ...

. He told '' NME'' about the recording process saying, "I tapped into a different mind space for this album, though. Learning through personal experiences, I knew I had been pushed into a different space compared to where I was before. As I'm currently at the forefront of a musical generation, I know the album is going to have an impact."

Singles and promotion

On 10 June 2021, Rema released the first single titled "Soundgasm", with a music video. On 11 February 2022, Rema officially announced the album's release date and released the second single "

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". On 11 March 2022, he released the third single "FYN" featuring AJ Tracey.

Critical reception

Jessica Kariisa of '' Pitchfork'' stated that "Rema sounds just as confident and irrepressibly youthful as ever". Motolani Alake of ''Pulse Nigeria'' gave the album a 7.2/10 but said that the album has unmissable flaws and there is evidence of lazy songwriting. Olayiide Bolaji of ''The Scoove Africa'' also gave the album a 7.2/10 but noted that while the album shows Rema's artistic evolution, it is predictable and most of the songs sound too alike.

Background

Recording and production

Singles and promotion

Critical reception

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References