More than two years after his debut album, “New Era”, Kizz Daniel has had to rejig his name and leave his former record label, G Worldwide, for his own start-up, Flyboy Entertainment. And if he indeed qualifies as a fly, the title of his sophomore album doesn’t.
Comprised of twenty tracks, like his first album, the count is too long especially at a time when most albums are going minimalist with 10 songs max.
Worse, Kizz called this album, “No Bad Songz”. It seems like an arrogant boast, a cocksure guarantee, but one that should be taken with scepticism, if his first album is anything to go by.
If the lack of A & R from the Emperor Geezy stable has kept his tracklist at the bothersome twenty, what might be more interesting is how “No Bad Songz” is different from “New Era”. Sophomores can be problematic endeavours. The artist faces a dilemma: how do you find the delicate balance between pursuing artistic progression and holding down fan base appeal?
There lies the importance of singles. Tossed into the soundscape like freebies, they work magic in incremental engagement with a fanbase while trying out new things.
His single No Do straddles that balance. Kizz Daniel takes the ‘Tales by Moonlight’ theme song and makes a cautionary song that we will further discuss in a bit.
One Ticket with Davido has shot itself up the canon as one of the enduring songs of a lean year like 2018.
In terms of artistic progression, Kizz Daniel’s anxieties are obvious. Take for instance Tere featuring Tanzanian precious metal, Diamond Platnumz. The song is a deliberate rehash of Mama and Laye, relying entirely on a lower tempo, Kizz Daniel’s usual shtick and a delightful spine of guitar riffs.
Nothing is new, except time.
Oyibe is highlife updated in Flavour mode. Time No Dey is an uneventful dancehall song. “No Bad Songz” starts strong but falls back on itself, failing terribly at inspiring something new.
There is really not much that is new since New Era, except that Kiss Daniel is now spelt with a Z and now he can collaborate freely with the likes of Philkeyz (on the subtle ear-candy Nesesari), Nasty C (on the derivate Ghetto), Sarkodie(on the rather weak Kojo), and Wretch 32 (on the rather uninspired Bad).
“No Bad Songz” suffers from many afflictions but the most glaring is its lumbering length. A careful team of listeners can re-order the songs and give the album a more compact and coherent narrative. There are just too many songs with uneven qualities that calling this an album does a disservice to the name.
Call it anything else. Mixtape, perhaps? But then it is too long.
Let us return to the unfortunate issue of the album title. “No Bad Songz” stands apart in the pantheon of bad album titles as being supremely bad. It could have been cheeky if a question mark was recruited to give it the sense of uncertainty. But the assuredness of spelling songs as badly as his new name, with a z, seals the hubris of Kizz Daniel’s second album.
The best thing he did on this album is to place a whip for his own flagellation. His song ‘No Do’ is the counsel he should have taken. By calling his twenty-track album “No Bad Songz”, your boy Kizz outdid himself.