Its all about Olamide’s latest signing
Temmie Owasa, I spent a whole day comparing ASA & Adekunle Gold’s music and after the electric performance we got form Asa’s ‘Live In Lagos concert, the realisation that she is the one & only didn’t need any more debate.
This is why attempts to jack some of her essence will not only be handpicked from a mile away, they will also not be tolerated. Sadly YBNL first lady Temmie Owasa , on her attempt to break into the industry with Jabole has already gotten off on the wrong foot.
Olamide announced his search for YBNL’s first lady earlier this year and he mentioned in his words that ‘Combination of Asa & Dej Loaf’ & we have been on the look out ever since. Which we expected, his success with last Adekunle Gold hinted the YBNL boss may also be looking to diversify his label with more versatile acts.
Not to put the story on a long-way
Temmie Owasa was unveiled with a tagline that read “My music is a blend of Afro-pop, soft-rock & soul” An agreeably convoluted genre description that also somewhat had us curious about the eventual product of her sound. But to our dismay, we got the first taste of her on
Jabole today & it was just as jumbled
meaning (mix up in a confused or untidy way) as her genre description.
Set on an acoustic beat assembled by notorious sampler Pheelz, Jabole opens with a piano alter- ego of the same chords as Asa’s Bibanke. This alternate instrument version of Bibanke’s bassline is peppered with a few extra chords and drum kits for the entire song to be built upon.
The chorus introduces a couple of new instrumentals with background vocals, but it is nothing particularly exciting or different. The product of this lazy sonic architecture is a dull conclude that could have been avoided if Pheelz had not attempted to synthesise the song’s Afropop “verse-bridge-chorus” format into a poorly mixed pseudo-soul-ish beat.
Temmie Owasa’s Jabole may have been flawed by Pheelz’ lack of creativity, but she didn’t help the narrative either with her lyrics. Through the song, her unarguably promising voice is rolled into 3 things cliches, a lazy “ooh” addendum on every line & the same repeated narrative from every love song ever.
We don’t know how many songs about love driving people crazy are out there, but Temmie should have at least heard one of them to know her message is neither new nor special, especially when placed on a cheap knock off bassline from an artiste ahead of her by many years.
Temmie Owasa’s becoming appears to be a product of YBNL’s desperation to diversify the label’s music. A noteworthy company direction in some regard but still one that inherently comes off as misguided and shallow. Temmie Owasa’s only attention-worthy part on Jabole is the fuji-pop chorus, an indication she might be a better as an Afro-pop artiste under a producer that understands her strengths.
How someone on YBNL’s A&R team did not notice this beats. Because this is the same feature Adekunle Gold tapped into on follow-up singles Pick-Up & Ready despite the alternative leanings of an acoustic Orente and a Sade debut set on One Direction’s Story of My Life.
At the moment, however, it appears Olamide plans to shoulder Osawa’s entire career on his brand whether her music has any wow factor or not. The same formula may have worked for Lil Kesh, but the YAGI master had more than a wow factor, he had hits. Back to back.
LOL!!!
Unfortunately for Temmie, she hasn’t even fully figured out her wow factor yet, scoring a hit will only be more difficult.