On 19 January 2018, Burna Boy was featured on American rock band Fall Out Boy’s song “Sunshine Riptide”, a track from their seventh studio album Mania.
He released his third studio album, Outside, exactly a week later, on 26 January, 2018. Described by the singer as a mixtape, Outside consists mostly of afrobeats, dancehall, reggae, and road rap. It features guest appearances from English musicians J Hus, Lily Allen, and Mabel. Outside was supported by six singles: “Rock Your Body”, “Streets of Africa”, “KoniBaje”, “Sekkle Down”, “Heaven’s Gate” and “Ye”. Its production was handled by Leriq, Baba Stiltz, Jae 5, Juls, Chopstix, Steel Banglez, Fred Gibson, Phantom, and FTSE.
The album received positive critical acclaim and was ranked by Pulse Nigeria and Nigerian Entertainment Today as the best Nigerian album of 2018.It won Album of the Year at the 2018 Nigeria Entertainment Awards. In February 2018, Outside debuted at number three on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart.A single from the album, “Ye”, ended up atop most Nigerian publications year-end list as the biggest song of 2018.
On 7 October 2018, Burna Boy performed before a sold-out crowd at London’s O2 Academy Brixton.A day prior to the show, he held a pop-up event at Red by Little Farm and sold limited boxes of his Space Puffs cereal, as well as custom notepads, lighters, and graphic tee-shirtsOn October 9, 2018, he was announced as one of Spotify’s new Afro Hub takeover artists.The announcement coincided with him being named YouTube’s Artist on the Rise for three months.
On 3 January 2019, Burna Boy was announced alongside MrEazi as one of the artists performing at the 2019 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.He won four awards at the Soundcity MVP Awards Festival, including African Artiste of the Year, Listener’s Choice, and Best Male MVP.On 21 March 2019, Burna Boy released a 4-track collaborative EP with Los Angeles-based electronic duo DJDS, titled Steel & Copper.The EP blends Burna Boy’s upbeat melodies with DJDS’ slinky trap beats.Steel & Copper combines elements of dancehall and reggae music with Afropop and trap.
On 24 June 2019, Burna Boy won Best International Act at the 2019 BET Awards.In July 2019, he was announced as an Apple Music Up Next artist.His inclusion in the program was accompanied by a Beats 1 interview with Julie Adenuga and a short documentary.He recorded “JaAra E” (Yoruba: “wise up” or “use your head”) for Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift and was the only guest artist with their own track on the soundtrack album.
Burna Boy’s fourth studio album, African Giant, was released on 26 July 2019. It was supported by six singles: “Gbona”, “On the Low”, Killin Dem”, “Dangote”, “Anybody” and “Pull Up”. He began recording the album in 2018 and told Billboard that it was his most personal project yet.
Photo Credit: Jen J Photo
Add Comment