Few stars come bigger than Davido. Starting with 2012 debut Omo Baba Olowo, the Nigerian American singer-songwriter pioneered a distinct blend of Afrobeats, R&B and hip-hop across five albums that earned him as many Grammy nominations. With one of the biggest global social media followings for an African artist, he could be forgiven for resting on his laurels, but on his sixth album, Oriadé, he returns to where it all began. “Omo Baba Olowo is a Yoruba term but my following four were all in English,” he tells Apple Music. “For Oriadé, I wanted to get back to my roots. It’s a title that refers to your destiny, and so I wanted to pay tribute to my journey so far on the album, as well as take it into the future.” The result is a genre-spanning collection that effortlessly veers from the classic Davido Afrobeats love-song sound of “Julie” to the Afro-house references of “Gimme Dat Ting”, the dance-floor focus of “I Know Who I Be” and the lively Yoruba and French lyricism of “Yaya”. Read on for his in-depth thoughts on the album, track by track. “On the Road” “I recently finished a 53-show world tour, and as soon as I got off the road, this was the first song we recorded. So many things happen when you’re on the road with shows being back to back and having sleepless nights or always being on planes and buses—it’s crazy. I wanted to flex on this song about how legendary that tour was and how God has really blessed us. Being on the road is my favourite thing to do as an artist but the second verse is also about how I make sure to have time for my family too.” “Amazing Grace” (with Black Sherif) “Shout-out to Black Sherif as I’ve always wanted to do a record with him since he’s Ghanaian and Ghana is right next door to Nigeria. My producer brought the idea to me, and it’s all about when you see an amazing girl and you have to say ‘amazing grace’ to give thanks for her presence and your love for her.” “Julie” “‘Julie’ is a classic Davido sound. It’s an Afro-R&B love song, which is my comfort zone, and I just know all the Julies will love this record. It’s one I think that the UK will like too, since it has this guitar line at the beginning that reminds me of winter in the place. When I drop an album, I always play it for different ears like friends and family, to make sure there’s a song on it for everybody.” “Constantly” “This track has been around for a couple of years. I wrote and recorded it two albums ago and sometimes you sit on jams that don’t seem to fit at the time but when I listened to it recently again, I had no idea why I didn’t release it sooner. I re-recorded it for this album to hype the beat up and it’s talking about how long I’ve been in the game and my consistency, flexing my success.” “I Know Who I Be” (with JAZZWRLD, GL_Ceejay) “I’ve been making music with South Africans from the beginning of my career and they always have a way to create new sounds, from amapiano to Afro-house. I’ve wanted to work with Jazzworx [who rebranded himself as JAZZWRLD in 2025] for a long time since I’m a big fan, so I hit him up. He sent me this track and I put my own Afrobeat twist on it. It was as simple as that.” “Gimme Dat Ting” (with NO11) “Shout-out to my boy NO11, he’s one of the new sensations going crazy in Africa right now, and I see a lot of myself in him with the way he’s juggling life while also having massive records out. We connected for this album and created a couple songs—this one is the summer anthem.” “B4 B4” (with Mayorkun, FOLA) “I always want to tap into the new school of music coming out as we can learn things together and create a universal language. I’ve been collaborating with Mayorkun since signing him in 2016 and we make beautiful music together, while FOLA is also the new superstar and all the ladies love him! We got together for this song and it’s the original Nigerian Afrobeats hit. It will get Lagos going crazy.” “Already Falling” “This track is dedicated to my wife, and it’s like part two of my song ‘Assurance’, which I released back when I was dating her and she even appears in the music video. Musically, it’s an original Afrobeats Davido record. We’ve done it all from R&B to dancehall, calypso and reggaetón, and on this, I wanted to take it back to the roots.” “Tell Everybody” (with Leon Thomas) “I met Leon Thomas at the Grammys last year. He’s killing it right now and we happen to go to the same church, which is how we first got talking. I wanted to put a big R&B track on the album so I sent him the verse and he sent back his vocals the next day. We were flowing just like we do back home.” “Yaya” (with Aya Nakamura) “I did a big record, ‘Gang’, with Aya a few years ago and I’ve always loved her style and the way she delivers her lyrics. I’ve been going to France a lot recently and also tapping back in with my Francophone fans, so I wanted to do an Afro-makossa track with her for this album. We put it down super fast.” “Zanzibar” “I’ve only been to Zanzibar once but it’s such a beautiful place and I had an amazing time there. When I came to write this track, the mood of it reminded me of those perfect moments in Zanzibar and the hook just came out with me saying that name. I can see the song attracting more people there.” “Guide” “‘Guide’ is a life rulebook, talking about the things I’ve been through, all the ups and downs, and how to navigate them. One of the most important lessons in the song is that I say in Yoruba, ‘God take control, I give you my body and soul,’ since you always have to make sure God is behind you.” “My Light” (with Llona) “I always like to have a surprise on my albums, and I think Llona will be the most unexpected feature on this one. To be on top, you have to notice everything that’s going on around you, and I’ve been tapping into his music for years now. I really liked how he did a tour through the states of Nigeria, so I decided to reach out to him as I knew we would make beautiful music together.”