Review: AYAT Celebrates Love On New EP

Review: AYAT Celebrates Love On New EP

For what Ayat lacked on vocals, he made up with a strong production work and freely trading his macho side for an emotive side on ‘’Her Vibe Is Right’’

On his 2017 debut EP ”Zamani”, AYAT showed off his emotional side on two songs: “Play For Keeps” and “Changes”. On both records, the combustible vibrancy of the artist was replaced with soothing emotional feelings. Fast forward to 2019 when his collaborative effort with singer Efya ”For You” was released, AYAT took to Twitter to tell the world of his readiness to show-off his sensitive side on his next project. That is, he was going to replace his macho side with his emotive side.

The six track “Her Vibe Is Right” released a week ago is an exploration of love: its different shades, thrills and shocks from the perspective of AYAT. The tape is essentially an expose of AYAT’s lover boy character.

The warm, mid-tempo embers of “Surauniya” fill the tape from the start. AYAT singing in Husa assures his “Surauniya” (queen) of his undying love: “there’s no one aside you” and his willingness to “change your name”.  ‘’Surauniya zu chi yana’’ (the queen of my heart), AYAT sings to affirm his unconditional love for a partner. Joe Boy enters the fray with his butter-like crooning, expressing sentiments along the lines of undying love over the “apatampa” styled beat courtesy the gifted producer Uche B.

If “Sarauniya” is about undying love, “Kin Sa Ke”, a Hausa phrase meaning “You’ve Changed” is AYATt’s ‘I’m-Fed-Up’ cry. The SELVSSE produced track’s main attraction lies in the production. The drum roll spluttered beat had a ‘fit for a hit record’ hallmark than what came out. There is little wonder why AYAT chose to let the beat ride rather than packing lyrics or vocals over it.

The lead single, “For You” featuring Efya is an affirmation of love. Putting Efya does hand the track a complementary gloss despite a performance that is less than 30 seconds. For the lovers of palm wine highlife, AYAT serves you a calabash full on the acoustic version of “For You” on the closing track. The mood of the tape switches from the mid-tempo flavor to more up-tempo, aggressive tune on the TwistedWavex produced ‘’Shugah 2x’’.

‘’Her Vibe Is Right’’ scores high on production with the likes of SELVSSE (‘’Kin Sa Ke’’), PlvgNSix (‘’For You’’), KaySo (‘’Honey’’) and TwistedWavex (‘’Shugah 2x’’) delivering some fine works over which Ayat shared his feelings about love and affection. By switching between Hausa, Twi, Ga and English, Ayat is affording his fans offering his diverse fans an opportunity to grasp the sentiments being expressed, even if little.

‘’Her Vibe Is Right’’ is Ayat exhibiting another side of his artistry and also shattering any form of labelling or stereotype by mainstream media. He wants to be seen as a complete artist and not only as the ‘’Hausa trap lord’, a pseudo title some of his fans have bestowed upon him. The EP is not vocally exhilarating but you cannot discount Ayat’s efforts at stepping out of his comfort zone to experiment with melody.