As Promised: King Promise Album Review

As Ghana’s lover boy dropped his EP “As Promised” the homonymous reflects the other face of the new highlife, directing us to a trip of 12 tracks in collaboration with Kojo Antwi, Simi, Omar Sterling, WizKid, Mugeez, and Sarkodie.

Production credits on the album go to usual collaborator and Grammy-winning producer Killbeatz and also GuiltyBeatz.

As expected, the EP is filled with passionate and heartfelt lyrics, Killbeatz on the instrumental also did try to catch on our ears to savor a mix of what was before and what is now in Highlife, with tracks like “Bra” with Kojo Antwi “Letter” and “I tried” the crowd did love the duet with our all-time classic artist, what also got attention was the afrobeat track “Commando”, the awaited track from the snippet in the gram story of fellow artist DarkoVibes caught everyone putting us on our toes.

Yet, the pt.2 of our most loved 2018 track “Selfish” did disappoint, the additional verse of our Nigerian artist didn’t suit the song nor the key. Most of us were expecting an epic harmonious duet, but what we got sounded more like a Dj mix of Simi’s cover and the original.

“Obee eshe3” also stood out, but I’m not sure if in a good way. The song is a deviation from the King Promise we are all used to. Promise admirably pays homage to his Nungua roots here, as the tune is heavy on the Ga azonto sound popularized by likes Gasmilla, Nii Funny, Luther and Wisa Greid. I, however, believe Promise lacks the natural cadence for this distinctive genre. Although the unusual touch of drums by Killbeatz was entertaining, we can’t say the same for our singer.

We still enjoyed “Hangover“ capturing Omar’s full vibe and flow and finally, Killbeatz who drove us into a summer groove with “Happiness” engaging us with bass guitars and afrobeat on a loop.

Our trip with the EP ends with the already famous tracks “Tokyo” “Abena” and “CCTV“, those already found a place in our hearts, paving a good path for better tracks.

In summary, “As Promised” is 48mins 31secs of mellifluous bliss! King Promise successfully serves a 15-track highlife masterpiece laced with contemporary pop sounds.