There’s often a saying commonly attributed to writer Richard Bach: “If you love something, set it free; if it comes back, it’s yours; if it doesn’t, it never was”. But when that something is the one person you ever have and what makes you feel alive, do you let it go or fight tooth and nail to keep them? It’s this feeling of longing and deep vulnerability Sulaimon Yinka Agunbiade captures on Keizo Mani’s “Far Away”. The mid-tempo track off the artist’s debut EP, Happy Boy, mirrors the feeling of a late-night bedroom confession that explores the anxiety of isolation and separation when long-distance threatens the relationship.

The track begins with the singer’s soft and airy riffs powered by a hypnotic Afropop production. “Baby, don’t go far away / If you go ma ke / I go dey alone…” The writer immediately begins with a striking hook that delivers a deep fear of losing one’s partner to distance. “If you wan go far away / I go run follow you baby,” he doesn’t hide his unfiltered dependency on being around his partner. The verse is conversational, but the stakes feel painstakingly high. So instead of accepting defeat, the songwriter responds with extreme devotion, vowing to chase them across borders.

The brief line of: “Erinkeke o / Ere la wa ṣe nibi” introduces a beautiful, swinging Yoruba cultural rhythm. The cadence of the words alternates between a steady R&B flow and a traditional, playful folk chant. “My love for you o / e pass wetin you dey see,” there’s no mincing words when it comes to being a hopeless romantic. So he tells the lover.

But separation between partners can take different forms; sometimes, it’s the partner’s family deciding fate for them.  So when the verse enters: “Tell me what you got in your mind, baby / Your mama say make you leave country / No dey hide anything for me,” it captures the complex reality of “Japa” (migrating out of the country), especially when it is coming from one’s family’s decision. At this juncture, the conflict isn’t that the lovers fell out of romance; it’s that external geopolitical and family pressures are trying to tear them apart physically.

“Take you run away, baby / the way you do me, I dey feel something / you really wanna make me go crazy / I really wanna be with you immediately,” the writer captures his desperation to elope with the lover, given how much he’s helplessly in love. Perhaps Richard Bach never understood the concept of loving someone as a sacred devotion and loyalty.

The chorus repeats as the singer relies heavily on hypnotic repetition and contrast to give the melody its sticky, memorable Afro-pop bounce. It fades out with a seamless call layered over the steady, atmospheric late-night production.

If there’s ever any debate about whether men could trade masculinity for vulnerability, Sulaimon Yinka Agunbiade’s lyrics and composition accurately reflect that on Keizo Mani’s “Far Away”. The weight of the lyrics and immersive melodies isn’t just capturing the fear of losing someone to distance but, more importantly, the longing for what matters most to them.