Gentle guitar chords wash over the music as Olanrewaju begins to sing. “I have been doing this music since 19 divine/ Spreading love through music, starting from you tonight,” the young bard slides into the eponymous opening track of his latest album, Spreading Love Through Music. Shuffling Yoruba Folk music, with RnB and a distinct Apala-toned cadence, he sets the tone for a very experimental and exciting soundscape that appears across all 7-tracks.
Olanrewajumusic, born Olarenwaju Folorunsho, belongs to a hybrid crop of artists who wield the songwriting sage of the 80’s and the bohemian expression of contemporary stars. In Spreading Love Through Music, he quickly establishes his core musical identity as a loverboy troubadour. His message in this album doubles down on his treatise that we all deserve to give and receive love. From emo-pop/folk fusions to Amapiano-Naija pop blends, he travels through his experiences with love with a sonority that signals his maturity as a singer today.
The album segues into “Angelina”, switching up the album’s pace into that clubby drift that could serve as the perfect soundtrack to a disco timeout with one’s significant other. The song is drenched in yearning, as Olarenwaju code-switches how much “loving you is all I want” in English, Pidgin and Yoruba. The production eases the song into a very cathartic finish, as his vocals simmer at certain moments for the log-drum’s pulse to pierce through the atmosphere.
It shuffles into “Sweet Potato” and this time his lover morphs from ‘Angelina’ to ‘Sade’. A beautiful interpolation of the core idea behind Wizkid’s 2013 “Sweet Potato”, Olarenwaju elevates this song with that emo-pop acoustic touch that distinguishes his catalogue like a romantic Midas hand of sorts. His melismas and scat singing — punctuating the song with bursts of ‘Elelele my baby’ — marinate the record with that shock and replay value that ranks it as stellar.
Finding what makes Olarenwajumusic tick in Spreading Love Through Music means drawing a parallel between his innate ear for groove and his choice of chord progressions. In the song, “This Wonderful Feeling (with BNXN)”, he sweeps through a rather monotonous chorus line, leaving all the star power in the song’s verses and refrain. Sometimes, it’s clear that the intention is a dancey tune, but Olarenwaju’s composition purges anticlimactic chord progressions where one has plenty of trancey moments to soak in the song’s groove. And the pre-closing track, “Regulate” shows proof.
Even while “Regulate” feels like a watered-down spin on “Angelina”, Olarenwajumusic still manages to make the song work, with his stretched-out falsetto and slow-burn build-up to the song’s central groove. Somehow, he slips into a miniature identity crisis, risking sounding like another Wizkid knock off — who, obviously, is a personal muse to Olarenwajumusic’s artistry. But his compositional styles and that gritty, folk-esque tone anchors him as a distinct crooner.
The album closes with “Me and You”, another RnB joint soaring on lush tropical horns, chords and RnB drum lines. While it doesn’t pack the starpower of an album closer, it definitely lifts itself with the soothing spatial production that makes it a wanderlust groove. The looping chime sticks that texture the chorus line, ‘Baby girl, it’s just me and you,’ pairs strongly with Olarenwajumusic’s scat singing and the overarching relaxing horns to score the album as a tonally fluid, cathartic and engaging spin.
Although the album’s overall subject matter could have been better expressed with more flowery writing and arrangement, Spreading Love Through Music also works for its simple touch. The chemistry between vocals and melody, and Olarenwajumusic’s role as melodic lead, holds the entire record together as one cohesive spin. The music’s subject matter is as much didactic as it is convincing; one is left rethinking their stance on love, with just how sheer lovestrung Olarenwajumusic sounds on each track.
Ultimately, Spreading Love Through Music succeeds as a warm, exploratory record from an artist gradually sharpening the edges of his identity. Olanrewajumusic’s strongest moments arrive when his folk instincts, acoustic textures and fluid vocal phrasing collide, revealing a crooner with enough melodic intuition to make even the album’s simpler ideas linger.
There are moments where his influences loom too visibly and the songwriting could reach for richer emotional detail, but the record remains pleasurable, cohesive and refreshingly sincere. As a seven-track testament to romance, groove and Olanrewajumusic’s evolving musical language, Spreading Love Through Music leaves a charming impression. It sits at 7/10.
