On October 16, 2010, veteran Nigerian singer and trailblazer, Asa released her sophomore album, ‘Beautiful Imperfection.’ The album dropped three years after her Cobhams Asuquo-produced debut, ‘Asha.’
Asha’s release coincided with Nigeria finding the earliest traits of its mainstream pop sound after Timaya’s debut album, True Story dropped. However, the soundscape was still largely formless.
Hip-Hop was creating pop blueprints and a lot of Nigerian superstars like 2Face, D’Banj, 9ice, Olu Maintain, P Square were all heavily influenced by Hip-Hop - especially - and R&B.
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Anything could generate a hit if it permeated Alaba playlists and got radio airplay. Payola was also the order of the day in an industry that was heavily profitable to the superstars.
Yet the very niche album, Asha generated three songs in ‘Bibanke,’ ‘Jailer’ and ‘Eye Adaba’ that became hits over a period of time. These feats are especially pungent because they were neither Hip-Hop nor R&B songs. They were built on Alternative pop, Sentimental Ballad and Neo-Soul.
But 2010 coincided with the golden era of Nigerian Hip-Hop and the thick of the early days of contemporary Nigerian pop music that was to dominate with totalitarian rage for the next 10 years.
Three of the four horsemen that defined contemporary Nigerian pop - True Story by Timaya, Gongo Aso by 9ice and M2M by Wande Coal - had already been released. Superstar by Wizkid was to drop in 2011.
But in the thick of it all, Asa’s sophomore album, Beautiful Imperfection became another classic album. While Asa made more uptempo songs like ‘Broda Ole,’ ‘Ok Ok,’ ‘Why Can’t We’ ‘Maybe’ and so forth, they were still a far cry from what obtains in Nigeria. ‘Why Can’t We’ is uptempo Soul with a hint of Funk. ‘Ok Ok’ is a Deep Country record and ‘Maybe’ is Indie/Blues Rock similar to what artists like Rosi Golan, Gabriella Clmi or Elle King could make.
The interesting thing was that the chunk of this album was delivered in English. When Asa did deliver music in Yoruba, her effort deserves incredible applause for a woman bred in France, but her Yoruba wasn’t the best. ‘Broda Ole’ was Blues Rock, ‘Ore’ was Sentimental Ballad with a hint of Bon Jovi-esque Rock while ‘Bimpe’ was Trip-Hop.
Yet, Nigerians ran to record stores to pick this album after it dropped. Despite having more uptempo records with groovy tendencies - which seemed intentional from Asa and Nicholas Mollard - it didn’t have the hits that Asha had.
Nonetheless, ‘Beautiful Imperfection’ is Asa’s magnus opus. It found a Nigerian appeal despite its heavy European/American sonic direction.
Why is ‘Beautiful Imperfection’ Asa’s magnus opus?
While ‘Asha’ contained music about the human condition, it was also a morose appraisal and an empirical study of the Nigerian society. The album was also more Nigerian in language and topics.
Despite being delivered in English, ‘Jailer’ was an examination of Nigerian socio-politics and ‘Fire On The Mountain’ is as much a Nigerian expression as ‘Omo’ or ‘Werey.’ Resonance inevitably followed.
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Largely, ‘Beautiful Imperfection’ also addressed the human condition, but it stands out for delivering resonant topics in easily digestible abstraction and distant delivery. If ‘Asha’ was a storybook, ‘Beautiful Imperfection’ was poetry in motion.
The album is also a topical enigma. As its title [Beautiful Imperfection] suggests, it is an analysis or a diary of all the sides and elements of the average life. It did this by presenting unfettered uncertainties with questions that are central to why life is beautiful, yet imperfect. Sometimes, Asa answers this question with her view on why humanity suffers so much.
But then, Asa’s pen game places love at the centre of it all, without making it obvious to the listener with lyrical cliches. Even its cover art typifies its title. While being beautiful dressed like a classic black woman, with natural hair, a hat and beautiful neck piece, the lens of her glasses has a crack.
Uncertainties and questions
‘Questions’ documents the imperfections, unfairness and uncertainties of life aboard a The Corrs-esque Sentimental Ballad through a socio-political viewpoint of identity, religion, gender, emotion, nature and more.
‘Why Can’t We’ is a love song about how insecurities, paranoia and doubts ruin love stories. While it seems Asa is simply talking about two people, it also seems like she was actually talking about the larger society.
While she opens the song with a first-person approach, which connotes a two-person relationship, it feels like Asa was basically discussing the relationship of man with the larger society. She just used the other person as a symbolism for the larger society as she sings, “Why can’t we be loving?”
From the actual opening and title of ‘Maybe,’ Asa projects uncertainty with questions. She sings, “Maybe the sun will shine, maybe… This world is full of pain…” While she hopes for better days with, “Maybe, the sun will shine…” she discusses the role of man in propagating this uncertainty with distrust, terrorism and politics.
While she pledges to follow thrive through the problems with, “My feet, my strength, I'm gonna, be myself. And nobody can, nobody can stop me. I'll finally be, who I'll be…” she’s still scared. On verse four, she sings, “Will I ever be who that I want to be without you looking at me like a wannabe?
The Soul track, ‘Be My Man’ follows a similar trajectory. In the beauty of love, there’s the imperfection of uncertainty despite the woman’s willingness to jump into the relationship with her feet. While ‘Be My Man’ is gutsy and dreamy with sprinkles of girl power, ‘Baby Gone’ balances it with the reality and the pain of imperfection that a lot of love stories experience - break up.
As Asa projects on ‘Way I Feel,’ we are all existing through the beautiful life rather than actually living it. She sings, “I feel like I'm floating through existence, I feel like I'm living after time, I feel like I'm forced to break the silence. Is that a crime? Is that a crime? I feel like we're all following shadows…”
This state of mind drives her insane and makes her feel helpless. From a first person perspective, she then sees herself as a specimen of all men. On how it affects us all, she sings, “I feel like I’m not the only one who’s frustrated…”
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The role of human beings
As the album progresses, one will realize that Asa is saying ‘life is beautiful, but the little, overlooked imperfections in the character of man as regards his everyday relationships with his fellow man and society contributes to the larger rot in the world.
‘Bimpe’ documents the destructive role of ego and the need for superiority of man in simple interpersonal relationships.
Like ‘Be My Man,’ the song also balances gender roles/representation in the larger conversation. On the album, Asa seemingly largely sings from the perspective of a man and rightly so. The patriarchy controls a large part of the world and it was worse in 2010.
The Indie Rock, ‘Ore’ documents the role of how betrayal and irresponsibility births distrust in interpersonal relationships. Asa’s character sends a friend packing from her friend, who slept with her unemployed husband that she’d been ‘packaging.’ While she didn’t necessarily speak about it, the song intimates the problematic way of addressing things in Nigeria.
Why did the husband not get the same smoke as the friend? It also seems like the episode of betrayal and the trauma of it had planted a seed of distrust and paranoia in the heart of a woman, towards the larger society.
The Country Rock, ‘Broda Ole’ is polemic, that co-opts call-out culture before call-out culture became mainstream pop culture. In the song, Asa calls out a neighbourhood thief and his girlfriend/wife in the funniest and dramatic way that only a Nigerian can adequately describe in music.
The wild part is that people laughed at her approach while failing allowing those thieves to avoid responsibility. However, the brilliance of this song is that it is actually a satire that symbolizes what is lacking in the Nigerian society - people who can call-out and shame corrupt politicians. She sings about a thief who walks around like a god between 1:23 and 1:30.
While Nigeria’s protest culture was dead in 2010, it got awakened two years later during Occupy Nigeria. It’s actually interesting that the album and this song clocked 10 in the thick of #EndSARS protests.
These little instances of human imperfections contribute to problems of the world. They also create the corrupt politicians who disrupt the world and destinies. On ‘Way I Feel,’ Asa sings, “I feel like the destinies of those meant to be the best are in the hands of liars. Now the world is on fire…”
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Dreams and Acceptance
Asa is powerless, but is a wide-eyed ‘Dreamer Girl’ with imaginations of a better world. She dreams some solutions into existence as she sings, “Maybe someday one day… I dream of simple things every day, I dream that love will come away, I dream of many lives, I dream that in this world I can make a change…”
On ‘Preacher Man,’ Asa dreams that destructive men will grow a sense of responsibility. She embodies a man who is consumed by guilt, as he walks into a confession chamber and looks to God for some respite. He is one of the human beings who destroy the world with their imperfections.
His admittance goes, “Oh Lord, I've been very greedy. I worshiped money, and wouldn't help the needy. Their pains just didn't move me. What am I and who have I become? I'm reaching out, I need you now. Come ease this pain, I need you now. I'm down on my knees, I'm ready to change! Save me Lord, I'm feeling low.”
However, ‘Ok Ok’ sees Asa accept the state of the world. While she knows that the world might never be balanced, she wants to keep moving because the world still has its beauty. In the end, one realizes that life is the ‘Beautiful Imperfection.’
Final Thoughts
This album is near-perfect, but it's album sequencing could have been better. While it has sonic cohesion and progression, its topical cohesion/progression could have been better. The tracklist should have been;
Questions
Why Can't We
Maybe
Be My Man
Baby Gone
Way I Feel
Bimpe
Ore
Broda Ole
Dreamer Girl
Preacher Man
Ok Ok
Iba
Bamidele
Nonetheless, they might be of no consequence to an album which is one of the best Nigerian music has ever seen. ‘Iba’ and ‘Bamidele’ are rightly placed as bonus tracks because they don’t necessarily suit the overall spirit of this album, but they are still amazing songs.
It’s actually pretty interesting that this album clocked 10 in the thick of EndSARS protests which seems symptomatic of the larger problems of bad governance, irresponsible leadership and corruption that Nigeria faces.
Take a bow, Bukola. It's no coincidence that this album was certified platinum in some European countries.
Ratings: /10
• 0-1.9: Flop
• 2.0-3.9: Near fall
• 4.0-5.9: Average
• 6.0-7.9: Victory
• 8.0-10: Champion
Pulse Rating: /10
Tracklist: 1.5/2
Content and Themes: 2/2
Production: 2/2
Enjoyability and Satisfaction: 2/2
Execution: 1.9/2
Total:
9.4 - Champion