In Season 4, Episode 3 of cult-teen drama 'The O.C,' everyone was stuck after Marissa's death. Summer Roberts - Marissa's best friend - then sought therapy when something important happened. The show narrates her journey through the five stages of grief.

According to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, grief comes in five stages; denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. But since Ms. Kübler-Ross propagated her take, David Kessler has added a sixth stage; finding meaning.

When people say, 'grief.' The human mind processes that information to mean the loss of a human being to death or grievous risk of death. But sometimes, 'grief' could result from losing another human being - but not to death. It could be losing someone to another person or to lose someone to the perils of love.

That is SOMADINA's modus operandi on Five Stages - it is a detailed diary of SOMADINA's journey from heartbreak to recovery. But unknown to her, she went a step beyond the Five Stages by also reaching the sixth stage of grief - which is quite interesting. She found meaning from the loss and heartbreak.

You might not know SOMADINA, but her name has been a key feature of the Nigerian underground for a fair bit. In a voice that sometimes seems like a mezzo-soprano with not as much octaves, SOMADINA belts out R&B numbers like a neo-soul purveyor. This time, she drops her debut EP, Five Stages and it's quite beautiful.

Denial

In grief, denial comes the inevitable defiance - it fuels the denial. The EP opens up to 'But I Should,' a lo-fi guitar-based ballad on which SOMADINA's lover walks away. On it, SOMADINA sings that she doesn't know why her lover would want to walk away. She is unpretentious about it and she begs him to stay like anyone who is in the depths of love.

The denial comes with how SOMADINA refuses to accept that the relationship is over. Instead of accepting, she tries to piece it back together - it didn't work.

Anger

When denial passes, anger unveils itself as an individual entity. In the worst cases, it comes with destructive tendencies. In earnest, it could be resentment towards the cause of the grief - in the case, the person and love. For SOMADINA, it is the latter.

'Don't Need' is a cut between neo-soul and R&B. In her heyday, this sounds like a Keyshia Cole number. This comes after the events of 'But Should I' and it is the anger stage where SOMADINA sings that she doesn't need the lover who chooses to walk away.

SOMADINA commendably paints that picture with her pen and her manner of delivery. Her cause is also aided by the conversational concept which JAY10 brings into it.

Bargaining

For SOMADINA, bargaining comes with the 'Blame Game' and a little self-destructive tendency. She is lashing out from the heartbreak she suffers. In a lot of ways, the song sometimes has similarities to Jhene Aiko's 'The Worst' in sound and lyrical content. While a lot of us think bargaining should singularly come with saying, 'I'll do anything,' it doesn't always happen that way.

While her picture of 'bargaining' is quite clustered, a listener can draw inference in how SOMADINA hits the bottles while asking, "Is there something that I did?" That question is usually followed by, 'I'll do anything to get another chance.'

Depression

On a piano-based R&B sound that feels cut from the Trick Steward or The Dream in the mid-2000s, SOMADINA is admittedly, 'Broken.' She sings, "I don't want to live like this anymore, I can't help myself, I'm so broken..." The line, "Eating left-overs..." is a picture-esque representation of depression.I like this detail.

Her cause is drawing to a close.

Acceptance and Finding Meaning

For SOMADINA, what she does on 'A Capella' is simply a tale of acceptance. But no, she she goes a step further by finding meaning to the grief. Acceptance comes when SOMADINA sings, "Tonight I will fly... I will be alright..."

She found meaning by rekindling her flames and didn't even realize.

Final Thoughts

A great trait of Five Stages EP is its production. Another great trait is SOMADINA's sheer appetite for such a daring concept on her maiden project. While she did carry it out to a large extent, there are weaknesses.

First, SOMADINA is an immense talent, but her songwriting sometimes requires more density. That said, her talent will help her overcome that weakness over time. Secondly, she needs to be more audible - for an artist who dares concepts, she needs her stories to be audible. There is no point in a project that strains a listener even for a second.

A daring concept is only good to the extent that it can be deciphered. Third - and this is about Five Stages EP itself - the concept got slightly clustered and it's left fans with some questions. Thus, the concept is slightly drawn back. In a lot of ways, SOMADINA's bargaining stage could subtly pass for depression.

Her anger stage could also subtly pass for her denial stage. In the same vein, her denial stage could easily pass for the genesis of her grief. These things are not pronounced, but if she hadn't those one-word pointers at the end of each song, some listeners would have been left with questions. Even with the pointers, this writer still has questions.

Nonetheless, the critique of SOMADINA's execution comes from this writer's penchant for perfection. On its own, Five Stages EP will get its accolades. Shout-out to Chin Okeke, Dami Oniru and Bendrixz for their work on Five Stages.

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: 2/2

Content, Themes and Articulation: 1.5/2

Production: 1.7/2

Enjoyability and Satisfaction: 1.8/2

Execution: 1.5/2

Total:

8.5 - Champion