Sweetness by Sarz & Obongjayar

BACKGROUND

Sarz has been pivotal in developing the new wave of African music. His psychedelic production has pioneered the Alté sound and has served as a template for many other artists to build on. Sarz is so instrumental to the music game today that it's almost easy to consider him a new-age producer and forget that he has been in the game for the better part of a decade. Sarz is the brains behind some of the most iconic afrobeats songs inside and outside Africa; check out his discovery to uncover the true genius behind this legend.

Sweetness EP

Sweetness was the second of two colaboration EPs released by Sarz in 2021, the other being LV N ATTN with Lojay. LV N ATTN was a heavily afrocentric EP with traces of amapiano, afrobeats and afroswing. It had the smash hit Monalisa, and other amazing tracks like Tonongo. This EP single handedly porpelled Lojay into the A tier of Nigerian artists. If LV N ATTN was anything to go by, Sweetness was setup to be an amazing success (and boy, was it just that!) Sweetness is arguably my favorite african project so far this decade. In his own words, sweetness "fuses synthwave, 80’s music, afrobeats and pop." The production on this EP is other worldly, and i cant wait to dive into it!

Sweetness

A fitting Intro. Sweetness is a synth-heavy soul song. It has this psychadelic sound to it that i can't quite describe. Obonjayar's airy voice glides on Sarz's production; a true match made in heaven.

Gone Girl

If God asked me to pick only one song to listen to for the rest of my life, it would be Gone Girl. In all my years of listening to music, i have never quite heard a song like this. Gone Girl has so many layers to it; The relatable, hearbreaking lyrics are deep enough to make a macho man cry, but it's almost imposible not to get lost in what i would describe as the greatest produced African song of all time. From the bouncy instrumentals to the subtle Fela interpolation, Gone Girl truely is a masterpiece.

If You Say

Back to back?? Another insanely produced song. If You Say is an upbeat song pulled straight from the 80s. Its a song your parents would be proud of. Another Obongjayar masterclass and 10/10 production from Sarz (again). I can't help but think Sarz took a page out of the Weeknd's Blinding Lights for this song though, and i love it!

Nobody

We're at the end already? on first listen i couldn't believe Sarz robbed us of a 10/10 album by giving us only 4 songs. Take nothing away from the outro though, just like the other 3 songs on the EP its a 10. It's the one track on the EP that took a step away from the synth heavy 80s vibe the other songs gave off, to focus on a more afro sound. But in doing so it did not lose a single step, it sounded just as good as every other song on this EP.

Summary

Sweetness is a very rare case of a project being so good that it leaves you angry when its over. I'd commit unspeakable actions to hear a longer version of this EP. Sarz will go down as one of the gratest to ever do it based off of this EP alone, and Sweetness would forever have a spot on my Mt. Rushmore of African EP's.