''Love, Damini'' is the sixth studio album by

Burna Boy Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu (born 2 July 1991), known professionally as Burna Boy, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer. He gained recognition in 2012 after releasing "Like to Party", the lead single from his debut studio album '' ...

. It was released on 8 July 2022 through

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

. The album features guest appearances from

Ladysmith Black Mambazo Ladysmith Black Mambazo are a South African male choral group singing in the local vocal styles of ''isicathamiya'' and ''mbube (genre), mbube''. They became known internationally after singing with American Paul Simon on his 1986 album ''Grace ...

J Hus Momodou Lamin Jallow (born 26 October 1996) known professionally as J Hus, is a British rapper and singer who has been credited with pioneering the genre Afroswing. He is currently signed to Black Butter Records. He gained popularity in 2015 f ...

, Vict0ny,

Popcaan Andrae Hugh Sutherland (born 19 July 1988), known professionally as Popcaan, is a Jamaican Toasting (Jamaican music), deejay. In 2008, Popcaan joined Vybz Kartel's Gaza Music Empire. In 2010, he released his breakthrough international hit "Cl ...

Blxst Matthew Dean Burdette (born September 17, 1992), known professionally as Blxst (pronounced "blast"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer from Los Angeles, California. He signed with Red Bull Records to release his debu ...

Kehlani Kehlani Ashley Parrish ( ; born April 24, 1995) is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. She is originally from Oakland, California, and achieved initial fame as a member of the teen pop group PopLyfe in 2011. Kehlani's debut mixtape, '' ...

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran ( ; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

J Balvin José Álvaro Osorio Balvín (born 7 May 1985), known professionally as J Balvin, is a Colombian singer. He is one of the best-selling Latin artists, with 35 million records sold worldwide. Balvin was born in Medellín. At age 17, he moved to th ...

, and

Khalid Khalid (variants include Khaled and Kalid; Arabic: خالد) is a popular Arabic male given name meaning "eternal, everlasting, immortal". It also appears as a surname.

. It was supported by two singles, "Kilometre" and "

Last Last "Last Last" is a song by Nigerian singer Burna Boy. It was released through Atlantic Records on 13 May 2022 as the second single from his sixth studio album, '' Love, Damini''. The song samples American singer Toni Braxton Toni Michele Br ...

". The album is named after Burna Boy's legal first name and serves as the follow-up to his previous album, '' Twice as Tall'' (2020).

Singles

One song from the album, "Kilometre", was released as an independent single on 29 April 2021. Another single, "

", was released on 13 May 2022, along with the announcement of the album. The second single " For My Hand" featuring

, was released on 8 July 2022 and coincided with the release of the album.

Reception

''Love, Damini'' received generally favorable reviews from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 80 based on 10 reviews. Kathleen Johnston of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' awarded it a five star rating, saying "Love Damini is by far the most personal record yet from Burna and is best summarized as a love letter to his adoring fans, it is an album for the ages, as well as being an awards season shoo-in." Will Dukes of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' said "it is an urgent, heartfelt, and immensely personal snapshot of his struggles, triumphs, and aspirations, with the vibe and chorus signifying a bond between past and present perfectly embodied by this worldly album—that feels instantly rewarding." Robin Murray in his review for '' Clash'' wrote that on Love Damini, Burna is at his best either holding it down for his lineage pushing traditional sounds forward or tracing African influence beyond its shores. Marcus Shorter writing for '' Consequence'' said "Love Damini delivers like an 80-pound baby, the Afrobeats album gets into the soul with Burna’s typical flair, but the insights are deeper as he wrestles with his desires, sins, triumphs, and treasures while entering the next phase of his life". Jessica Kariisa in her review for ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' said: "Glaring errors keep ''Love, Damini'' from reaching the heights of Burna Boy's prior work, but his intentions are admirable even when the execution goes awry. ..Whatever its failings, ''Love, Damini'' paves the way for other artists in the scene to take bigger emotional risks".

Track listing

Notes * indicates an additional producer * indicates a co-producer * "

" contains a sample of "

He Wasn't Man Enough "He Wasn't Man Enough" is a song by American singer Toni Braxton. It was written by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III, LaShawn Daniels, and Harvey Mason, Jr. for her third studio album, '' The Heat'' (2000), while production was he ...

", performed by

Toni Braxton Toni Michele Braxton (born October 7, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. She has sold over 70 million records worldwide and is one of the best-selling female artists in history. Braxton has won seven ...

. * "Different Size" contains audio sampled from the Korean version of "

Squid Game ''Squid Game'' () is a South Korean Utopian and dystopian fiction, dystopian Survival film, survival Thriller (genre)#Television, thriller horror television series created, written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk for Netflix. The series revol ...

". * Initial CD pressings do not contain J Hus's verse on "Cloak & Dagger", feature "Dirty Secrets" as track 10, and do not include "Toni-Ann Singh".

Personnel

Musicians *

– vocals *

– additional vocals (tracks 1, 19) * Oise Benson – additional vocals (1) * Gaetan Judd – guitar (2) * Marco Bernardis – saxophone (2) * Akerele Samson – background vocals (7) * Asake – background vocals (7) * Kwande Bawa – background vocals (7, 9) * Olusola Ogundipo – background vocals (7) * Jonathan Awotwe-Mensah – background vocals (9) * Keven Wolfsohn – background vocals (9) * Paul Bogumil – background vocals (9) * Uncle T – background vocals (9) * Tony Mars – saxophone (15) * Nissi Ogulu – additional vocals (16) * Shuga Saund – guitar (16) *

Jon Bellion Jonathan David Bellion (born December 26, 1990) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. He was born and raised in Lake Grove, New York on Long Island. He is best known for his 2016 single "All Time Low," which peaked at ...

– backing vocals, instruments, programming (17) *

Jordan K. Johnson The Monsters & Strangerz are an American production and songwriting team from Miami, Florida. The team features The Monsters: Alexander "Eskeerdo" Izquierdo, Stefan Johnson, and Jordan K. Johnson and The Strangerz: Marcus "Marc Lo" Lomax and Clar ...

– backing vocals, instruments, programming (17) * Stefan Johnson – backing vocals, instruments, programming (17) * Michael Pollack – backing vocals (17) * David Campbell – conductor, orchestral arrangement (17) * Steve Churchyard – orchestration (17) * Jacob Braun – cello (17) * Paula Hochhalter – cello (17) * Ross Gasworth – cello (17) * Dylan Hart –

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

(17) * Pierre-Luc Rioux – guitar (17) * Thomas Hooten – trumpet (17) * Andrew Duckles – viola (17) * David Walther – viola (17) *

Charlie Bisharat Charlie Bisharat (born March 15, 1963) is an American violinist known as a member of Shadowfax and for his work in film and with other new age jazz artists. Life and career He was born in Inglewood, California, in 1963 to Palestinian parents w ...

– violin (17) * Joel Pargman – violin (17) * Josefina Vergara – violin (17) * Kerenza Peacock – violin (17) * Mario De Leon – violin (17) * Michele Richards – violin (17) * Neil Samples – violin (17) * Sara Parkins – violin (17) * Sarah Thornblade – violin (17) *

Jorja Smith Jorja Alice Smith (born 11 June 1997) is an English singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Walsall, West Midlands, she has been writing songs since the age of 11. In 2012, Smith's friend uploaded her cover of Labrinth's "Earthquake" to YouT ...

– additional vocals (18) *

Kamaru Usman Kamarudeen Usman (born May 11, 1987) is a Nigerian-American professional mixed martial artist, former freestyle wrestler, and graduated folkstyle wrestler. He currently competes in the Welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championsh ...

– additional vocals (18) *

Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is a British supermodel. Beginning her career at the age of eight, Campbell was one of six models of her generation declared supermodels by the fashion industry and the international press. She was th ...

– additional vocals (18) *

Swizz Beatz Kasseem Daoud Dean (born September 13, 1978), known professionally as Swizz Beatz, is an American rapper and record producer. Born and raised in the Bronx borough of New York City, Dean embarked on his musical career as a DJ in 1994. At the age ...

– additional vocals (18) * Dunni Alexandra Lawal – background vocals (18) Technical * Gerhard Westphalen – mastering * Jesse Ray Ernster – mixing (all tracks), recording (3) * The Elements – recording (1) * P2J – recording (2, 10, 13) * Eric Isaac Utere – recording (3, 4, 6, 9, 11, 14) * Chopstix – recording (4, 7) * Kel-P – recording (5) * Otis Milestone – recording (12, 18, 19) * ATG - recording (15) * Telz – recording (16) * Joe Begalla – mixing assistance * Noah "MixGiant" Glassman – mixing assistance

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2022 albums Atlantic Records albums Burna Boy albums Yoruba-language albums Albums produced by P2J Albums produced by Kel-P Albums produced by Chopstix Albums produced by Jae5 Albums produced by Telz

Singles

Reception

Track listing

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

See also

References