The year of our lord 2020 wasn’t particularly appealing, with the world battling a pandemic that shut countries down for more than two quarters, and an uprising in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria over police brutality.  In 2020, entertainment – especially music – was a beam of light that shone through doom and gloom, urging us to look at the brighter side of life despite the issues of the world and social media turning scary.
And surely, in this same year, Burna Boy continued on his streak of luck and meteoric rise that kicked off in 2018 to further rule 2020. Of all the Nigerian music superstars and rising talents that shone through this year’s despair, Burna Boy stood out and further entrenched himself as a household name on the Nigerian and global music scene.
All through 2020, at least one out of his 34 songs – released between 2019 and 2020 – resonated from homes to homes. If it’s not ‘Wonderful,’ which stresses the essence of hard work and African wonders, it is ‘Onyeka (Baby),’ which Pitchfork describes as an indestructibly sweet, sunny moment amid a colossal album. Burna Boy’s efforts to compress the breadth of pan-Africanism into his person is also enjoyed in ‘Monsters you made,’ which features Chris Martin not forgetting party bangers like ‘Killin Dem,’ ‘Gbona,’ and love medley, ‘On the low’ serenading global populace.
In an interview with New York Times, shortly before the release of his fifth and Grammy-nominated studio album, Burna Boy, who admitted to being a juvenile while on the streets of London, says he was put on earth to do what he does.
“I’ve never picked up a pen and paper and written down a song in my life,” he said. “It all just comes, like someone is standing there and telling me what to say. It’s all according to the spirits. Some of us are put on this earth to do what we do,” he said.
Burna Boy continues to enjoy rave reviews from international media on his songs in 2020. And to add a global fillip to his career, Burna Boy collaborated with global music responded in scary fashion – with yet another quality album for the ages. In fact, that was his third quality body of work in succession and that put him in some elite class of artists.
In terms of personality reflection, ‘Twice As Tall’ is peerless. Burna Boy fought, he won with quality music and now, one hopes he gets his Grammy dream.