Burna Boy is injecting his signature Afro-fusion vibes into our veins this summer with his latest album Love, Damini, which he released on Thursday (July 7) via Atlantic Records/Spaceship Collective/Warner Music.
“That’s how I like to sign all my letters, because I didn’t know the proper [signoff],” Burna (real name Damini Ogulu) told Billboard of the new 19-track project in his cover story. “It’s a bit personal [because] it’s bringing you into my head on my birthday — when you turn 31 and ain’t got no kids, everything is going good and bad at the same time. You reflect and then you get as lit as possible. Then you sleep and wake up and reflect again. I’m reflecting on everything — what I’m doing and what’s happening where I’m from. Where I’m from is a part of where I’m going.”
Love, Damini arrives just days after the superstar’s 31st birthday on July 2. He previously released singles “Kilometre” and “Last Last,” the latter of which he debuted at his sold-out “One Night in Space” show in NYC’s Madison Square Garden in April. The African giant performed both songs at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas’ MGM Garden Arena the following month.
“Last Last” samples Toni Braxton’s “He Wasn’t Man Enough,” and the Grammy-winning artist explained during “The Explosion of Afro-Fusion” panel at Billboard‘s inaugural MusicCon in Vegas that “that song is a big part of my childhood and coming up, so it kind of fit the situation and it was just perfect.” The album also includes features with Ed Sheeran, Kehlani, Blxst, Khalid, J Balvin, J Hus, Popcaan and more.
Love, Damini is the follow-up to Burna’s 2020 album Twice as Tall, which reached No. 1 on the World Albums chart and debuted at No. 54 on the all-genre Billboard 200.
Listen to Love, Damini below.
