“Na god dey bless me all the way/Twelve years I’m still on top,” Davido sings on “Be There Still,” the resolute third single from his fifth studio album. In many ways, much like 5ive’s no-nonsense name, the Afrobeats icon’s career speaks for itself. He became a Nigerian sensation by the time his first album, Omo Baba Olowo (meaning “son of a rich man” in Yoruba) arrived in 2012, with songs like “Dami Duro” that still can turn a dance floor into a madhouse. Back then though, he was barely old enough to drive in Atlanta, where he also spent part of his life. And while Davido has experienced immense success in his tenure as one of Africa’s biggest pop stars, there have also been alleged indiscretions, suspected conflict with peers like Burna Boy, Wizkid, and Tiwa Savage, and unthinkable tragedy. On 5ive, he counts his blessings, leaning into love and legacy at the ripe age of 32.
Luckily, Davido makes these contemplations an easy listen. “As a shepherd once faced a giant with just a sling and a stone, he too meets his Goliath with a melody all his own,” prophesizes Nigerian poet Alhanislam on a sprawling spoken-word intro shrouded in regal horns and strings, like it’s being read from an ancient scroll. It grounds and complements the album’s cohesion, an approach he crystalized with 2023’s Grammy-nominated Timeless. Impressively, the 5ive’s only real miss is “Tek,” with Mexican American starlet Becky G. It’s an uninspired take on the trope of Latin sensuality (see: “My Heart” from Asake’s Lungu Boy) where Davido croons, “You have the right to remain silent/’Cause anything you say will be held against you/In the court of this bedroom.” Otherwise, the album is pleasant enough to play top to bottom at a turn-up or on a long drive, rich with layers of perfectly programmed percussion and flowing easily between lust, pain, and triumph.
Much of the track list is made up of love songs, like the driven “Don’t Know” and sensual “Offa Me,” with Victoria Monét, who works her cheeky sex appeal seamlessly. In fact, Davido comes out plainly as a “Lover Boy,” with two of the Francophone Africa’s finest, Tayc and Dadju. Davido’s new marriage seems woven into 5ive’s DNA as he also reveres the family that existed before it, his father and five siblings, in the opening poem. The star’s family life has been rocky, with his mom’s death when he was a child, he and his wife, Chioma, losing their toddler son in 2022, and the rumors of infidelity that have plagued their relationship over the years. On 5ive, Davido celebrates the resilience of love, lilting to his partner that she’s the most important thing that he could sing about on “10 Kilo.” Aptly, the album is at its best on songs like “CFMF” and the single “Funds,” where it trades the Amapiano-indebted Afrobeats Davido has refined for refreshing romances with the warmth of previous hits of his like “Assurance” (a clear ode to Chioma), “Sweet in the Middle,” and “La La.”
A three-song span towards 5ive’s conclusion reveals more of Davido’s anxieties and coping mechanisms, though. “I dey enjoy life, I’m unshakeable/Thats why I’m so grateful/Don’t care what dem say/I don’t need no validation/So nigga fuck your opinion,” he sings on “Nuttin Dey,” as if he’s wrestled with demons and won. “Me and my guys dey hustle and grind/To make sure say enough money dey to provide.” The often-embattled Chris Brown, who has become a pretty beloved figure in Afrobeats, is an uncomfortable but fitting companion on the tortured “Titanium,” where they duet about self-acceptance and unshakability (though it brings to mind this viral post about the nature of what someone like Brown has had to face). If Davido sees himself as maligned and troubled as well, it’s no wonder he’s embraced talented-but-controversial acts like Brown and DaBaby. “Everybody’s human, and people go through stuff,” Davido once said of the latter to Rolling Stone. Whether revelatory or exultant, 5ive is a testament to just that reality.
