Femi Kuti Announces New Album, ‘Journey Through Life’

Nigerian Afrobeat icon Femi Anikulapo-Kuti announces his eleventh album, Journey Through Life, due in late April. The announcement coincides with the release of "After 24 Years," the album's second single and follow-up to last November's "Politics Don Expose Them."

Written and recorded in 2023, months after Nigeria's most recent general election, "After 24 Years" is a critical and mournful reflection of the lack of positive, wholesome growth since the West African nation returned to democracy in 1999. Kuti indicts Nigeria's political elite for failing to "bring salvation" to the Nigerian populace and essentially "bastardiz[ing] the country."

Kuti expands on the album in a press release: "Journey Through Life is basically a summary of my life from childhood to adulthood. All through my life, family has been a solid foundation; from my parents, grandparents, to my siblings, cousins, and now my children, my nieces and nephews, and soon my grandchildren, and true to my song at the end of the day for me family is all that matters. I believe many events in our lives draw us away from each other like an undercurrent, but the essence is to manage such events and let love prevail."

"Most importantly, too, is to forgive oneself for mistakes we make in life, as we strive to make corrections to improve our well-being and characters and always find peace and harmony with our minds, body, and soul."