Mr Eazi and King Promise Sample the Backstreet Boys in “That Way”

In what feels like a natural culmination of multiple collaborations and years of friendship, Afrobeats stars Mr Eazi and King Promise will team up to release their first joint album, See What We’ve Done, on March 11. 

Riffing off the title of the smash hit single they released last year, See What We’ve Done allows both artists, whose collaborative relationship has been defined by hits and playful experimentation with sound and influences, to play in a bigger creative field.

The album is set for release on March 11, and its lead single, “That Way,” which is now out, features an interpolation from the Backstreet Boys’ famous classic “I Want It That Way.” Guiltybeatz and JAE5 produce the new single.

Like many West Africans who grew up on a healthy diet of American music and television, Nigerian-born Mr Eazi and Ghanaian-raised King Promise revered the swagger and easy charm of boy band music like the Backstreet Boys.

“‘I Want it That Way’ used to be one of our favorite records growing up. Backstreet Boys, Westlife — that’s what we all grew up listening to,” Ghanaian Nigerian superstar Mr Eazi admits. “Once I heard the beat with that interpolation, I was like ‘Jeez, we gotta do this one.’ It was just us having fun and playing with nostalgia.”

The interpretation of such a globally beloved classic by Eazi and Promise carries the same swagger and yearning, while situating itself within an Afropop composition. The song opens similarly to the way the original song does, except amped up, with affections for their objects of desire expressed in pidgin. 

“Wetin you dey do me nobody can come close,” King Promise confesses, as the song dives into a melodic, thumping percussive beat. Lyric-wise, Promise and Eazi keep things light yet open-hearted, choosing the vulnerability and wide-eyed sensibility common with boy bands.

“First off, the confidence to even dare such a classic sample tells how convinced I was that I could flip it into some new magic,” King Promise says in a statement. “And when they cleared the sample, [it] made it even clearer to me cos I was dreaming big with that sample clearance lol. Sometimes you hear a classic, and you just know you can take it somewhere new. That's what 'That Way' is: Mr. Eazi and I taking an anthem everyone grew up with and flipping it into something that hits different. Same heart, new pulse.”

While it’s still too early to tell if the rest of their project will pay homage to boy bands or feature more reinterpretations of well-loved classics, it is clear that Eazi and Promise have an interesting story to tell about their friendship and their ever-expanding collaborative relationship.