Interview
Photo courtesy of the artist.

Interview: Joeboy Wants to Take on the World

The Afrobeats star talks global dominance, future plans, and his new album, Body & Soul.

Joeboy’s ascent has been meteoric.

Since his 2019 breakout single, "Baby,” the Nigerian musician has amassed a year-by-year plethora of continental hit singles that have cemented him as Afrobeats’ sweetheart and a true African popstar.

Releasing an EP and an album along the way, Joeboy’s often romantically-themed music, which usually seeks to serenade, has gradually morphed into more varied forms of love—he is love-starved in “Alcohol,” correctional in “Contour,” thirsty in “Duffel-bag,” and affectionate in “Body & Soul.” Those four singles preface his much-anticipated sophomore album, Body & Soul.

“This album definitely has more edge, it is less innocent than the first one,” Joeboy tells OkayAfrica about his new album, which is titled after one of his earlier singles.

With well over a billion streams, Joeboy swiftly became a vanguard of the new class of Afrobeats superstars, but with his latest effort, the Lagos-bred artist seeks to stamp his African popstar claim on the world stage.

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