Afrobeats right now is restless, with artists throwing everything at the wall, testing the waters, and going through several phases of reinvention and artistic growth. It’s thrilling in its own way, as it thrives on surprise and new forms of self-expression. CKay, for his part, hasn’t exactly been silent; his music has been around, floating in the mix, but his presence hasn’t been sharply felt either. However, the artist has made his intent to snap back into focus clear with his latest single, “Body (danz).” So far, the track has proven to be a clever way to command attention, and CKay’s enlistment of the resident cool kid on the block, Mavo, is one of his most sonically astute moves in recent memory.

“Body (danz)” finds CKay doing his best, as usual. However, Mavo is currently in a precarious and delicate phase where he must continue doubling down on his talent, explicitly clarifying why he deserves to be taken seriously as a fixture in the game. So, of course, he goes even harder. He bursts into the song with a palpable, explicit directive to shine and delivers a superb verse against the deep-pocket grooves and hyper-propulsive rhythms of the instrumental. The beat slaps, and Mavo dances all over it with lamba that’s rich, vivid, and wildly infectious. Say what you will about his style, but the man knows what works.

Thematically, the track plugs directly into the national mood. There’s a running commentary that the more fraught the country’s social climate becomes, the more intensely escapist its pop music must be. “Body (danz)” is CKay’s most intelligent and timely contribution to this collective cultural need for dance-floor catharsis.