For her seventh studio album, Afropop queen Yemi Alade took a trip back to her roots, drawing on the highlife, afrobeat, disco, house, and afropop foundations that have shaped her sound into an expansive, resonant 15-track eponymous LP, It’s Yemi Alade.

Mama Africa, as Yemi Alade is fondly called, ran the full course of adventure on It’s Yemi Alade, once again refusing to be confined to a single genre. The result is a diary of melodies, built around themes of love, life and lessons, and held together by Yemi’s instinct for storytelling.

Described in Yemi’s own words as “something new, something old, something borrowed” sonically, the album captures a reflective and definitive chapter for the GRAMMY-winning singer, bringing the sounds that shaped her into conversation with the artist she has become. 

To bring that journey to life, Yemi Alade enlists a formidable pan-African cast of collaborators. Kenya’s Bien joins her on “Don’t Be Shy”, while Njerae and Sofiya Nzau feature on “Earth Song”. Nigerian music royalty Don Jazzy, alongside Teni, FAVE, Spyro and Jeriq, and celebrated Congolese musicians Ferre Gola and Singuila, also lend their voices to the album.

It’s Yemi Alade was shaped by two years of writing, recording, and creative exploration, arriving at a defining point in a career that has made Yemi Alade one of Africa’s most recognisable Afropop voices.

Listen to It’s Yemi Alade below.