Victony is having a moment, and the numbers are quite the evidence. His sophomore album Starlife pulled in 2.13 million streams on Spotify Nigeria within its first day of release, a strong opening for a project that had already been building momentum off the back of “Slick” and “Fresh” months before it landed.
Another thing worthy of note is the story behind the sound. Dëra produced or co-produced nine of the fifteen tracks on the album, essentially shaping more than half of Starlife’s sonic direction. The credits span some of the project’s biggest moments, including “Slick,” “Amazon,” “Who This” with BNXN, “Typo,” “Too Lit,” “Twin” with FOLA, “Fyne,” the title track “Starlife” with Blaqbonez and YKB, and “Missin Piece.”
Starlife is Victony’s follow-up to his 2024 debut, Stubborn, and it sounds like a much-needed exhale after that project’s heavier emotional weight. Where Stubborn wrestled with trauma, imposter syndrome, and the guilt that can come with sudden success, Starlife finds him fully settled into life as a pop star, and the music reflects that shift in posture. It is a smoother, more confident record, built around mid-tempo Afrobeats grooves and ambient pop synths. Something I like to call “Big Boy Music”
Ten of the fifteen songs are solo cuts, giving Victony room to lean into his falsetto and steer complex melodies without needing a second voice to carry the hook. The guest list still adds plenty of extra vocal intentionality. BNXN shows up on “Who This,” Blaqbonez and YKB join him on the title track, BabyboyAV features on “Pino,” Young Jonn appears on “Armed & Dangerous,” and FOLA rounds things out on “Twin.”
Executive, produced by Shay Royale and Elochukwu Ububa and released via OUTLAWIVILLE, sounds exactly like its name suggests, and the numbers will only keep getting better.