Sean Tizzle, born Oluwaseun Morihanfen, was first affiliated with Sound Sultan's Naija Ninjas outfit, but later left and signed with Difference Entertainment, a label founded by producer D'Tunes after his departure from Made Men Music Group. Sean Tizzle had rose to prominence in 2013 with the single "Sho Lee", which became one of the year's most popular songs. D'Tunes, who had become one of Nigeria's most in-demand producers in 2012 and 2013, established Difference Entertainment and made Sean Tizzle its first signing. Within a year of "Sho Lee"'s release, Sean Tizzle had won a Headies award and begun preparing The Journey, a 17-track album intended to build on his early success.[2][3]
Composition
The Journey opens with "Perfect Gentleman", a wedding-themed song built on Yoruba highlife instrumentation with talking drums and layered melodies, in which Sean Tizzle presents himself as an ideal partner. "Baby O" follows as an afrobeats-inspired track centered on a romantic plea, while "Take It" carries similar lyrical themes with a chorus built around the refrain "Take it, receive it".[2][4]
On "Could This Be Love", Tizzle delivers a ballad reminiscent of 2Face Idibia, singing emotionally over orchestration driven by strings.[3][4] "All the Way", assisted by Kcee, incorporates Igbo lyrics over an eastern highlife arrangement.[3][4] "Komagbon" draws from the live instrumental feel of earlier tracks, often compared to Davido's "Skelewu"[5], and "Igi Orombo", which features Tiwa Savage, combines contemporary highlife with saxophone lines and vocal riffs.[2][4] "Duro", produced by Prince Boom, who he has worked with in the past on songs like "Your Body", diverges from D'Tunes' style with a faster-paced afropop production built on synths.[2][4] Tizzle also includes celebratory tracks such as "Komole", described as an owambe party anthem, and "Mama Eh", which incorporates tribal rhythms into a club-oriented sound.[2][4] Toward the end of the album, "Momayan" continues in a similar sonic direction to "Komole" and "Igi Orombo", while "Dem No Be God" closes the project with Sean Tizzle reflecting on critics and acknowledging his blessings over a near-spiritual production.[2][4]
Singles
The album's lead single, "Mama Eh" was released on 5 July 2013.[6] On 17 September 2013, the music video was released for "Mama Eh". It was directed by Clarence Peters.[7] The album's second single, "Komole" was released on 31 October 2013.[8] Its accompanying music video was released on 11 December 2013 and directed by Aje Filmworks. Set in the 1980s, it depicts the story of Sean Tizzle's music career in a comical way.[9] "Kilogbe" was released on 16 November 2013 as The Journey's third single.[10] The music video for "Kilogbe" was released on 2 March 2014. It was shot in Johannesburg and directed by Sesan.[11] The official remix of "Kilogbe" features Olamide and Reminisce, and was released on 17 April 2014 as the album's final single.[12] Difference Entertainment released the Sesan-directed music video for "Take It" on 1 May 2014.[13] The music video for the album's opening track, "Perfect Gentleman" was released on 25 August 2014. It was directed by Unlimited L.A and shot in South Africa among the videos for "Take It" and "Kilogbe".[14] The music video for the 9ice-assisted "Loke Loke" was filmed in Ramburg by Unlimited L.A.[15] On 17 December 2014, the music video for "Igi Orombo" featuring Tiwa Savage was released. It was directed by Tatenda Jamera.[16]
Upon its release, The Journey received generally positive reviews from critics. At Tooxclusive, Ogaga Sakpaide rated the album a 2.5 out of 5, calling it commercially appealing but criticized it for weak lyrics, repetitiveness, and the absence of a standout track.[4] A review from Celebz360 rated it a 6/10.[17] Chiagoziem Onyekwena of TheNet.ng's awarded The Journey a 3.5 out of 5 ranking. He concluded, "Sean displays enough on the Journey to hint that 'Sho Lee' wasn’t a one-off and there’s plenty more quality where that came from".[3] Wilfred Okiche wrote that The Journey was a strong debut that showcased D'Tunes and Sean Tizzle's chemistry, and proves that he isn't a one-hit-wonder. Okiche concluded "The Journey is a stunning debut from Sean Tizzle, an artist many had predicted would go the one hit wonder way".[2] In the review from Should You Bump This, Sho and Tunde rated it a 3.6 out of 5.[5]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
