Teni "Tears of the Sun" Album Review: Hits & Misses

TENI TEARS OF THE SUN ALBUM REVIEW

Teni Makanaki, as she is popularly called by her fans, has released her sophomore album titled “Tears of the Sun” and here is a review of the album.

Album Cover

The album cover is great, the sun shining on Teni’s face while she looks at it is great too, but it could have been more artistic and less literal in illustration.

Album Title

The title of this album is original and phenomenal. The sun is a metaphorical representation of Teni- how bright she has been shining for the past few years that she shook the world with hit songs when she debuted. Now, “Tears of the Sun” implies that even as a shooting star, she has her downs and her bad moments. Hence, the title of the album.

HITS

Production
Lyricism
Cohesiveness

MISSES

Replay Value
Uniqueness
Entertaining themes

Teni Tears of the Sun Album Review: Track by Track

YBDFA means “Young Black Girl from Africa”. On this song, Teni is more intentional with the lyrics, and insinuates that people don’t know a lot about her, and she is not who they think she is. To an extent, the lyrics suggest that she does not fit into what people would expect. It almost tilts towards her sexuality, at least when she indicates that it doesn’t matter who she sleeps with as long as it feels right. It’s a well-written track. It didn’t need to be that long, but it was a great listen.

POPO is about the unreciprocated feelings she experiences with her lover in a relationship. The song has much sonic quality, but the lyrics are too generic to make the song standout.

CAPRICUN & TAURUS is reminiscent of Amaarae’s sound, even the delivery. The production on this track is on point. Even the chorus slaps as hard as the lyrics do. It’s the perfect love song.

JALINGO is a bop. The delivery is very calm and incredible. It’s also a balance between a danceable track and a sit-down listen.

HOLY MATRIMONY is a song for married couples, as the song suggests. However, there is a particular type of delivery and writing that wedding songs carry, and a kind of vibe that makes them fit. Teni Tears of the Sun Album Review shows for this song, it doesn’t stick as one that would enjoy popularity at wedding events.

LANKE is the standout tracks among the first six songs. The chorus is catchy and this makes it have a huge replay value and the tendency of being remembered easily.

Tears of the sun album Teni review

CONTROL should have not made this album because, even with its attempt to be a great dancehall track, and its 90s afro-instrumentation, it does not sound different or standout, or even match the vibe of the album.

INO FT MADE KUTI sounds like a song rooted in the didactic themes of early afrobeat records. It’s not really great that we don’t get to hear Made sing on the song though, apart from the fact that his influence his felt on the record

NO DAYS OFF has a catchy beat that appeals to TikTok kids and will make great videos for Instagram reels. It’s the perfect flex song.

DEVIL DANCE FT ODUMODUBLVCK is a blend of talk rap, Afrobeats and it has that social commentary vibe even though it’s not.

MALAIKA sees Teni thanking God for how far he has brought her, and for saving her from a great illness.

APATA, a reference to Teni’s surname, is an appraisal track to celebrate Teni’s heritage

MECREDI FT TAYC is an amazing love song that should have been moved way up the album. It has great production and sonic quality that makes it easily standout among the other songs.

HOW does the job of an album-closing track by indicating how Teni will not give up but continue to strive to be the best, all while seeking God’s help

Verdict: Tears of the Sun Album Review

Teni’s Tears of the Sun Album review shows it has substantial and original content. It is a well-made body of work. Although some of the songs are not entirely standout or have great replay value, the amount of sonic production and well-curated songwriting they possess point to Teni’s growth and intentionality as an artist. This is genuinely a well put-together body of work

On the downside, the album was not really an entertaining listen as one would have expected from a Teni’s album. Some of the song themes are generic and it sounds like something we hear all the time.

Rating: 6. 5/10