As a child, like many children, Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu was fascinated by superhero comics. He wanted to be his own superhero, so he named himself Burna Boy, a moniker that has followed him into a career as one of the defining musical acts of today’s African diaspora. Last November, after his fourth studio album African Giant permeated the summer from Abuja to Brooklyn, he sold out London’s Wembley Arena. Now, just a year after African Giant, Burna returns with Twice as Tall, and with it, a more resonant origin story—one that explains his ascent from 2018’s breakthrough single “Ye.” In an accompanying motion comic, the Yoruba deity Orunmila chooses Burna to embody his “secret flame.” With it, Burna is challenged to restore the gods’ faith in humanity. He meets these Black gods again, in 2020, his mission completed through his resounding success. “You make music passionately, like you are waging a war,” one tells him, proudly.
Twice as Tall is Burna’s battle cry. Compared to 2018’s jovial Outside and last year’s sunnily conscious African Giant, Twice as Tall can feel heavy under the weight of Burna’s personal reflection and Pan-African crusade. His newly moody Afro-fusion—a mix of afrobeat, reggae, dancehall, hip-hop, EDM, and more—amplifies his passion. Twice as Tall could’ve aimed to crystalize Burna’s position as a global Afropop star with easier, feel-good hits. Instead, he turns starkly inward, assuring himself of his power, and outward, reminding the world of its failures and its potential. It is a load worth carrying.
Burna Boy lost the 2020 Grammy for Best World Music Album to celebrated Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo, an idol and collaborator. Despite his reverence for her, the loss sickened him, as he recounts on album opener “Level Up.” As Burna—whose humility here is admirable—lists times that he’s felt small, he initiates the familiar, satisfying arc of the hero’s journey. Over Anderson .Paak’s menacing drums on “Alarm Clock,” Burna issues a warning in light Pidgin English: You’ll discover that I’m really unstoppable. The somber synths of “Way Too Big” sound like a hike up Mount Olympus. Twice as Tall is marked by Burna’s pride in his hustle, his confidence in his path, and his faith that he is favored by the divine. It’s littered with pleas to God, rebukes of the Devil, and prayers that his trek to victory will be uninterrupted. As the album ends, he and UK rapper and singer Stormzy offer a peaceful, self-assured balm with “Real Life,” before Burna settles into the might and limits of being merely human on “Bank on It.”