Diallo Bouba
Victony wasn't planning on putting out an album this year.
In January, the Nigerian singer-songwriter intended to only drop an EP with a full-length to come in 2027; after all, he'd only released his breakout debut, Stubborn, two years prior. But when he got into the studio, song after song kept flowing out of him. “Every time I made a song, I realized I was able to carry that same feeling to the next song. I don't think I've ever had this much fun making music,” he says over a recent Zoom.
How much fun, you ask? One just needs to take a gander at his Instagram which shows him posing on yachts with rappers like Loe Shimmy and flashes of strip-club floors buried in cash as far back as December 2025. By then, Victony says he was already living in the playground of an incorrigible lover-boy, the world that would eventually inspire his sexy and smooth sophomore album, STARLIFE, out August 21.
The pivotal moment came when Victony locked in with producer Ozedikus — the architect behind Rema’s 2019 smash “Dumebi” and Oxlade’s unforgettable “KU LO SA.” After admiring his work from afar, Victony and Ozedikus started “ping-ponging” off each other and bonding over their shared hometown in Lagos.
Together, they made the mellow and flirty single “FRE$H” and quickly followed it up with the viral-before-it-even-dropped hit “SLICK.” "SLICK" was born on the same night "FRE$H" dropped, Victony reveals. “We were two for two. I was in the studio and I told him, 'Congratulations,' because that was my first release of the year. That was the start of something.”
Across STARLIFE, the production maintains a nonchalant calm, giving Victony plenty of room to romance the beat. You can hear him whispering a subtle "heeeyy" into the mic, or punctuating his verses with cockily chanted "huhs.” The album has the Afrobeats sound, even as its DNA clearly hails from R&B.
"2 FRESH" hits with a stripped-back bounce that feels one kick drum away from a Cash Cobain beat, while "CAN JUICE" deploys a gently strummed guitar and ambient raindrops you might hear on a throwback slow jam. Meanwhile, "MISSIN PIECE" sounds like it could’ve been sent off for Justin Bieber’s SWAG or JOURNALS era — and what I’d picture a voicemail from Victony to a girl at 2 a.m. would sound like.
Diallo Bouba
Despite the R&B undertones, Victony says the sonic direction of STARLIFE wasn’t particularly calculated; in the studio, they were mostly riffing on whatever he was feeling at the moment. Only recently, when listening back to its songs, did he hear its strong R&B influences. Perhaps the only thing he took intentional care to feature on the record was both his singing and rapping. “I'm a singer now, but with the cadence, you could tell I still try to show my rap side,” he says. “Even with a song like 'SLICK,’ I still tap in from both worlds whenever I'm creating.”
Victony is proud of the musical knowledge he holds, especially on the track "FYNE," where he samples the Orezi classic "You Garrit." “That side was intentional. Just trying to bridge the gap and bring back some old Afrobeats vibes.”
In general, STARLIFE is firmly focused on victoriously prophesying Victony’s future — one filled with (more) fur coats, silver jewelry, plenty of baddies — "aura," he says. He says he could've only gotten there after deviating from his plans and enjoying the ride. “For the longest, I was focused on trying to get everything right, and for the first time, I'm learning to let go," he says. "I want people to feel the freedom I felt while making the tape."