Award-winning Europe-based Nigerian afro-funk, soul, and blues singer, songwriter, and all-round entertainer, Justina Ogunlolu, popularly known as Justina Lee Brown, has released her new EP Billiki, in anticipation of an album.
Having recently become the first African to win the prestigious Swiss Blues Award for 2024 with her 2023-released album Lost Child (which was also declared by the Swiss Blues Society to have been the best self-produced soul blues album in Switzerland for 2023), Justina Lee Brown continues to forge ahead with her music, which seamlessly blends African lyricism with Western-leaning global sounds, creating a unique and captivating musical experience for listeners worldwide.
Following the success of her last album, Lost Child, the singer decided to put out an EP centred around a standout song titled Billiki, which features different remixes of the song. According to Justina Lee Brown, her previous album “is a reflection of who she is, her truth, as a free and expressive entertainer who is not confined by any one genre or label.” Therefore, she has decided to continue on that path with the new project. Billiki, being a special record off her previous album, tells the story of how hostile society can be for a girl child.
The three-track EP, in anticipation of an afrobeats album, will feature the original version of Billiki, off the Lost Child album, a remix version, and a pop version tagged as the “Emansworld version.”
Upon first listening to Billiki by Justina Lee Brown, you instantly understand that this song tells a tragic story and contains melodies weaved around painful circumstances—whether or not you understand what jazz, blues, and folk music singer Justina Lee Brown sings about in her native language, Yoruba. Striking guitar chords and introspective harmonizing from Brown set off the song, laying an intense atmosphere over which she tells the heartbreaking story of Billiki.
They say art in its truest form should not only evoke emotions in its viewer, or, respectively, its listener, but should also provoke one. Brown’s Billiki” ticks each of these boxes, serving as a piercing ballad with poignant elements from the instrumentalisation, to her vocalisation and reflective backup singing that awaken pensive and sorrowful emotions while inviting and provoking one to pay attention to the issue of girl child insecurity in Africa.
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