Kenyan singer Bahati’s new album, ‘Love Like This’, premiers today (14.06.2021) exclusively on Boomplay Music Kenya.
Heralding the long-overdue release was a listening party at the Trademark Hotel on Sunday afternoon (13.06.2021), a colorful event graced by the media, dignitaries and the who-is-who of the industry.
Bahati took the attendees through the recording and creative process of his 10-track project by means of a video collage chronicling all the moments from when recording commenced to when it was all complete.
‘’It has been a long time coming. I took a year off from interviews as I was going through a bona fide rebranding process and recording the album concurrently. I knew well not to reveal anything just yet, so I took a backseat from giving interviews, ‘’ admitted the singer.
He further revealed that he has been deliberately pulling stunts to mount enough talk on the album, saying he understands the business all too well. ‘’I have been doing it on purpose. The way the industry is set up, I would not afford not to create talkability around my name, ‘’ he added. That came as a shocker as not many if any, artists admit to pulling publicity stunts.
The album is comprised of just one gospel song and nine contemporary songs and features a string of big music names in the East African music realm including Tanzanian hitmaker Rayvanny, Ugandan songstress Lydia Jazmine and Burundian singer Sat B.
‘’I’m incredibly proud of the album and my brother Bahati. We have been friends for years and I consider him family and I’m honoured to have featured on it,’’ said Tanzanian crooner Rayvanny in a prerecorded video message played on the screen. The Bongo heavyweight features on a mellow track dubbed Kiss off of the album.
Ugandan Lydia Jazmine hailed Bahati as a humble, friendly family man who she met in 2015 during a Coke Studio recording session and they have been friends since.
Kenyan collaborators entail Otile Brown, Jovial and Nadia Mukami. ‘’I literally called him very last minute and he obliged, ‘’ Bahati quipped of Otile Brown.
Mukami and Bahati, as the listening party neared winding up, took to the stage to perform a rather sultry track called ‘Pete Yangu’. The crowd loved the song, so much so that they asked the two to give an encore performance of the same, ‘’ which they excitedly agreed to.
The singer thanked supporters for being on his rollercoaster ride in music and promised the entire album would be worth a listen.
As reported by The Sauce, Bahati teased his album in a controversial way when he released the track ‘Fikra Za Bahati’ in which he is seen to be smoking a cigar as well as taking jabs at his fellow musicians. This caused an uproar from the public and the withdrawal of support from the Kenya Film and Classification Board as revealed by Ezekiel Mutua this past week.