Shashl - The First Quarter Album Review

Shashl had a solid 2024, her tracks Remedy, Deepisa and Nemoyo were well received, they became mainstays on music charts on various urban music radio stations. After a couple of years on the fringes in 2024 she announced her arrival on the scene and you had to take notice. 

The female space in the urban music scene currently is arguably up for grabs, I don't feel there is any outright champion, Feli Nandi is the one who comes to mind firstly, despite how good she is, she mostly appeals to a more mature and older generation which leaves much of the market up for the taking. Tamy Moyo, Nisha Ts, Gemma Griffith just to mention a few are the other names other will thrown into the ring and none of them has significant edge over the other. This all means Shashl can come and disrupt if she plays her cards right. She definitely has the financial muscle to make as much projects as she wants, the question is can she rise the occasion and take the crown.

The new album is finally out and after some time listening today will be sharing with you my thoughts and views on the album.

1. Shine

Shashl starts the track on an uplifting tone. On this track she is saying despite all the challenges, the stresses, the pain, the disappointments she will shine. She is not going to lose faith in her goal. 

2. Weakness

Shashl is addressing her weakness of always falling blindly into love. She easily falls in love, sometimes ignoring the red flags leading her into various dramas. She is accepting that weakness of hers and hopefully working to address it. The track is well arranged, chorus is catchy. 

3. Muzerere feat ExQ

Shashl teams up with Kurudhudhu ExQ on this lovely track where each partner is confessing their love and loyalty to the other. Its always beautiful when the feeling is mutual, when both are not afraid to showcase their partner to the world. The track is well made. Shashl delivered a solid performance and ExQ was solid, he shines on these kind of tracks. 

4. Kumagumo

Shashl is pledging her never-ending loyalty to her partner. She is ignoring all the negative things others have been saying about her partner, she is not going to let anyone get in between them. The track is arranged well, love the backing vocals. This tracks also sounds a lot similar to Gemma's Ndichatarisa.

5. ME

Shashl is singing about self belief and motivation, you have to be comfortable with who you are. The world is full of fake friends, so its important to have self belief, it an important aspect everyone needs especially in this world where society constantly forces you to feel inadequate. 

6. Womera

This track is dedicated to those stingy guys who do not put effort in impressing their ladies. Modern love is a give and take these days, its hard to impress a lady without cash. On the other hand its also good for a guy to show they can step up when required. The production is done well, vocals are good. 

7. Munhu Wako feat Skido Tgs

She has been teasing this track a lot on social media and it will do well as the leading single for this project. She is appreciating her new love, praising them for how good they are loving them. She is thanking the person who had to let go of their person they gave her a chance to experience some amazing love. This one can do some solid number with good visuals.

8. Perfect Somebody

Everyone has their idea of that perfect person, being in that perfect relationship. This is Shashl's definition of a perfect somebody, a loyal and caring person. She will stand by him and never leave his side.  

9. Energy

This is a track where one is fed up trying to always make the relationship work. Its tiring to always be the one to initiate conversation, to be the one who always push for some activity between the two of you. Relationships are tough, they get bearable when both parties are putting in effort, the weight is shared that way. 

10. Gyration

This track is about celebrating life, its about prioritizing you happiness and those around you, to put always put out positive energy whenever possible

11. Positive Vibes.

She ends the album with some positive vibes, what is life without some good music. This track is about enjoying music, having a good time with friends.

So ya that's it for the First Quarter album and I have to say its quite average with some good moments here and there. Shashl seems to be stuck between trying to sound Nigerian and Zimbabwean, you can feel that battle as you jump from track to track.

The production is well done throughout. The instrumental arrangements are good and they mostly fall under afro beats style and sound. The arrangements though are a bit generic, most tracks feel as if you have heard them before. Sounding familiar has its ups and downs, the tracks can easily blend in with many similar sounding tracks and may benefit from being added to certain playlists but then in most cases the tracks will not stand out and risk fizzling out fast. The tracks do not have anything that keeps the listener hooked, differentiating your sound is what makes a song or sound unique and keeps people coming back.

The saving grace when one choses a generic populated sound is probably making the songs catchy, be it the chorus, verse, bridge anything that can be catchy becomes important. In that department Shashl tried tracks such as Weakness, Muzerere & Munhu Wako all have that catchy element even Womera. Trying to make a catchy chorus is both an art and a science, you can learn and copy things that made other tracks successful catchy and it may not work because a lot of social aspects come into play and those are very hard to foresee. Its the risk of chasing trends. She has to work more on that, she could alternate catchy with relatability, go for stuff that her core fanbase relate to more, that way the tracks can have more impact on the listener.

Shashl delivered a good vocal performance throughout the project, the two chosen collaborations worked well. With some solid visuals I feel she can pull some solid number for those two collaborations she made. In terms of themes Shashl was mostly about love and relationships. 

To conclude I have to say this is an average offering from Shashl. It not bad but also not exceptional. Like I have mentioned earlier she needs to work on adding that touch or element that will make her music stand out from the flood of afro beats tracks out there otherwise her survival in the industry will be tough given how trends change fast. She has the financial muscle to do what is needed, what is required now is for her and her team to experiment and push to find a perfect mix between the Naija and Zim sound they want. 

My Overall rating is: 5.8/10

Feel free to share your thoughts and views about the album.

Proud_Zimbo