Winky D Tete a Tete Album Review

As you mature and grow older you get to a point where you realize you have to evolve, you no longer have the unending energy of the youth and your level of maturity is now beyond youthful things, the vast life experiences you have encountered make you more composed and you now slow down your actions. Slower actions but greater impact with every move becomes the best strategy. 

Have been waiting for years to see how Winky D was going to evolve when he reached that stage. Have not been a fan of his projects from Eureka Eureka onwards! I truly felt he had outgrown party dancehall, it was no longer sufficient for his stature. When he released One Big Party EP earlier this year I was like noooo not again, the icon has to evolve or he will be swallowed by the young guys.

Dancehall is a youth fueled genre and as you get older you won't stand a chance with the younger guys who are more in touch with the streets and trends (these past 3-5 years are a best example of that). The best option left will be to slow down your music and become more conscious, maturity comes with life experience which is something the young artists do not possess.

I'm happy that finally Winky and his team have reached a realization that their chart topping prime days are now over and they should now focus on a more mature sound. Even physically, one's body will also require them to slow things down, it's natural.

Now Tete a Tete dropped as a surprise, me and thousands of others never saw it coming and it has been a very welcomed surprise from the Gafa. Last year after the first Tete a Tete show an album drop was abuzz in the streets but nothing came, it appears the time was not right yet. It is now. Winky is a sort of romantic, an idealist in the way he moves, he wants things to move in a certain specific way. During the show he announced he is now leaving the dancehall scene which left many wondering what their icon was moving to next, then to answer all the questions he knew the fans had after the show he dropped this album, signalling a start of a new journey. It was well planned and executed.

The messages in this project hit deep. Winky D has fully embraced his pan Africanism activist side. This album is filled with sharp hard hitting lyrics from the first track to the last. Each track addresses a different aspect of the everyday life for an African from politics, social ills, economic turmoil and personal introspection. 

The themes are aimed at reviving the conversation of African identify , renewing African Pride and motivating Africans to play an active part in shaping the future of our different nations and continent. It's an album that forces one to self introspect, and recalibrate their values and stand tall embracing what is means to be African and what we can be. It's a rally call to every youth in Africa to take notice and push for positive change within their community and nation. It's hard to listen to this album and not feel something inside of you, it stirs you up and gets you thinking and ready to play your part. This is the greatest strength of this project, it inspires you to act.

The tracks are a fusion of core reggae elements with dancehall some afro sounds here and there. This fusion will make this project palatable to a lot of Africans, it's a familiar sound on a reggae tip. The arrangement of the tracks is done quite well, many tracks have a one drop section somewhere in between which will be welcomed by fans of his dancehall side. Energy is still a core part of the album.

The overall project is more to the up-tempo side which can be both a good and bad thing depending on where you stand when it comes to your preference in reggae. The tempo of this project was made with will his (dancehall) fans in mind, it will also be relatable to many Africans and may be a refreshing sound for international reggae fans who are used to Jamaican reggae. 

I am a huge reggae fan and lean more to conscious roots reggae which sweeps and transports you into another world. This album lacks that intangible smoothness and conscious vibe which I look for in reggae music. The tracks lean more to the rougher dancehall side sonically speaking, which means it's not as relaxing as I prefer. Silence is one track that leans more to that chilled sound and I hope there were many tracks like that. As a first full largely reggae project I can understand Winky is still working out the perfect balance to his sound and will likely evolve more on his next projects.

Winky D is known for his energetic performances so the uptempo nature is understandable, it will fit well with his dancehall tracks during a live shows, especially the ones with one drop sections. It will be interesting to see how Winky gets to perform the more conscious tracks on this project like 2 Law, Silence, these are tracks where the crowd is not expected to be jumping all over but just swing back and forth whilst escaping in the rhythm.

The production in overall is done well. Winky has been one of those who has been heavily using AI in making his art and he continues to do so on this project but at a lesser level than his past project One Big Party. I feel he implemented it quite well on this project. As I listen to this album I also get to wonder why Winky does not record music with his band, listening to this project and even all his past projects since he started working with a band you can pick that they were not largely recorded with the band. As good as he is on stage you can feel they have to tweak the tracks to meet the capabilities of the band, it never comes out excatly as it does when you listen to the official audios. I hope he gets to record more with the band, there is a certain feel a track has when it's recorded by the full band.

Wordplay is one of Winky D's greatest strengths, the legend has bars for days and you can pick them throughout this project. The bars fit the uptempo style well. As he now pushes more for reggae he has to slow down his delivery, less bars, be more laid back and use more simple wording but arranged in ways that can deliver the required depth. With reggae delivery counts for more than bars, a simple word perfectly delivered will mean more. Insane wordplay is great for the die hard fans who will research what every line is supposed to mean but when you target a wider audience simple is better and more efficient. As much as English is the most spoken language world over, only very few properly comprehend it given it's not their native tongue, Winky and team have to take this into consideration on future projects. Say more with less is the best move for reggae.

Stream the album : Winky D Tete a Tete Full Album

In conclusion this is a solid and refreshing project from Winky, I absolutely support this switch in sound and genre. You can see that Winky is now positioning himself for a bigger stage and with that comes new learning steps which he needs to go through to become as polished in this genre as he was in Zimdancehall. Personally have been impressed with the direction he took. The message is the strong point of this project, however more work is still needed in other aspects especially the intangibles, the consciousness, smoothness and softness of the sound.

Having seen the chaos his die hard fans have been causing online coming from the desire to see Winky reach the next level, a new challenge awaits. That is breaking into the International (Jamaican) reggae space. Jamaica is the home of reggae and they will want it to stay that way, it's one of their biggest exports and a vital unique part of their identity, it will not be easy for anyone not from Jamaica to be equally appreciated and successful in their spaces, meaning at their radio stations, concerts, festivals, you can get one or two chances but in the end they will prioritize their own artists above any other. It will be interesting to see how Winky and his team will navigate this, will they go for the Lucky Dube strategy of creating a different fusion of reggae and focus more on regional impact or they will want to go toe to toe with Jamaicans in their now native sound!!

My overall rating : 7/10

Feel free to share your thoughts and views on the album in the comments section below.

Proud_Zimbo