Ayra Starr drops her 16-track third studio album, Starrgirl. From Dangerous to Pressure with Leon Thomas, here are the top 5 standout songs on first listen.
Ayra Starr’s third studio album, Starrgirl, arrived today, August 14, through Mavin Records and Republic Records, following two years of anticipation since her critically acclaimed second album, The Year I Turned 21.
The 16-track project was recorded across Lagos, New York and Los Angeles and features an ambitious roster of collaborators including Wizkid, Rema, ZAYN and Leon Thomas.
Starr has described the album as a reflection of her ability to exist in multitudes, drawing from the different cultures, cities and experiences that have shaped her. On first listen, five tracks stand out above the rest.
Dangerous
The album’s opening statement arrives with an electronic “Initiating RAGE process” intro that has already generated its own conversation online, separate from the album itself.
Co-produced by Johnny Drille, RAGEE and X Ize, the track blends rap flows and sung hooks over trap-influenced production in a way that signals immediately that this is not the same Ayra Starr from The Year I Turned 21. As album openers go, few Nigerian releases this year have been this deliberate or this effective.
Pressure ft Leon Thomas
The fourth track on the album is one of its quietest and most rewarding moments. Built around warm guitar riffs, soft keyboard chords and an airy mid-tempo drum loop, the Afro-R&B duet with Leon Thomas creates an intimacy that the album’s more energetic tracks do not attempt. It rewards patience and sits better with each listen.
Midnight in New York
The album’s most purely euphoric moment. Driven by a heavy, pulsing dancefloor rhythm that sits closer to Afro-house than traditional Afrobeats, the track captures something specific: the disorienting, electric feeling of a city at night. It is the kind of record that works equally well at a house party or alone at 2 am, which is harder to achieve than it sounds.
Ms Paper ft Theodora
The collaboration with French-Congolese artist Theodora is one of the album’s more unexpected pleasures. The multicultural blend of Nigerian Afropop and bouyon-influenced textures from Theodora creates a richness that most international collaborations on Nigerian albums fail to deliver. Both artists sound at home on the same record.
Misunderstood
The album’s most personal moment saves itself for last on this list. Co-written with Darius Coleman and Adanna Duru, the guitar-led ballad addresses public scrutiny and the feeling of being underestimated, and does so without overstating its case. The restraint in the production gives the lyrics room to breathe, and the result is one of the most genuinely affecting tracks Ayra Starr has recorded.
