“Shebi na dem get their mouth, make dem talk, I go do my thing, see you at the top”, He sings in a melodious tune that I struggle to place on my spectrum of sound. It bears the hallmark of the kind of subtle, intense but sonorous voice that I have come to like. I don’t hear it when Adele sings, but I like her; I hear it in songs like Shayne Ward’s Breathless, Kiwanuka’s Home Again, Flavour’s Awele but not in Cece Winans.
I hear it in his voice, so I run to Apple Music to find more songs from him. He was just a featured artist in this one track and sang the catchy hook. There are several times when I have felt the same way after hearing a voice like this. It was Demmie Vee’s Tiff. I wonder why people with this kind of skill never become A-listers. I remember Sammie from Soulja Boy’s Kiss Me Thru the Phone; no one remembers Sammie, I’m not even sure he went on to have a good music career but the legacy of his voice remains on a song that remains a pop classic.
The word that I was looking for is cantabile; smooth and mellow and with no hint of stopping. I find tha people who are capable of this style are not made for the big stage. Almost like there’s something about their ability to maintain this sonorous effect that abhors the bright light of the main stage. They never made the main stage, but you also find that in their closet, they are unhappy because they were sold lofty dreams by the quality of their sound and end up despaired and disappointed when it does not come through. They are left with good quality EPs; score very high musically but poor commercially.
The last time he released music was in 2020. He had released an E.P to ride on the wave of his catchy hook that had now gone viral. He was a featured artist, but now he was centre stage and his album art was designed to reflect this. He sat on a chair, hand on chin, face stern as he looked into the camera showing he was here for serious business. The setting was an office - he truly means business. I assume.
I press play and the qualities persist. It’s a good body of work and I wonder why we haven’t heard from him since then. I checked his social media and noticed he took a nearly four-year hiatus, he left at the peak of his fame (so far). His style may never do well commercially, but I hope he finds peace and royalties from the various artists who have borrowed his melody for their hooks. They are sparse and few but I hope he finds happiness outside music.
I wonder if he is happy, I am about to postulate my own answer until Ire, the last song on his EP plays. And there, I have it. I find it interesting that he leaves, what is essentially, the confession song as the last track on the EP. Like, he needs to bare it out but also thinks many people will not get to the last song to see his vulnerability. He sings about his desire for stardom, you can feel the pain through the lyrics, he reminds us that he works very hard and hopes millions sing his songs but he’s still waiting and praying for it to happen. After Ire, he has not released anything else.
His name is Aromolaran Adeshina, better known as Deshinor. The one track was Laycon’s Hiphop song.
“It’s Deshinor once again and this is Hiphop hurray”, he sings beautifully.
Miracle Roch.