Korede Bello “Beauty & Bliss” EP Review

Beauty & Bliss

Korede Bello

• Genre: Worldwide
• Date: 25 Aug, 2023
• Content: Not-explicit
• Region: NGA
• Track(s): 8
• ℗ 2023 KOREDE BELLO, with exclusive license to ONErpm

Korede Bello, a former Mavin signee, released his new extended playlist “Beauty & Bliss” today, Friday (August 25), with guest appearances from Afrobeats artists Yemi Alade and Mr Eazi. Their synergy blended seamlessly with Korede Bello’s, as they each delivered excellent lines as if they were their own singles. The EP transports the listener to a time when younger Korede Bello gifted the world with back-to-back hit songs.

EP Cover Art

A vast field full of nice flowers with some additional aesthetics like that setting sun and those white butterflies fluttering around come close to painting a picture of Korede believes to be Beauty & Bliss.  Usually doors like the one designed for this artwork open up to a different world or realm, but the blue door above looks like it’s just standing there for ornamental purposes only, which also works.

Tracks and Features

“Yoga” starts the EP and immediately takes the listener to ‘the other room,’ or at least a tiny feeling of its accompanying sensuality. While Bello serenades his lover and craves her next ‘yoga visit,’ he tries to switch up his sound and experiment with new sonics (possibly inspired by The Weeknd) in the track’s chorus. And he doesn’t suck at it, neither does he quite kill it. But it was a good stab, regardless. Not a very interesting opener, but it’s certainly good to have our Korede Bello back on the scene!

The sexy, lovey-dovey vibe from the first song pours right into “Waiting,” the second track, as Bello doesn’t stop hailing his lover and desiring her presence like a crackhead’s bloodstream desires angel dust. And for that reason, he is willing to be patiently wait for her. Compared to the first song, this is such an improvement. The melodies were hitting and Bello could be heard elegantly surfing the waves of the nicely-produced Amapiano-infused beat. Shows he hasn’t missed a beat with the recent trends even after being AWOL for a minute.

Things seem to get better as you progress and “Full Time” couldn’t agree more. Over a similar beat progression as Tems’ “Avoid Things,” Bello sings to steal hearts, and he will succeed in his burglary attempt because this one’s a big, big mood. In the lyrics of the song, he declares his unfading loyalty to his lover. Bello is in it with his baby for the long haul and really doesn’t want to fight or have his genuine love taken for granted. His voice carries the soft boy, hopeless romantic energy this track didn’t think it needed. Bello picked up the hammer and totally nailed this.

Bello invites the vivacious Yemi Alade for “For Me,” a duet which they dumped in a body bag after murdering the hell out of it. Though we don’t support violence on this side, that is probably one of most apt ways to describe how well they both carried out the job. The duet job. They complement each other so well as they air out their frustrations about enemies of progress that just wouldn’t let two lovers be. Next, “Maria” bursts his brain and he tells us all about it over an Afrobeat bounce. This one certainly has the potential to achieve hit song status.

Mr. Eazi joins the former Mavin signee in “Jejely,” an ode to the soft life. Though we can’t exactly say this was one of Eazi’s best outings, we can tell you that when a multimillionaire and business tycoon like Temi Otedola’s fiancé sings about the good life, you better believe him. Bello holds down his forte too, but this one comes off low-key bland.

Bello schools us on the “Way Life Goes,” singing about the rollercoaster nature of life’s experiences and how we must keep fighting through the madness as we maintain our personal grounding. “Complete” completes the project with a good dose of gratitude, as he appreciates his woman and expresses his love using loving lyrics and soothing melodies.

Tracklist

NO	TITLE	TIME
1	Yoga	3:14
2	Waiting	3:26
3	Full Time	2:59
4	For Me (feat. Yemi Alade)	2:45
5	Maria	2:09
6	Jejely	3:01
7	Way Life Goes	2:47
8	Complete	3:02

EP Theme

The EP has a central theme of love and sensuality.

Production Credits

The producers involved in this project’s sound engineering are not disclosed.

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