Victony on New Album ‘Starlife’ and How Breakout Hit ‘Soweto’ Encouraged Him ‘To Keep Experimenting’
Categoria: Musica
The Nigerian artist’s second LP began as a four-song project before growing into a 15-track reflection of where he is now.
Por Billboard | 21/08/2026
Victony did not begin 2026 expecting to make his sophomore album. When the process behind Starlife started in February, the initial plan was to produce a four-song EP. Then came “FRE$H,” which sparked a creative surge that quickly expanded the project into a mixtape and, ultimately, a full 15-track album, out today (Aug. 21). “It’s just been such an interesting process,” Victony tells Billboard U.K. , reflecting on the organic growth of the LP. “But it always felt like it was meant to be this way.” By then, cutting anything was out of the question: “If I left out any song from this, it would feel incomplete.” When we speak, Victony – whose sound melds afropop, R&B, soul and beyond – is in London, where another listening party is being planned after one in Lagos the previous week. “I can’t feel any better right now. I’m just very excited,” he says. The excitement around Starlife also feels different from his first album, Stubborn , released in 2024. Back then, Victony was concerned with proving himself musically. “With Stubborn being my very first album at the time, you know, what I cared about the most is just like musical excellence,” he explains. “I wanted to put out the best records that I have and just show people that I can do this.” This time, there is less proving and more revealing. “I’m at a point in my life where my personality is really just shining through the music,” he says. “This is me telling people this is how I feel right now.” It explains why a project that started with four songs kept growing. For Victony, the finished album captures a specific version of himself. “I felt it within me to show people that this is what I’m on and I feel like this body of work completely represents where I am right now.” That moment arrives as Victony’s world looks very different from when he started making music. He remembers working on songs in bedrooms and kitchens in Lagos; now, those songs have taken him around the world. “Just being all the way in Lagos, Nigeria, making music from our bedrooms, our kitchen, and a few years later you’re getting booked for shows in Canada, stuff like that. Obviously, it feels really good, and that’s something I’m really grateful for.” The possibility of reaching listeners outside Nigeria wasn’t entirely unexpected, though. “We always knew there will come a time where the world will start to have eyes on us,” he says. His 2022 breakout track “Soweto” showed just how far that music could travel. Victony had previously been a rapper and describes the song as one of his earliest attempts at Afrobeats. “’Soweto’ itself was an experiment, but it just felt very authentic to me,” he says. The original track with Tempoe peaked at No. 5 on the U.K.’s Official Afrobeats Chart, and the following year, a version with Rema reached No. 1. An expanded edition with Don Toliver and Tempoe crossed onto the main U.K.’s Official Singles Chart, peakin