Album Reviews

King Promise – True To Self Album Review: A Decent Afropop Folder

With each release, he continues to push boundaries and captivate audiences worldwide.

King Promise True To Self Album Review
King Promise [PHOTO CREDIT: Instagram/@iamkingpromise]

King Promise’s True to Self is surely one of a kind. The Ghanaian singer-songwriter Gregory Bortey Newman, famously known as King Promise, is a name synonymous with Afrobeats. Born in 1995, King Promise has been a dominant force in the genre since he burst onto the scene in 2016. His debut single ThankGod, featuring Fuse ODG, remains a timeless track that continues to resonate with fans. Over nearly a decade, King Promise has cemented his status as one of the leading voices in Ghana and across Africa, thanks to his captivating melodies and relatable lyrics.

In 2019, King Promise unveiled his debut album, As Promised. This 15-track masterpiece featured collaborations with heavyweights like Sarkodie, Mugeez, Wizkid, and Simi. The album was a monumental success, delivering hit songs such as Tokyo with Wizkid, Abena, and Selfish Pt.2 featuring Simi.

Three years later, King Promise returned with his sophomore album, 5 Star. This project saw him teaming up with Omah Lay, Headie One, Patoranking, and others. The album spawned several hit singles, including Slow Down, 10 Toes featuring Omah Lay, and Ring My Line featuring Headie One.

Following a string of successful singles like Perfect Combi featuring Gabzy, Terminator, Favourite Story featuring Olivetheboy and Sarkodie, and Continental featuring Shallipopi, King Promise has now released his third studio album, True To Self. This 12-track album, running for 37 minutes, dropped on June 14, 2024, under the exclusive license of 5K Records Limited and Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited.

King Promise’s journey is a testament to his evolution as an artist and his unwavering commitment to the Afrobeats genre. With each release, he continues to push boundaries and captivate audiences worldwide.

True to Self is a proper Afropop folder with a highlife feel, afrobeats’ energy, dancehall and more. On the album, King Promise shows he’s an intentional man with records of different vibes, messages and moods in a bid to offer different vibes for different people and different occasions. 

While Continental featuring Shallipopi can easily pass as a club banger, Permission which features Nigerian sensational singer Fave is a mid-tempo tune for lovers. 

Produced by Telz, Paranoid on the other hand is a sensual tune featuring Fridayy with promise-filled lyrics laid casually on a calm and tense-free instrumental. 

In summary, the True to Self album by King Promise is a decent attempt to capture the singer’s mind space but just not enough to uncover his true self nor a representation of his untapped talent. I would like to believe that King Promise is too talented for such an album. 

Aside from a few songs that evidently stand out in instrumentation, melodies and songwriting, others are pretty much not up to the King Promise standard. 

King Promise True To Self Album Review
6.6
Review Overview
Summary

In summary, the True to Self album by King Promise is not enough to uncover his true self nor a representation of his untapped talent.

  • Songwriting7
  • Production 8
  • Sequence 5.2
  • Enjoyability 7
  • Delivery6
STREAM 'True To Self' ALBUM BY King Promise

Related Articles

Davido – 5ive Album Review
6.2
Album Reviews

Davido – 5ive Album Review: A True Representation Of The Artist’s Identity

When you’re Davido, there’s hardly anything left to prove—perhaps nothing at all....

Black Sherif – Iron Boy Album Review
7
Album Reviews

Black Sherif – Iron Boy Album Review: A Deeper Strain Of Melancholy

Black Sherif’s debut album, The Villain I Never Was established him as...

Ruger - BlownBoy RU Album Review
5.1
Album Reviews

Ruger – BlownBoy RU Album Review: A Decent Effort, Despite Some Missteps

BlownBoy RU seems like Ruger’s opportunity to demonstrate that he can function...

Odumodublvck the machine is coming album review
6.4
Album Reviews

Odumodublvck – The Machine Is Coming Album Review: Original John The Baptist

Since his single Declan Rice catapulted Odumodublvck into Nigeria’s mainstream consciousness two...