Four Things We Hope to see on Qing Madi’s Debut Album

Qing Madi’s debut album, I Am The Blueprint, debuts soon, and with it all the expectation of an artist who arrived on the scene as a teenager but almost fully formed. In two years she’s held her own in the industry. She’s enticed with her songwriting and mesmerized with her voice, while her seamless chemistry with a number of bigger stars reveals her maturity to be beyond her years. Now she aims to bring it all together with a statement debut album, and properly claim a position in the Nigerian mainstream that she has been promising for a while now. She’s been earmarked as a star of the future, so I Am The Blueprint will need to bring all her proven qualities to the table. Here are four things we hope to see on Qing Madi’s debut album

Mature, Expository Songwriting 

Qing Madi has proven her ability to harness intricate, exquisite lyricism as one of her greatest strengths. Her eponymous debut EP brimmed with focused, mature writing. You see it in  Ole, where she scripts an engrossing story: as the other woman, looking to steal a taken man. Or on Madi’s Medley where she captures the feeling of being just at the cusp of her dreams: “So I’m finally, finally at that point/ That nobody can lower/ That nobody fit to come and rub shoulder.” On the closer, See Finish, which she wrote aged sixteen, she explores betrayal and after a friend shared confided secrets to the public: “Said that you were my safe haven/ Now you con dey go follow dem talk… A problem shared fit turn to gossip you know/ And I’m too emotional.” Each time, Qing Madi is able to express her thoughts as clearly and cleverly as possible, and this ability will be a key on her upcoming album.

Intense and Unapologetic Romance 

She may be too young to fully know the meaning of the word yet, but when Qing Madi loves, at least in her music, she loves hard. Her biggest single thus far, American Love, was powered by outsized feelings, and the nearly comical extent she would go to to prove them: including multiple trips round the world, spoiling her partner with money and asking for a wedding ring. Ole, her duet with Bnxn, cast her as the jealous woman looking in, and taking intentional steps to break up an existing relationship to claim her love: “I’m just craving for somebody’s babe, oh-no, no/I can’t get that love, love for myself.”

It’s heavy, almost toxic material for a girl her age, and while we hope they are not reflective of Madi’s real life relationships, we cannot deny that these storylines give her music the tension and emotion it thrives on. Here’s hoping for more on I Am The Blueprint 

Collaborative Chemistry 

Another quality Qing Madi has displayed excellently in her time so far is her ability to build chemistry with the right artists, whether she be guest or host. Her EP’s deluxe featured guest performances from Bnxn, Kizz Daniel and Chloe Bailey, allowing her to weave vocals and themes with a variety of other artists. A number of duets with other vocalists—Joeboy on Adenuga, Chiké on Your Loss and Victony on Basketmouth’s Cover Me—have only further cemented her keen eye in picking and executing collaborations with the right partners.

There’s still a lot of the industry she is yet to work with, and indeed a few of these already done collaborations demand a sequel, so here’s hoping she widens her creative net to recruit the right talents that will complement her own. Some artists still hold on to the belief that a debut album should be rendered solo to allow the creator stamp their identity, but any addition that elevates the art while weaving into its overall story—take Bnxn’s verse on Ole, for one—is always welcome.

 Her Unique Afropop Sound

There’s no term that quite encompasses Madi’s artistry. Sure, there is Afro-delulu, the genre affectionately given to her by fans in response to the naïve view of love that flavours songs like Ole and American Love, but it is hardly defining. In practice, her music operates chiefly in Afropop’s melodious, mid-tempo zone, but reaches out frequently to incorporate Soul, RnB, and even a bit of Hip-Hop when it needs to. It is a soundscape she’s made her own the last two years, and a big part of what makes I Am The Blueprint so appealing; another chance to see her draw from its fountains. 

Qing Madi ticks multiple boxes for a potential Afropop star—songwriting, vocals, even her engulfing version of romance—but nothing truly compares to her music’s ability to make you sway in harmony. Her next album, if cut from the same cloth, will be one that places her firmly in Nigerian elite conversations.