There’s almost always an asterisk attached to Omah Lay (real name: Stanley Omah Didah). You either get pulled deep into the 28-year-old’s melancholic orbit — numbed by weed and liver-testing drinks, or you’re dancing as he surrenders to the warmth of an imaginary lover. It’s a duality that has firmly registered him as one of Afrobeats’ most emotionally distinct voices.
The market share for “I’m sad, here’s a bit of my pain” isn’t about to tank anytime soon. Proof? Boy Alone was one of the biggest and highly-rated Nigerian albums of 2022, and an “Afro-Depression” sub-genre has already been carved in his name.
Thus, those who subscribed to this sound almost certainly stockpiled tears-wiping handkerchiefs for the next edition. And their wish was fulfilled on April 3, 2025, via CLARITY OF MIND is his 14-track sophomore effort produced primarily by Tempoe.
Expectations were always going to be bullish, but two fewer tracks than Boy Alone does not necessarily translate to restraint or lightness. If anything, this parsimony signals more despondence; a 33-minute obituary, if you will. The state of affairs should be no surprise to any listener who has been following the Port Harcourt-native’s descent into menacing wistfulness in the months preceding the album. It’s a context that is central to understanding the project.
There’s good reason to believe Omah Lay relishes the toxic push-and-pull with his inner demons. On opener “ARTIFICIAL HAPPINESS,” he admits, “igbo is telling on me,” but it doesn’t land as a cry for help. The follow-up lines remove any doubt: “I like what it’s saying, make I no stop / Before morning the feeling will wash off, but tonight we die at the war front.” Allied with lines such as “E get things when I still dey find, Nirvana is one of them,” anyone who didn’t before now surely knows the locus of our singer’s solace: cannabis (“igbo”) and nirvana.
That surrender doesn’t falter his sense of purpose, though. This, he makes known in “JAH JAH KNOWS,” buoyed by crisp snares, a two-chord progression, and soft strings and synths. He frames his emotional drift as the cost of ambition, warning a love interest not to wait on him as he chases purpose and legacy: “As you see me, I no dey too sure / I don’t know what to do with my life.”
As the final notes fade, the bouncy beats of “CANADA BREEZE” impatiently begin, and it’s all “Artificial Happiness” again, now dressed up in repeated self-affirmations like “highly spiritual, highly intellectual.”
The album’s real tonal shift happens in “WATER SPIRIT.” Backed by heavy log drums, Omah Lay once again proves that he pulls no plugs even when it comes to lustful desires — much like he did on Boy Alone tracks like “Tell Everybody” and “Bend You.” The title initially hints at something darker, especially given his history with water-laced metaphors (think “Understand” from “Boy Alone”). But any ambiguity dissolves within seconds once the opening sounds of a woman’s moans cues.
He’s very descriptive about his bedroom indulgences too. Every listener above the age of 18 knows what “She’s on her way to, Come and make it rain tonight/ She is on her way to come and soak my bed tonight” and “She too like meat, gawk gwak, she no get teeth gwak gwak” mean.
It’s a shame because it takes the wind out of “DON’T LOVE ME’s emotional sails, an arguably stronger track that follows. Over sparse percussion, soft piano chords, and airy synth pads, Omah Lay sounds almost pleading: “I love you, don’t talk to me… just make me love.” That plea finds context on “COPING MECHANISM,” featuring Elmah, which is by far the album’s most emotionally direct moment.
We thought it impossible for anyone to match Omah Lay in his element, only for Elmah to prove us wrong with her conversational tone that punctures his emotional monologue. It’s enough justification for her being the only feature on this album. “Smile for me, don’t be sad / I can see it in your countenance/ There’s something on your mind… I know how you feel / I know what you need / I could be the shoulder you can cry on” she reassures, only for a defeatist response that reads: “Unhappiness is killing me.”
The duo of “I AM,” and “HOLY GHOST” represents the best six minutes of CLARITY OF MIND. This is partly because, immediately preceding them are the easily skippable “JULIA” (a Tempoe-produced retread of “Canada Breeze,” saved only by a crisp guitar riff) and “MARY GO ROUND” (a tired, uninspired take on situationships). And both sandwich the otherwise enjoyable dancefloor-friendly “WAIST.”
In "I AM,” Omah Lay’s vocals transition from subdued self-affirmation to bending the knee to the supremacy of weed. It’s an otherworldly energy that lingers on “HOLY GHOST,” a two-year-old piece of production craftsmanship from RT9 and MNLekaa.
Semi-mumblings and self-arguments aside, CLARITY OF MIND meaningfully scratches most of the listeners’ itches. Thanks to Tempoe’s distilled handiwork as major producer, this 33-minute muted percussion, string, and synth-heavy production signifies a spiritual grounding and emotional clarity as a precursor to growth. And, of course, it’s one with a replay value that would whet the appetite of any ear longing to be sober.
Omah Lay once asked listeners to experience the album backwards, but either order delivers the message à la carte: his inner angels and demons have signed a mutual pact that he may no longer be able to exfiltrate from. We can expect a third album circling these same themes at the proper time.
