With Tiwa Savage, Who Needs SZA?
Tiwa Savage has always been positioned as that IT girl. Just like every legendary Nigerian artist, she holds her own and is regarded in that esteem. There’s no need whatsoever to sully her name with muddy conversations about who the better female vocalist is, or why she deserves a certain spot in the Big 4 of the Nigerian music scene. For this legendary status that she holds, she really is that girl.
Long before many of us became self-aware about the music we consume, Tiwa Savage had already been in the industry, making music that often feels like a whisper from her heart. When she released Love Me, you could feel the passion in her voice — the same passion and fire that has fueled her music through the years.
Even when she’s not making sultry music, and is simply hopping on the trend of making club-ready bangers such as Pick Up or Toma Toma, she holds her own.
Tiwa Savage makes music for the lover girls; she makes music that is sensational, often attributed to the silkiness of her vocals. Hence, who needs a Western SZA when we have Tiwa Savage?
Often monikered as “African Bad Gyal,” Tiwa Savage has walked that talk, embodying what it means to be a baddie, literally in her craft and personality. Through the years, she has waved the banner high — from her 2013 debut Once Upon A Time to 2025’s recent release This One Is Personal.
As her fourth studio album title implies, This One Is Personal is a note that breathes intense vulnerability from deep within her heart. Tiwa Savage doesn’t seek to prove her versatility with sound, or remind us of how much talent she has up her sleeve by attempting groovy, inclusive tracks. On this album, she is vulnerable, passionate, and personal.
There isn’t a single love song by Tiwa Savage that doesn’t feel raw, and that’s why she’s regarded as one of the most cherished female artists in Nigeria. When she released Eminado featuring Don Jazzy in 2013, it was girls’ love letters to their lovers. The same goes for Without My Love, among other songs she has beautifully created.
With Tiwa Savage, she has always been evolutionarily talented. Her albums are key indicators of her growth. 2013 Tiwa Savage wasn’t the same after three years when she dropped R.E.D, and neither was she the same after four years when she released Celia.
There is a difference in her sound, but not in the passion laced into the way she bleeds her heart into every note. It doesn’t matter exactly what she’s singing about, she’s exceptionally talented and thus, one would wonder why she’s regarded as the iconic female artist in the Nigerian music scene — remaining in an unfazed lane of her own.
It is very evident how much growth Tiwa Savage has achieved in her recent project. This is so because there’s an unconventional approach to the album: fifteen tracks, carefully selected features (and limited at that), and a westernized sound. Tiwa Savage has ultimately tapped into her pop era, an era defined by softness, pop, and peak femininity.
This One Is Personal is a mirrored reflection of Tiwa Savage’s experience with this thing called love. She talks about love, heartbreak, and her faith, sharing the mic sparingly with Skepta, Taves, and James Fauntleroy. This calculated attempt allows her to fully immerse herself in her experience, connecting with her emotions and expressing how she feels without having to couch her vocals under features.
The ambience of this album is somber, highly reflective, and does more with her soulful vocals, recalling the influence of SZA, but with a modern Afrobeats edge. Tiwa Savage unwraps herself completely into vulnerability, amplified by sparse instrumentals that allow for this openness rather than being overpowered by conventional Afrobeats-heavy beats. A tender R&B album, this project is an intimate one from Tiwa Savage.
The album opens with a piano-led intro, I’m Done. Tiwa Savage bares it all on this track. With the fullness of her emotions laid at her feet, it’s the rawness of her vocals and the piano arrangement as she sings about heartbreak. This track is emotionally triggering yet calming, preparing you for the swiftness of the remaining tracks on This One Is Personal.
Angel Dust follows and takes a different dimension from the intro. Tiwa Savage explores a toxic relationship, reveling in the knowledge of how harmful it can be yet still choosing to remain in it. Her vocals layered over the thumpy percussion form a slick groove that recalls the glossy R&B production of the early 2000s.
As a prelude to the album’s release, You4Me samples Tamia’s record So Into You. This track is a classic representation of R&B, influenced by Afrobeats lingo when the background vocals say, “omo to ba redi lo ma gba dollar.” Tiwa Savage fantasizes about her feelings for a guy as she assures him that he’s the only one for her.
On The Low featuring Skepta is specially dedicated to lovers of secrecy in relationships. It’s as though, for every situation related to matters of the heart, This One Is Personal has something for everyone. Having delved into heartbreak, being lovestruck, and toxic relationships, On The Low tackles lovers who enjoy the thrills of secrecy. Tiwa Savage pulls in the alluring side of Skepta’s rap, as the UK rapper drops tight, romantic-sounding bars. The beat is balanced to accommodate both Tiwa’s airy vocals and Skepta’s bars without compromising the lushness of the track.
A slow and steady groove comes alive on Hold Me Down. Tiwa Savage’s velvet-toned vocals seep through the confessional beat as she addresses the sad tales of situationships, the common label for what many people do these days. But Tiwa is subtle about it; she’s not exactly condemning the toxicity of what she has, instead it’s laced as sweet — spicy enough to choke, but sweet enough to want more.
Almost halfway through the fifteen-track album, 10% booms in with a dramatic twist but a romantic allure. She sings about the wildness that comes with being in love: “left my session for sex, no regrets/ girls gotta get the get.” The most beautiful aspect of this track is how it opens with a jazzy atmosphere — syncopated drum taps, saxophone lines, and trumpet cuts that amplify its allure.
Diving deeper into the album, Tiwa Savage is extremely candid on Twisted. It feels like a version of her hardened by heartbreak, yet addicted to the toxicity she’s wrapped in. She sings, “we be twisted but I like it baby,” over shimmering synths and airy pads, giving her vocals a velvety feel.
Again, who needs SZA when there’s Tiwa Savage? By this point, it is evident how much traumatic heartbreak she has endured — enough to dedicate an entire album to the experience. Scared Of Love recites her fear of love, which is only rightfully so, and the beat drops masterfully into an expression of her faith in Pray No More. She intertwines it with her affection when she tells her lover not to worry about keeping her under lock and key: “Pray no more/ you got me.”
Featuring Taves on Addicted was spot-on. If you didn’t pay close attention, you might think it was a remake of his song Folake. Addicted is well adjusted to accommodate Taves’ silky flow and Tiwa’s allure. With an 80s influence, the midtempo song follows On The Low, serving as an attempted escapism from the shackles of secret love.
What follows for the rest of the tracks — This One Is Personal (Interlude), Will I Run Again?, For One Night, You’re Not The First (You’re Just The Worst), and Change featuring James Fauntleroy — is the same theme from the opening of the album: love, loss, heartbreak, desire. She ultimately rounds it off in Change with the Most High as the ultimate love, given romantic love has failed her.
Here’s the catch — while This One Is Personal is Tiwa Savage’s diary on her experience with matters of the heart, a thorough listen from start to finish is where the problem lies. How exhausting it becomes, hearing the same story over and over again. This is said without disrespect to her experience, and with reverence for the exceptionalism of the body of work.
What is not so evident — but still present — is the rebranding Tiwa Savage has done, and this goes beyond her aura. Her fourth studio album is the evidence needed to understand this rebrand. Her sound is more polished, more refined, and adjusted to Western influence. There might be difficulty for indigenous listeners to fully appreciate the beauty of the project without tapping out.
Tiwa Savage empties her heart into this project. Despite its exhaustiveness as it goes on, it remains a perfect body of work, as nothing less would be expected from the Afrobeats queen. The sound production, the intentionality with features, and the focused exploration of themes that allow the album to take constructive form are all a display of what should be expected from such a legendary artist.
Rating — 7/10
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