African music icons, close friends, and frequent collaborators Mr Eazi and King Promise will drop a joint LP, “See What We’ve Done“, coming March 11 via emPawa Africa, both artists can now confirm. They set the project off in style today with the release of lead single “That Way,” an Afrobeats nostalgia trip inspired by the millennial pop sounds of iconic boy band the Backstreet Boys.
Produced by GuiltyBeatz and JAE5, architects of contemporary African pop known for balancing familiarity with innovation, “That Way” interpolates the distinctive acoustic guitar melody and vocal hook from the Backstreet Boys’ iconic 1999 hit “I Want It That Way,” marrying notes from the wistful pop ballad with the infectious rhythmic pulse of modern-day Afrobeats.
The track opens with a familiar warmth, immediately transporting listeners back to an era when boy bands ruled the airwaves and declarations of devotion came wrapped in pristine harmonies. But Mr Eazi and King Promise aren’t simply recycling nostalgia for cheap thrills. They’ve deconstructed that millennial pop DNA and rebuilt it as an Afro-fusion banger, creating something that honors its inspiration while standing firmly in the present.
“‘I Want it That Way’ used to be one of our favorite records growing up,” Mr Eazi explains. “Backstreet Boys, Westlife —that’s what we all grew up listening to. Once I heard the beat with that interpolation, I was like ‘Jeez, we gotta do this one.’ It was just us having fun playing with nostalgia.”
“Sometimes you hear a classic and you just know you can take it somewhere new,” adds King Promise. “That’s what ‘That Way’ is: Mr. Eazi and I taking an anthem everyone grew up with and flipping it into something that hits different. Same heart, new pulse.”
Cover Artwork: That Way – King Promise & Mr Eazi
At its core, “That Way” is a love song stripped of pretense, as King Promise and Mr Eazi take turns expressing singular devotion to a woman who has fundamentally altered their perspective. “Wetin you dey do me nobody dey come close,” they sing, capturing that disorienting intoxication that comes with realizing someone has become irreplaceable.
The video for “That Way,” shot at a private airport hangar near London by director Charlie Rees, pays faithful homage to the aviation aesthetic of the original Backstreet Boys visual—a bold nod to peak noughties boyband nostalgia, with both artists fully embracing their heartthrob era. The clip also showcases the playful kinship between the afropop stars, whose friendship goes back nearly to the beginning of both artists’ respective careers—when the Nigerian born and raised Mr Eazi was first building his path to superstardom out of his second home of Accra, Ghana, and King Promise was a young Ghanaian artist making his earliest inroads into the music business.
“See What We’ve Done
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,” Mr Eazi and King Promise’s forthcoming joint album, finds the West African pop superstars channeling years of shared musical language and creative alignment into a focused joint statement rooted in genuine musical kinship and real friendship and built around chemistry, conversation, and emotional richness.
Following a proven run of fan-favorite collaborations that include 2018’s “Dabebi,” “Call Waiting,” (2019) “Baby, I’m Jealous,” (2020) and last summer’s smash hit “See What We’ve Done,” the album captures what makes their pairing so captivatingly good: an intuitive understanding of each other’s strengths, a shared vision for the limitlessness of African pop music, and a commitment to writing timeless songs that resonate.
