Introduction
Cina Soul has always been one of the most promising and she might have just delivered that promise with this EP – For Times We Lost.
From the years of Baddo to Ojorley & 12:01 and many more, Cina is the most underrated female artiste in Ghana and in the words of Wendy Shay, “Ghana, wake up!”
Very few artistes that claim to do soul music encapsulate the genre the way Cina Soul does on this project.
The Music
Falling: The first song on the project, “Falling” just begins with flair. Before the first main vocal, I said to myself, “Cina is about to show off!”
The beauty of the song is the infusion of English & Pidgin. Falling sets the tone, forget the lyrics, Cina is just saying, “Yes I can sing, yes I’m that talented and you’ll love me!”
This one channels our first taste of Ga on the project and we love to see it (this time maybe “hear”?)!
I guess we know who is falling for who. I also love the “radio voice” elements in the song which is such an appropriate and soothing touch to an already amazing song.
Spattention
The title of the second song had me confused for a second. I wondered if it was a typo, luckily the fusion of Space & Attention into Spattention is the vibe we didn’t know we needed. The trumpets, “keep it on low” and again, the way she flexes with her vocals! Just amazing! So far, the project has been very calm with beautiful melodies left, right and center!
OMG
My biggest problem is with the third song: OMG because I couldn’t get over the introduction to the song. The buildup makes the drop even sweeter than expected. At some point it felt like she was rapping…chef kiss!
“Oh my God, see fine face!” I promise this particular song is the international hit we have been waiting for. Basically we are waiting for the TikTok challenge.
Feelings ft KiDi
Feelings featuring KiDi is a familiar tune being the lead tune for the EP. Having a quicker tempo than most of the songs on the project, my money is on the one as well to project the EP. Cina & Kidi have an infectious chemistry on every song they find themselves on. Whether you think there’s something more between them or not, you can’t deny that talent like this cannot be forced.
Jamestown
Jamestown is like Captain America picking up Mjonir (Thor’s hammer), full Kla Manye with this one. A perfect way to end the EP since it captured the Ghanaian and Ga roots to the fullest. One can picture this one in a jama session on the streets of Jamestown during homowo.
Production & Quality
First note, Cina! Five is not enough! Are You Maad?!!
Had to save my comments the production to this paragraph because this is such great work! With music production being one of the biggest pillars of the Ghanaian sound, I have to applaud NiiQuaye (Falling & Jamestown), Guiltybeatz (Spattention & OMG) as well as Kidi, Richie Mensah & DatBeatGod on working on Feelings.
It’s obvious a lot of time went into song selection, lyrics and production. One can feel the maturity in Cina’s sound and it’s international appeal from the onset. I would score the project a 9/10 just because like an English test, nobody gets 100% (Spoken like a true former English teacher)
Conclusion
If you read this far, don’t sleep on this project and come shout that Ghanaians don’t make good music. Now bye bye, go and stream For Times We Lost and watch Feelings video on YouTube. Hopefully we get more visuals to boost the project because again…
Love,
Kojo Manuel.
chef’s kiss
