- When Burna Boy appears on Zoom, he’s in a fine mood. Dialling in from a sunny-looking, undisclosed location — “I’m in the jungle,” he says — the Afro-fusion megastar is all smiles. He asks me how to properly say my name (Jochan, pronounced “yoh-kun”) and replies with a laugh that it sounds like “one of them vikings” (it’s ok, I’ve been called worse).
He’s affably cheery now, but much like the rest of us, the last 12 months or so have been a rollercoaster of ups and downs for the 29-year-old. As an artist whose irresistible genre blend of Afrobeat, dancehall, reggae, hip-hop and more has turned him into a globetrotting behemoth, adapting to this new gig-free world has been tough. “It’s been hard, very hard… Devastating,” he says. “Especially because being on stage is the only time where I feel really like me. I haven’t really felt like me in a long time.”
“It’s bitter and it’s sweet,” he says. “Bitter, because I never got to perform the songs and see the reaction from my fans, live. But it was also a blessing, because I managed to work with [co-executive producer] Diddy and explore a whole different demographic. And, you know, the album did wonderfully, and is still doing wonderfully, so yeah, man… we can only look forward to the next one.”
