Burna Boy - I Told Them... (LP)

Burna Boy has always carried himself like someone who saw this rise coming, and I Told Them... feels like the moment he cashes the receipts. The title reads like a shrug and a grin. He warned us. Now the Port Harcourt star is sitting squarely in the global mainstream and sharpening his palette rather than smoothing it out. The record leans into swagger and reflection in equal measure, with a production bed that keeps one foot in contemporary Afrobeats and the other in hip hop, dancehall and R&B. It is glossy in places, tough in others, and sequenced with the confidence of a chart-topper who still thinks like a crate-digger.

The singles set the tone. Sittin’ On Top Of The World flips Brandy and Ma$e’s 1998 classic into something slinky and celebratory, then invites 21 Savage to glide through with his icy calm. Big 7 swings in a different direction, built for big rooms and bigger speakers, but there is a bittersweet undercurrent to the tribute it pays to friends and heroes gone too soon. Cheat On Me pulls Dave into Burna’s orbit again, and the two trade easy, melodic lines with a chemistry that has become second nature since their first link-ups. Then there is City Boys, all chest-out bounce and streetwise charm, which turned into a phrase you heard echoing out of cars and on dancefloors across Lagos, London and beyond.

Burna’s voice remains the main draw. He can bark, croon and half-rap without losing that gravelly warmth, and he uses it here to test different rooms. When J. Cole shows up on Thanks, the tone shifts to a quieter tallying of debts and dues, and Burna matches him with a mix of gratitude and pride. The lyrical stance across the album never strays too far from the victory lap, but he finds small, human flashes within the flexing. He is still fond of a cutting aside, still nimble with melody, and still happy to let a hook breathe.

Production-wise, the record feels expensive without losing its sense of place. The drums have bite, the bass moves air, and the little details stay interesting on repeat spins. Horn stabs, highlife guitar licks, glossy synth pads, even the occasional chopped vocal all turn up, but the mixes leave space for Burna to ride the pocket. The cover art, styled like a newspaper splash, underlines the album’s thesis. This is a broadcast and a boast. It doubles as a time capsule for his current run.

The wins are on paper as well as on wax. I Told Them... debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, a milestone that mattered, and it pushed into the top tier of the US Billboard 200. Come awards season, it picked up a Grammy nomination for Best Global Music Album, while City Boys earned a nod for the new Best African Music Performance, and Sittin’ On Top Of The World landed in Best Melodic Rap Performance. For an artist who sold out London Stadium in mid 2023, becoming the first African artist to headline a UK stadium show, it all felt like part of the same momentum.

On vinyl, the album clicks into place. Those low-end swells and percussion loops breathe, and the sequencing comes into focus. Side breaks give the big singles a bit of theatre, and late-night cuts sit nicely in the softer groove. If you are hunting for Burna Boy vinyl, this one earns its shelf space beside African Giant and Love, Damini. The I Told Them... vinyl pressing is a strong point of entry if you are looking to buy Burna Boy records online or digging for Burna Boy albums on vinyl in a Melbourne record store. It will also show off a decent setup, which is half the fun for anyone who lives and dies by the ritual of cue, drop, flip.

What sticks after a few plays is how comfortably Burna holds the centre. He is not chasing a trend so much as stitching scenes together, the way great pop stars always have. Afrobeats has been the engine of so many parties here in Australia over the past few summers, and this record explains why. The hooks land, the grooves travel, and the attitude is infectious. If you are building a stack of vinyl records Australia can dance to, this is a keeper. It sounds like a world-beater settling in, and it still moves like a street record. That’s a hard balance to strike, and he makes it sound easy.