If you’ve been tapped into what’s popping off in West Africa lately, chances are you’re already pretty familiar with NATIVE. They’ve been making their presence felt in the worlds of fashion, music, publishing, and pop culture for a good five years now (they even put on a festival that brought J Hus, Dave, NSG, and the late Virgil Abloh over to Nigeria). Now they’re working on music of their own and they’re kicking things off with “Runaway”, a collab between two of Nigeria’s fastest rising stars: Lojay and Ayra Starr.
Keen to pull out all the stops, they’ve called on heavyweight producers Should, Lido, Adey, and New World Ray, a squad of producers whose combined list of credits and collaborators includes Cordae, Tems, Tiwa Savage, Chance The Rapper, and Ariana Grande no less). Not surprisingly, the finished piece is pretty epic, pairing the two artists’ pained vocals with sweeping, brooding electronics that ramp up the melodrama to cinematic levels.
In keeping with that sense of scale, the video’s just as grand. Dafe Oboro, co-director of Beyonce’s Black Is King, has been drafted in to oversee it and the results are pretty stunning. Packing in nods to various cultural touchstones like the works of designer Kenneth Ize, it’s as passionate and thoughtfully pieced together as the track deserves, underscoring their two takes on a fracturing relationship with deep reds, bold silhouettes and Bottega Veneta’s finest threads.
Peep the “Runaway” video exclusively above, and be sure to add the song to your playlists.
