AV’s ‘Thug Love’ is strikingly familiar [Pulse Album Review]

His three singles ‘Big Thug Boys’, ‘Confessions’, and ‘No Dey Form’ offered insight into his talent but didn’t paint a clear picture of his direction and ambitions.

With the release of his debut EP ‘Thug Love’, AV hopes to regain the attention of listeners whom he put in a choke hold with his smash hit ‘Big Thug Boys’. While the EP is a grounded body of work that retains the cadence of his explosive introduction to the mainstream, AV’s failure to take advantage of his time might be a great disservice to this tape.

After holding off on the release of his debut EP, ‘AV’ finally offers ‘Thug Love’, an EP with which he seeks to regain the attention of listeners.

‘Thug Love’ is a body of work that conveys the different aspects of AV with an underlining “Bad Boy” theme. The songs carry his imprint which makes for a striking sonic familiarity while retaining well-applied mainstream elements for an appealing sound.

AV is an artist who understands his strong suits and applies this in gleaning catchy songs that can recreate the success he enjoyed with ‘Big Thug Boys’. His decision to open the EP with the supercharged Amapiano chest-thumping single ‘Unbeatable’ shows his willingness to appeal to the mainstream whose attention he might have lost.

The whole idea of ‘Thug Love’ is as much a desire to own up to a representation created by the success of his hit single as much as it’s a top-selling topic. AV presents himself as a bad boy who offers love, enjoys the companionship of beautiful women, and doesn’t concern himself with hard-to-get women while being all about his money.

In the R&B record ‘Thug Love’ he shows off his singing ability by delivering a smooth melody, applying Afrobeats rhyme template like when he rhymes NASA, Uganda, Diana, Pana. He combines this with a catchy chorus which is the making of a good song.

‘B&B’ is a song that just doesn’t climax. It lingers steadily without crossing the rubicon that will unlock its full gratifying elements. Victony laced the song with his airy vocals while finding diff pockets. However, the single just doesn’t hit the level it needs to hit. This inchoate element also appears on ‘Confession’ which floats in the realm of being a great song or an average song but finally settles for being just a decent track lacking any truly captivating spell.

AV applies his vocals perfectly in the Pop record ‘Wake Up’ where the harmonies tingle listeners while the strings uplift the track.

For all it’s worth, ‘Thug Love’ is a decent EP that might have come a bit late. The EP could have been better serviced when AV had listeners in a chokehold with ‘Big Thug Boys’.

AV has an undeniable talent and he’s one of those artists who possess unique features at a time when music appears to be quite pedestrian in the industry.

Similar to a better part of his career so far, the EP lingers between being a great project or being an average one but eventually balances out as a decent one.

Songwriting, Themes, and Delivery: 1/2

Enjoyability and Satisfaction: 1.3/2