Seyi Shay ft. Eugy & Efosa – Your Matter
That must be some matter if someone’s willing to die for it.
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Anjy Ou: One enduring feature of afropop/afrobeats/whatever we’re calling West African contemporary music this year is the driving, incessant beats that make everybody go “ayyyyyy” and migrate to the dancefloor. “Your Matter” turns this into a metaphor for obsessive love. The bass-heavy production is dark and eerie, and Seyi Shay’s light tone and punctuated vocal delivery works really well in contrast. Eugy comes in as your stereotypical male protagonist in your afrobeats song: swamped with women who want his money, revelling in the attention without realizing he’s actually the one wrapped around her little finger. In the end it’s Seyi Shay who shines the brightest, with Eugy only reflecting her brilliance.
[7]
Nortey Dowuona: Smooth, pulsing bass, grooving drums, soft, dribbling synths as Seyi smoothly curls through the bass, Eugy rolls through all chilled and fresh and Efosa purrs cooly in the back.
[8]
Tim de Reuse: The circular four-chord motif very quickly gets fatiguing. With no real sense of movement other than very light swells during the hook, the instrumental is a dull blur that the verses themselves have a very hard time punching through. The one thing that works here is the hook, where Shay’s crisp repetition of the title bounces back and forth between stereo channels, in rhythmic counterplay against those unceasing dotted-eighth snares.
[4]
Ryo Miyauchi: While the passionate back-and-forth between Seyi Shay and Eugy is nowhere casual, “Your Matter” sounds rather reserved especially for a song with such a tragic love written in the chorus: “die for your matter.” But its delicateness, both from Shay’s dance and the beat’s rich, airy pads, allures enough to eavesdrop into the conversation.
[6]
Alfred Soto: Echoes of LL Cool J’s “Doin’ It” if not Grace Jones’ “My Jamaican Guy” are strong: a dub-dancehall hybrid, nothing particularly interesting without Seyi’s improvisations.
[5]
Micha Cavaseno: The balearic tinges of the production on “Your Matter” might be the least prominent yet the most interesting things about the song. Seyi, Eugy and Efosa are certainly present but never manage to make themselves feel vital on the record, as so many of those sparkling synth-notes manage to ease past their contributions like a ghostly avalanche. It’s a soft, plaintive sort of lover’s jam that rolls off with little impact but no damage in its wake.
[6]
Stephen Eisermann: I’m a sucker for a good Afrobeat song and “Your Matter” is no different. Seyi Shay’s singing is entrancing, employing a more staccato-heavy style of singing which heightens the sense of urgency and passion; I believe that I matter because Seyi’s convinced me of that. Eugy and Eofsa also do a terrific job of going along with the flow of the track, never interrupting the sexiness and vibe of it all, while delivering compelling bars of their own.
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