The Singles Jukebox

Thanks to Rizz for some Nigerian pop that, if nothing else, we all agree is “sweet”…

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[6.79]Megan Harrington: It’s hard to dance sweetness: sweat is salty, inherently a bit sleazy in its glisten and shine. “Duro” is undeniably sweet, a pledge of marriage and love and forever, but it’s danceable, too. While perhaps not the grind of a low-lit club, it lends itself to movement and the balance it strikes is all in the skipping guitar figure. The brass and percussion, resolute and enduring, speak to commitment, but the airy guitar is pure infatuation.
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Edward Okulicz: A beat that sounds like a skipping R&B, sparse but effective synth-horns, a little twinkle of guitar: “Duro” suggests enduring love is not a “romantic” slow dance, more like endlessly running together under an endless sky.
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Leonel Manzanares de la Rosa: Come for the rump-shaking beat, stay for the wonderful juju/highlife guitar and the faux-accordion synth lines. Tekno’s “Duro” is a banger, but most importantly, it’s a joyful declaration of love. And fortunately, Auto-Tune is not abused here. Now, if anyone wants to tell me the right meaning of the word Kpalanga, i’d be very thankful. The Internet seems very confused.
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Joshua Kim: Endlessly replayable precisely because of its commitment to staying low-energy. The clave rhythm is inherently perfect for this vibe, but the understated marriage — in both rhythm and tone — of the horn triplets, the bubbling synth, and the guitar line grants the song even more hypnotic power. With all that set in place, every drum fill really feels like a moment.
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Scott Ramage: The rhythm feels impossible to grapple with, its natural pulse awkward to these ears trained to a climate of pop-house, acoustic balladry, and retro pastiche. But there’s something in the sweet melancholy of the vocals that’s captivating, particularly the sense of humility from the way Auto-Tune carries the vocal line. It’s about domesticity, and the idea of love-as-wife as melody and love-as-family as harmony is a clever metaphor, sentimental without being trite. It’s difficult to make contentment and devotion seem exciting, but “Duro” makes a strong case.
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Peter Ryan: Those soggy horns (I don’t think I’d want them any brighter) are  surprisingly perfect punctuation for Tekno’s come-ons, delivered with  winning sincerity. “You’re my melody” is the best.
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Conor McCarthy: The lyrics don’t need to be as sweet as they are; since they could be about nearly anything: I get itchy wanting to hit dancefloor listening to this beat. But they are sweet, and singing along to this while dancing with someone would make me very happy. Plus it’s the best guitar work I’ve heard all year.
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Austin Brown: There’s a nice-sounding guitar lick that pops in at 2:13 that almost made me add another point for effort. But then the bland loverman platitudes and canned as hell horns plowed ahead and brought it right back down again.
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Alfred Soto: If he’d lost the Auto-Tune, this Nigerian artist would’ve had me: the guitars are gorgeous and the percolating rhythm track keeps things askew.
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Thomas Inskeep: Sweet highlife, sweetened with Auto-Tune. The genre hallmarks are all here: the syncopated off-beat drums, the horns, the arpeggiated guitar. And Tekno sounds sincere enough to sell me.
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Patrick St. Michel: The horns should just explode at some point, right? This is a love song — you don’t even have to try to do any research to pick up on the affection flowing out of this — but one in no rush to make any grand gestures, more content to express feelings by snuggling up on the couch than renting out a skywriting team. The subtle intimacy acts like an inverse “Bound 2,” but every bit as sweet.
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Brad Shoup: There’s an intentness here: his declarations aren’t skywritten, more like a list he can’t stop reciting. It’s lyrically different from, say, your standard bachata hit, which I only mention because the lovely guitar figures of “Duro” are spiritual kin. The dry three-note brass bursts push things into heroic territory, which I can deal with. They seem like a nice family.
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Jonathan Bogart: Blame it on me being an old straight white dude who has rarely been in the market for what young loverboy crooners are selling; blame it on my having heard way too much recent West African pop that sounds practically indistinguishable from this; blame it on the YouTube commenters bringing up Chris Brown again and again.
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Stevie Kaye: YOUR FAVOURITE BOY TEKNO ON THE BEAT, only not — setting aside Young John, “Duro” sees one of 2k15’s hottest afrobeats producers providing vocals on the other’s track, like a fabled early aughts Timbaland/Neptunes collab. Balearic lover’s rock; the sly, hip-tugging rhythm cleverly waters down the syrupy harmonies.
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