There’s a point at every party where the lights dim, the night is to a certain extent undecided, and you wonder if you should let it pass right by or lean into it. Femi’s latest single, “Come My Way,” occupies that very realm. The song is suffused with late-summer light and a rhythm tailor-made for repeated listening, a welcoming, glowing lure to grab hold of connection before the season fades.
“Come My Way” doesn’t waste any time reeling the listener in. The verses are intimate and spare, you can almost hear them as the wordless scanning of a room in a moment of hushed indecision, while the chorus, with its small, clear call, comes my way, punches through it all. The groove is a laid-back 105 BPM, a slinky sway that’s as suited to a single headphone listen as it is to a busy dance floor.
The production is both polished and casual. Warm layers of percussion ripple beneath the vocals and the track has an organic pulse. Xardas instantly, it’s late night under the receding summer sky. The sort of melodic refrain that refuses to leave your head long after the song stops, taunting you not to hit play again. It’s a song that reads like the final dance of the evening, jubilant, thoughtful, and free of remorse.
The release is also a full-circle moment. Born and raised in Congers, NY, he first cut his teeth playing piano in church before experimenting for years performing andcreating under the alias Frank Pierce. Now making music under his given name, an abbreviated version of Oluwafemi, he’s creating songs that are faithful to his roots and that also lean into a sound geared for global penetration. “Come My Way” is an example of that balance. It is pop with soul, Afro-pop with intimacy, universal in its feeling but deeply personal in its treatment.
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