Desire (Iyanya album)

Background and recording

The meaning behind Desire stems from the concept of one having an alter ego. In a nutshell, Iyanya compares and contrasts his dualistic personalities, saying: "Desire was just an R & B guy with a great voice who took time to write music and talk about his feelings but just a few people appreciate Desire. Desire never made so much money. Desire always begged for shows, hustles for everything but Iyanya is global. Iyanya is accepted by all." Iyanya started working on Iyanya vs. Desire after wrapping up his debut album, My Story. He got inspired to record the hit single, "Kukere", during a visit to his hometown, Calabar. During the same visit, Iyanya realized that the Etighi dance didn't have a unique song to it; in order to popularize the dance, he teamed up with producer D'Tunes and recorded "Kukere".

Promotion and release

Iyanya and his management team decided to host the "Iyanya vs. Desire" concert to celebrate the successful completion of his second studio album. The first concert was held at Abuja's International Conference Centre on February 24, 2013, and featured performances from D'banj, M.I, Wizkid, Tiwa Savage, Flavour N'abania, May D, Vector, Kcee, Slo-Flo, Addiction, I-Sick, Tekno, and many others. The second concert was held at the Eko Hotel & Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos, on March 2, 2013. The concert featured performances from D'banj, M.I, Wizkid, Tiwa Savage, Timaya, Flavour N'abania, Davido, Seyi Shay, May D, Bracket, Vector, Iceberg, and Lola Rae.

International promotion

Iyanya performed at the Indigo02 Arena in London, and at the HMV Ritz in Manchester to celebrate the international release of his album. The Indigo02 concert was held on June 9, 2013, while the one at HMV Ritz was held on June 14, 2013.

Singles

On December 4, 2011, "Kukere" was released to the public. The song was produced by D'Tunes, and the music video was directed by Patrick Elis. The second single featuring Emma Nyra, entitled "Ur Waist", was released on July 8, 2012; the music video for the single was directed by Clarence Peters. On August 20, 2012, Iyanya and Made Men Music Group released the remix of "Kukere" featuring D'banj. On November 10, 2012, Iyanya released the fourth single titled "Flavour". The song was also produced by D'Tunes. The music video for "Flavour" was directed by Mr. Moe Musa. The fifth and six singles were released on February 6, 2013 and June 12, 2013, respectively. The latter features Flavour N'abania and the former features Wizkid.

Accolades

Desire was nominated for Album of the Year and Best R&B/Pop Album at The Headies 2013.

Critical reception

Upon its release, Desire was met with mixed reviews from music critics. A writer for TayoTV assigned a score of 7 out of 10, adding: "After listening to the album a couple of times, I believe Iyanya has room to improve. He has good producers who supply him with great beats, some of the track are awesome but some were below par." Tayo Ayomide of Nigerian Entertainment Today gave the album a 3 out of 5, adding: "Iyanya Vs. Desire is a pop driven LP aimed at pleasing a demography that loves beats and dance, at the expense of lyrics. When it’s all said and done, IVD is nothing more than a product of the times we live in." Ogaga Sakpaide of Jaguda gave the album a 2.5 out of 5, adding: "Desire is a jam-packed with very shallow and monotonous club and radio friendly cuts which will hold grounds individually but as a body of work, it falls flat on its face."