After serving one of the hottest EPs from last year, Flavour went to rest. That rest is a well-deserved one because the EP he dropped with Umu Obiligbo kept on working for him. From parties to market places, that work’s traction keeps spreading.

Flavour is now back from that short hiatus. And he does so with a strong effort. The new song “Ariva” is the singer doing what he is known to do well — crooning catchy afro highlife tunes.

The singer doesn’t do anything different from what most are familiar with. Instead, he retains his regular sound and makes sure his performance is near — if not on — the level he was playing before.

This approach isn’t bad in the real sense. It’s just that it leaves observers with nothing to look forwards to. But it does represent Flavour’s attempt to seal his popularity outside of Nigeria.

Mr Flavour uses “Ariva” to live up to his “Ijele (the Traveller)” moniker. He does so by adopting a language other than Igbo and English — French.

The artist has legs in East Africa and across French West Africa. His basic code switching will appeal to these set of audience. In fact, when that doesn’t, his melody definitely will come as a sharp hook.

“Ariva” means sweet lover, predictably. It’s simply quintessential Flavour. The star finds a beautiful woman. He starts to serenade the beautiful woman. He makes a lot of promises and ends up going home with the woman. Because of course, no woman can knock him off his feet like this.

Flavour may mean well with his lyrics on “Ariva”, but at one point he misyarns. Like where he likened the beauty of his dark-skinned love interest with that of a Caucasian.

“African woman with a skin of a whitey,” N’abania croons with a sense of pride.

Surely, this artist is not using white women as the yardstick for measuring the beauty of their African counterpart. Surely.

If you’re not sensitive enough to cancel the singer for this misyarn, because he’s first time offender, there are other things to focus on in “Ariva”, including the frames in his video. Like where the love interest is playing with his chiselled belly; or where he’s frantically trying to phone his “Ariva” with little success.

You can sing this song to your own “Ariva”. You can use it to find your own “Ariva”. But while at it, screen out the “African woman with the skin of a whitey” part.

Stay woke.

Watch the video of Flavour “Ariva” below: