It was a promise she made upon receiving her fourth Grammy Award in 2019 for Celia, an album dedicated to the Cuban-American diva Celia Cruz: to bring Africa together beyond colonial, generational, and linguistic borders. Addressing her challenger, the Nigerian Burna Boy, she swore to include in her work the young African artists she herself had inspired, who have become global stars of Afrobeats, Afro-pop, Dancehall, hip-hop, or alt-R&B. Mother Nature honors that commitment, and Angélique Kidjo has called upon rising stars of the black continent, such as Nigerians Yemi Alade, Mr Eazy, and Burna Boy, Ghanaian Ghetto Boy, as well as Londoners Blue Lab Beats, Parisians M or Dany Synthé, a successful producer. Angélique Kidjo wanted to emphasize the importance of the chain of transmission, illustrated for example by the track Africa, One of A Kind, which pairs the Mandingue Salif Keita with 29-year-old Mr. Eazi, who was inspired by the classic Africa. "For many years, my only goal was to compose music that made me happy and sincerely represented who I was, but over the years I began to realize the impact some of my songs had on new generations," says the Franco-Beninese artist who lives in the United States.
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