Maryann celebrates mothers on “Oh Mama,”

By Tolu Oke

The place of mother in a child’s world has always been celebrated. Books, articles and songs have been waxed to celebrate them. The popular African song “Sweet Mother,” comes to mind. Across generations, phases, artistes create songs to amplify this message, celebrate mothers and more. 

‎‎Yesterday, while surfing through my Spotify, I came across a new song from Maryann, a Nigerian artist. Her latest song “Oh Mama,” has been keeping me company. The production is impeccably made, it syncs with the vocal modulation of the singer,the velvety, sweet, daring vocal of a songstress, it gets accomplished with her elite lyricism that is partly emotional and heartfeltly delivered.

‎The instrumental of this song played for the first ten seconds, the song finally kicked into life when the drum came up, it up and riveting, cool, concise. It lays the right blend for the Maryann vocal to come up. Even before she sings, the audience’s attention was already captured with the right arrangement of the production. 

‎Beyond celebrating the Mother, this song also serves as a means of showing gratitude to Mother’s for their care and love while the child was growing.

“Oh Mama,” by Maryann might have joined the highly restrictive record made for Mothers, yet, it is crystal clear that it is miles apart in its delivery, the up-tempo production of the song gives it an edge, it doesn’t make it unnecessary emotional. A song like this is bound to elicit much tears from the eyes when we consider the impact of mothers to the child’s life. 

The chorus of this song is laid on repetition, while it might sometimes be monotonous, it is very cool to hear, it reverberates through the speaker with the lyrics seeping into the ears. In the opening verse of the song, Maryann sings about the impact of mothers in taking care of the child: how she cleans her up when she soils her diaper, how she coordinates her as she swirls through life challenges. It is a heartfelt rendition. The second verse finds her singing about the impact of words from her, how her words comfort her. The last part finds the singer reeling out moments that her mothers have been of help to him.

At three minutes, twenty two seconds long, Maryann keeps things in proper shape, it is a didactic and intellectually oriented song,marinated in celebratory and gratitude filled tone. Her song lyrics are simple and avoid the mundane map, it is a reflection of what she felt and how she transmitted it into music. With time and proper mastering, she will get better.