RUMBIDZAI
Royalty is a bold claim to stick on a body of work which Tamy Moyo, in her characteristic charisma and high energy artistry, lives up to. She says it’s about authenticity, storytelling and owning her voice. A proper listening of the project makes one agree with such an assertion.
The album is part of an era of flaunting artistic growth and evolution. The main part of the concept was The Royalty Trilogy, solo live shows perfectly curated to tell a sequential story of Tamy’s rise into the powerhouse she is today. The placement of shows on the 9th, 13th and 25th of December, 2025, showed solicitousness in terms of marketing the album, which was released on the 10th of December. Each of the segments focused on themes found in the new releases: softness, strength and reclamation.
Royalty’s allure lies with the unmistakable star power of the collaborators on the project, with Tamy tapping into new and old alliances to forge a sound that is true to the wide span of genres on the album. The sound that ultimately emerges is polished Afropop with a uniquely Zimbabwean flair in the mbira, sungura and cultural conciousness elements of the well-written songs. If there is anything that Tamy doesn’t leave room for doubt, it has to be her writing.
TENDA begins the musical experience on a note of gratitude to the higher powers. Tamy’s choral background shines through reminiscent of Ndibereke; and the symbolism of paying homage to past selves on an album about growth is touching. HAIWA follows through with a strong Zimdancehall flavour and a tribute to the late Soul Jah Love. “Haiwa!” is a dismissive term used colloquially to express some sort of disdain and carefree attitudes; and among the gut punching chants, the message is telegraphed without conspicuous difficulties.
Musa Keys hops on to MUROORA; an Afropop interpolation on the ‘ave muroora wamai/kudzai muroora wamai’ outro to the iconic Chitekete by Leonard Dembo. The beloved classic shows up resplendent with new life and nostalgia on an emotional song about expressing desire for a deeper relationship as denoted by marriage. An interesting paradigm shift shows through, from the male partner being the main pursuant of marriage to the female partner auditioning and pining.
The nostalgia is a perfect bed for CHINONO REMIX with Jah Prayzah (who was a lyricist on the original song from the BOLD album) to land. His undeniable vocal prowess improves on a fan favourite, fitting with the theme of artistic growth that permeates the album. MAITIRO echoes the Jah Prayzah DNA in mbira and drum, emotionally eulogizing a beloved figure. Still in the throes of romantic pain MOYO WANGU, in Mark Ngwazi’s version of sungura, soothes the heart with a lighter sense of loss and IHOMBE clears all that in upbeat Zimdancehall tones, abetted by Jnr Spragga’s gritty support.
TEN SHOTS follows in the wake of confidence as a ‘bhawa’ anthem with bounce. Jah Prayzah returns on BP, a love song of the can’t-live-without-you variety. KUDANANA with Delroy Shewe begs for validation in times of conflict with the two artists’ chemistry gelling the song up so remarkably well that it’s an instant cop, as with the several other songs that Delroy Shewe contributes on.
Love is exalted on THANDOLWETHU with Mnqobi Yazo who infuses the Afropop song with unique influences of trap and maskandi. BADDO is full of bounce and verve, a baddie affirmation track flowing into the sick production of Mr Brown on TURURA with Aubrey Qwama. The directive to set your burdens down borrows from the popular church hymn. Levels’ signature sound serenades Tamy on the last track as she laments on the pain of KUDYIRWA MUSAGA, ending the album on a relatable note.
Tamy Moyo’s team delivered an exceptional job on the album’s visuals and rollout, which saw the project debut at number two on Apple Music. The release has been warmly received by both fans and businesses, with some enterprising marketers even creating commercial campaigns inspired by IHOMBE.
But for all the goodwill that Tamy sits comfortably in, there is a conspicuous lack of female collaborators on this project, particularly given its supposed themes and the success of the all-female Nubian Notes Concert. Headlining along with Tamy Moyo were Feli Nandi, Nisha Ts, Gemma Griffiths, and Shashl—and either of these formidable voices would have been phenomenal on any of the fourteen tracks.
The album has two interpolations (on TURURA and MUROORA) and while it is always refreshing to hear a familiar sound in a new format, the prevalence of these on the Zimbabwean music scene begs the question of whether the artists are running out of new ground to cover and if yes, why the refusal to properly acknowledge the source of inspiration and give them their due.
Another industry-wide deficiency is the ever-worrying lack of lyrics anywhere online (forgive me Tamy, it is a matter of pure happenstance that this issue has crossed my mind while dissecting your project, but seriously, we need artists to post lyrics online). Music exists as both sound and written word, none is more important than the other. They complement each other. My damning verdict is that the continued indifference shows a gross lack of professionalism (I guess every review now has to come with this indictment – we need lyrics posted online! Simple). Lines like “Chikokiyana one Supa kunge Mario” deserve to be in bold print (and perhaps accompanied by some annotations. Not even the deep stuff. Just for context’s sake).
Now, these ineluctable points I have raised in the few preceding paragraphs should not be construed as absolute derogations. Royalty lives up to the name and hype as a powerful contemporary and culturally conscious body of work. Tamy Moyo proves once again that she has earned her place among the country’s most respected artists. And with every long play, what she simply says is I’m never going anywhere.
Album Rating: 7.7/10
0 Comments