While her bedroom freestyles and early singles—including 2019’s “M.O.M.M.S” and 2021’s “Beautifully”—explored her poetic, romantic side, Nigerian singer-songwriter Fave (born GodsFavour Chidozie) embraces the feel-good vibe on her debut EP, Riddim 5. “All the songs gave me a ‘riddim’ vibe—something sweet that has a very nice groove,” she tells Apple Music. “It’s what I call a sound that’s absolutely bonkers—nothing you’ve heard before, and it lasts a lifetime.” Following her laidback appearances on Olamide’s 2021 album UY Scuti, Riddim 5 reveals Fave’s different facets, fusing Afropop elements with Caribbean influences and hints of R&B and hip-hop—but without a strict allegiance to one particular mode. “It was a whole process experimenting with different sound—basically trying to push myself, discover [how far] I could go and the songs or genres that I could hop on. My sound has a lot of soul in it.” Here, Fave gives us a breakdown of Riddim 5, track by track. “Obsessed” “‘Obsessed’ was banging from the beginning of the beat, when [producer Krizbeatz] played it for me. I was like, 'Whether or not I'm getting an inspiration, I just know I have to sing on this beat,' because it banged so much. Krizbeatz said he felt like it gave him an ‘overthinking’ kind of feeling, about someone or something. So I had to inject that into my writing and I just felt, ‘Okay, overthinking—this is a direction that I can go.’ It's like I'm obsessed. And I confessed, ‘I've been thinking about you/It keeps ringing on/Ringing on in my head/And I can't stop thinking about you.’” “S.M.K” “‘S.M.K’ is a song that talks about you beckoning someone to sing for you. I'm not very fluent in Yoruba, because I'm not a Yoruba girl; I'm Igbo. But I love the Yoruba language so much. When I'm writing music, I find myself singing a lot of blurbs, and they turn out to be the Yoruba language. I ask [those around me] to help me build on that, to help me develop, to help me make sense of what my mind is telling me to say. It actually just came into my head—I didn't know what it meant, but I had to ask the producer [Niphkeys] if ‘Sho Ma Korin’ had any meaning. That's literally how it came to me. We basically just created a song around me telling someone to sing, ‘Do I need to move mountains to show you how much I feel for you? Do you need to see some writing on the wall?’” “Kilotufe” “‘Kilotufe’ is ‘What do you want?’ ‘Kilotufe’ was recorded in 2020; it was very laidback. We always had in mind that it's a project kind of song, because it's not something that I really write about—I’m mostly on a love type of wave, or talking about how I have feelings for somebody, or how someone has feelings for me. ‘Kilotufe’ is basically talking about you being ignored or you not being wanted by some people. And then all of a sudden, because things are suddenly happening for you, they start ringing your line; they start acting like you actually mean something. So it's like, I'm now thinking, ‘What do I know, really?’ Or really, ‘Whatever it is that I'm going to give you now, whatever it is you're getting from me, is what you get. You can't ask so much from me, because you were never really there when things were bad.’” “Mr Man” “I recorded this with Saszy Afroshii. 'Mr Man' was a kind of slow song, initially. Even the video I did for the song on my Instagram, it was slow tempo. But we thought we could actually increase the tempo of this song to give it a more groovy vibe. What 'Mr Man' talks about is love. It’s telling someone, 'I want you to take me on the dance floor; let's dance, let's vibe. How would you want me to prove my love for you? If you say that you're going to shiver when we walk down the aisle, I would definitely be there to hold you; there's nothing to fear.’” “Baby Riddim” “‘Baby Riddim’ also had a long process, in the sense that I always felt like every time I was listening to the song, there was something extra that the beat needed. I always felt like it's a song that builds up from the verse to the pre-chorus to the chorus. So if it's building up in my voice, it should also build up on the beat. I was always pushing [the producer] Damie, saying, 'I think you need to add some elements in the chorus. I think you need to follow me when I'm singing. I need to hear [something behind me].' It's always a pleasure for me to work with Damie. He's one of my favorite producers because he really, really listens to me. The chorus is so catchy, because people are wondering why someone's baby is bad and good at the same time. I’m a sucker for reggaetón, so ‘riddim’ is one of my favorite words and style of music.”