On the pre-released track, ‘King’, Fireboy starts the song with the line, ‘What if I say/ Make you come chill with me in my place.’ A simple statement, but here is the thing—who exactly is he inviting? It is not so obvious at first. And that is what makes the wait more worthwhile when he later sings, ‘And every day, girl, I’ve been missing you/ You no fit deny say you miss me too’, finally revealing that it is his woman he has been speaking to all along. Many artists would likely start with that second line, a more direct approach that leaves less to the imagination. But Fireboy, being the storyteller he is, understands that the allure of suspense is stronger, even though it lasts for just a few seconds. This deftness in his penmanship and lyricism is no accident; his background in poetry and literature—honed during his studies at Obafemi Awolowo University—shines through in his ability to paint his desires in sweet compelling lines that resonates deeply with listeners.

The two tracks, the Afrobeats-infused, trumpet-laden banger, ‘Vibration’, and the EDM-tinged anthem, ‘Scatter’, showcase a frenetic production designed for the party scene. These songs reveal another dimension of his artistry: Fireboy is not just a purveyor of sultry love songs but a versatile artist capable of creating songs that can make you forget morality on the dance floor. In ‘Scatter’, he exudes confidence, ‘I get money yapa/ Emi emi superstar’. And by calling himself ‘superstar’, even before the world embraced him as such, he foretells the prophecy of his ascendance to stardom.

There is an intriguing quality to Fireboy’s music. Beyond its beautiful composition, which is tailor-made for live performance, he integrates some of his tracks with chants that can be found either in the prelude, hook, or postlude. This stylistic signature is unmistakably present in the first 20 seconds of ‘What If I Say’, the opening 17 seconds of his smash hit ‘Jealous’, the initial ten seconds of ‘Gbas Gbos’, and the infectious hook of ‘Energy’.

Exploring deeper into Fireboy’s creative approach, it becomes abundantly clear that he possesses a keen understanding of the art of balance in making an album. Much like Burna Boy’s strategic collaboration with Zlatan on ‘Killing Dem’ from his 2019 Grammy-nominated album, African Giant—released just four months before Laughter, Tears and Goosebumps—which tapped into the pulsating energy of Zanku music that was sweeping the streets in the country, Fireboy adopted a similar approach on ‘Omo Ologo’. Here, he embraces a bold street lingo, playfully leaning into its rawness with the lines ‘As Gbana no dey’ (where ‘Gbana’ is Nigerian slang for marijuana) and ‘Omo follow me/ no dey do Fala Folo’ (where ‘Fala Folo’ means ‘to do anyhow’), signalling his adeptness at melding mainstream appeal with street narratives. And if anything, this duality amplifies his artistic reach and showcases his mastery of the contemporary Nigerian music landscape.