Tosin Oyelakin- My Offering, My Everything- The Album Review by Tose Irabor

My Offering, My Everything is…the latest ‘offering’ (yep, that was intentional) from the rising star that is Tosin Oyelakin. A singer-songwriter and seasoned worship leader, Tosin has sang in church practically all her life, starting at age 7

My Offering, My Everything is her first full length album having released ‘You Are Precious- a 3 track EP- in 2016. It is always a joyful thing to see an artist stay the course, grow and perfect their craft as they go along and Tosin is doing just that!

The album starts with the get-up-and-praise-song, My Everything. I think my favourite part of this song has to be the intro. Its atmospheric quality almost starts like something you would hear on Star Trek or some other film or TV series set in space. While I’m not really a fan of Star Trek, I do absolutely love this intro as it is totally unexpected. It is also why I think it was a smart choice to start the album off with because it draws in you and makes you want to stick and around listen. The song itself is simple and upbeat. I can totally see worship teams and bands starting their Sunday worship sessions with it

The album progresses into ‘Praise Him’, another song for the praise and worship coffers but with the added flavour of a male background vocalist. That was a treat!

Next, Tosin features popular Nigerian gospel singer Onos Ariyo for the first worship ballad of the album, ‘Glory and Honour’. This is also the first song with infuses some African (particularly Nigerian)dialects into its lyrics. Let me break it down for you: that is, combining at least 2 other languages along with English AND throwing in some adlibs in all the languages sung, for good measure- sheesh! That’s no small feat. I particularly liked how both ladies played to their vocal strengths: Tosin’s lighter and delicate soprano worked beautifully at the beginning and ‘anticlimax’ (with a very minimal singing in between), while Onos’ strong mezzo Soprano dominated the middle.

I may have spoken too soon as with ‘Amazing Grace’, ‘Thank You Father’ and ‘My Solid Rock’ Tosin seems to have explored her lower registers a bit more. I love the afro-infused quality of the music played to the timeless lyrics of Amazing Grace and ‘My Solid Rock’. It’s not like the ‘ afrobeats’ sound that dominates the airwaves at the moment. It’s more of an old school feel, quite reminiscent of old Nigerian church music in cassettes- soothing.

With ‘Thank you Father’, Tosin Oyelakin launches in to full-fledged African praise (some quarters call it ‘african choruses’)mixing once again English and the Nigerian local dialect, Yoruba.

‘His Joy Comes’ heralds another change in the musical direction within this album, not just in style but song theme. This time, Tosin leaves the ‘vertical’ songs (songs sung directly to God)for a moment and delivers a song of encouragement on the bed of some good old soul music. From the Saxophone intro of ‘My Heart’s Rhythm’ to the old school R &B vibe of ‘Thankful’, Tosin shows off her versatility in not just in genre of music but vocal dexterity.

‘You are God’ reminds me of something Isabella Melodies would write- a simple , devotional worship song, even with the musical movements within the track. With this song, Tosin chooses to start with prayer and spoken worship which a song like this naturally lends itself to.

It is quickly followed by the piano-led ballad ‘Love Is’ which so far is my favourite track on the album. Maybe it’s because I am biased to the word ‘love’ and what it stands for. Once again, Tosin, leaves the general theme of the album momentarily to exhort her listening on the contents of 1 Corinthians 13. ‘Love Is’ is the shortest track in the album and you are forced to wonder if it was meant to be an interlude. Well, whatever the intent, it’s a beautiful piece.

‘Great and Mighty God’ signals a return to some African-infused praise music with a sound and feel similar to the track ‘My Solid Rock’.

The remaining three tracks on the album might be remixes but It felt like I was hearing them for the first time. Who knew what a massive difference a little pace pickup and some afrobeat could make to a song? If ‘newness’ was what Tosin was after reworking these 3 last tracks: Praise Him, Amazing Grace and Thankful, she got it!

This album has a little bit of everything for everybody but not one you necessarily have to cherry-pick from. I totally understand why it was titled ‘My Offering, My Everything- it is one long praise offering. You’ll dance and you’ll ponder and then dance again! While predominantly a praise and worship album, it is great to see Tosin push herself lyrically. I look forward to seeing what’s next for the talented Tosin Oyelakin

Tosin’s My Offering, My Everything is available to download, stream and buy across all digital platforms.