For the first release under his new name, Zaanurty has a cool track showcasing his Nigerian roots flavored with a hip-hop beat and pop and Spanish influences delivered in acoustic and electronic tones.
“Comprende,” dropping on March 1, is a fine introduction to Zaanurty, who, from 2017 to 2022, released music under the name Kid Nurty.
“It’s just a really chill song,” he said. “It’s a love song with a mix of that vibe where you’ve just lost love and are trying to find out what’s going on, or at the same time, you want to put the girl in a safe space with love, but you’re not really in love.”
That part’s complicated. Is the singer Bad Boy or Lover Boy? Zaanurty wants to maintain the mystery. For the individual listener, “It depends on how you feel about relationships.”
About his music in general, he says, “Zaanurty is both. I’m always in between Bad Boy and Loverboy. I was against picking sides in each song, but if I’m singing about love, I always try to put a bad boy feel in it. That way, it’s ‘Oh this is a bad boy,’ or ‘That boy’s in love.’”
Relationships aside, “Comprende” rewards the listener with a unique mix of styles and genres.
Zaanurty is a new name, but he has always put variety in his music. He describes it as a blend of dancehall, Afrobeats/Afropop and pop. He has out six singles and a six-track EP called Ice Cream and Chocolate. Among his songs you can find traces of jazz, hip-hop and R&B, and his slightly accented English sometimes imparts a Caribbean island feel.
“I fuse a lot of flavors in my songs, sometimes a little bit of Afro dance, sometimes it could be a bit of R&B and Afrobeat, sometimes it can be pop and Afrobeat.”
He writes most of his own lyrics and creates the beats and melodies with his producers, who create beats with direction from Zaanurty.
“I get with them from scratch.”
He listens to all kinds of music, he says, especially a lot of Afrobeats from his native culture in Nigeria, where he was born and raised, but his listening includes such disparate voices as Chris Brown, Wande Coal, Marvin Gaye, Phase 4, and Wizkid.
Three years ago, he moved to Denver.
After recording and performing as Kid Nurty, he grew into a stage where he thought it time to change his artist name. Most of his life, Zaanurty was his nickname. He liked it, a lot of people he knew liked it, and so, as an artist, he became known as Zaanurty.
“Basically, it came to the end of the cycle for Kid Nurty, and more people started calling me Zaanurty than Kid Nurty, so I felt like the change reflected growth.”
The growth has also resulted in a deal with a record label, Cool Summer Records.
He moved to Denver for its music scene and, he said, “At some point, I liked the city, too, and I felt like I had this connection with people through the music. I feel like they accepted my music, and here we are.”
He is at the beginning of his career as Zaanurty. He wants, right now, “to break into the scene” and then build a career that will go to the top of the industry and stay there for as long as possible.
“Comprende” is a great start.
“I have a lot of songs lined up for the year, and I have my EP on the way as well, and videos.”
He concludes, “A lot of drops are coming up.”
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