Ayra Starr’s ‘All The Love’: An Anthem of Unwavering Affection
Ayra Starr enjoyed a remarkable 2024. It was the year of her critically acclaimed sophomore album, ‘The Year I Turned 21’, featuring prominent R&B artists like Giveon and Coco Jones, and the year she toured Australia with Coldplay. As the year drew to a close, Ayra Starr teased a new single in November—a song with sticky melodies and prominent guitars—with a post captioned “Gimme Dat 3/12.” While the snippet garnered significant excitement, the track unfortunately never made it on streaming platforms as promised.
Ushering in the new music year, Ayra teased a stripped-down version of ‘All The Love’ in January 2025, singing over a simple piano melody she played herself. However, it wasn’t clear that she was gearing up for a release, as many still eagerly anticipated ‘Gimme Dat’. On the third day of the month of love, she officially announced that her first single of the year would arrive on February 11, and it wasn’t ‘Gimme Dat’. A handful of fans along with a few notable media houses, felt a slight tinge of disappointment upon hearing the announcement and listening to the new snippet which seemed to lack the earworm potential of her 2024 teaser. The post’s caption, “All The Love ‘from the girls bathroom’ 11th Feb,” suggested this one was especially for her female fans.
The paradox of snippets, a term I’ve coined, describes the phenomenon where snippets intended to generate anticipation for a new release have the opposite effect. However, the actual record often proves excellent in arrangement, songwriting, and production. ‘All The Love’ reinforces this idea, with the full track proving a more than worthy choice for a year-opening single. Centered on showing unconditional love to her deserving muse, Ayra Starr masterfully demonstrates how a Nigerian love ballad should be crafted, infused with a melody that compels repeated listens. She emphasizes that this person’s beautiful heart is more than enough and deserves an unconditional kind of love: “But one thing is certain / I’ll be that person / Wey go be your shoulder, buddy, bestie, anything.” Despite the apparent lack of reciprocated love from others, Ayra Starr reassures them of her unwavering support: “You are deserving of the love you are not getting / Independently, I’ll take the liberty, And I go love you specially, oh.”
Co-produced by Johnny Drille and Teemode, the song perfectly soundtracks the beautiful month of unconditional love and serves as a reassurance to friends, family, and even lovers. Ayra Starr’s “All The Love” is a musical embrace, a comforting assurance of unconditional love and support for every deserving person in our lives.
