” What’s a little gold to a shining star”, a puzzling rhetorical inquiry executed in the sweetest of falsettos by Tayiwar on ‘Feels’ ( the project’s second track and lead single) nearly smack one with a thematic conundrum. ” What is this degradation for if the project is titled ‘Gold’?” was a prompt soliloquy this writer was able to form. Is this about to be a satirical project? it for sure sounded like it.
A tape playback and one realizes this line is not about satire. It’s a line coined from a growth perspective. Tayiwar and Le Marv have significantly grown since 2019, the year of the project’s first installation. Five years later, both are Grammy Award nominees and share new-found affluence. It’s safe to say that they have had their more than fair share of ”Gold”, and it’s just as safe to say that the taste of success has formed broader paradigms.
Priorities have shifted from hedonistic pursuits into an appreciation for ‘Simple Things’, such as paying a loving compliment to a lover and comparing said lover to the stars. Maturity abounds in the ‘Gold II’ extended play, a six-track body of work that is not necessarily ‘better’ than its eight-track predecessor, but more open-minded and in-depth in its thematic explorations which is ironic being that it mirrors more of Afrobeats than the first one. There is Amapiano too on the project – bar open-minded.
Make no mistake for as much as the musical duo is open to mainstream sonics, the duo also stays true to their outlier nature, such is found in track four, ‘Rock Steady’ where there is a sonic shift from mid-tempo beats to disco four on the floor pattern, an artistic showoff if you asked this writer.
The most recurring themes in this body of work are introspection and love. ‘Gold II’ mirrors the likeness of a diary. A diary by sonic alchemists who seem to be in the rat race for the pursuit of happiness. It’s an endless dig that isn’t fully found in money, cars, or fame. But found in self-love and love for others. That is the real gold.
