Award-winning Nigerian R&B songstress RUKMANI embraces desire, sensuality and self-assurance
on her highly anticipated sophomore EP SOFTIES VIBE, an 8-track offering that gathers together
different versions of herself from different moments in her life into an intimate exploration of
tenderness and sensuality.
Driven by her distinctly emotive vocals and poetic songwriting over lush R&B, soul, afrofusion, dancehall and amapiano-inflected textures and soundscapes, Rukmani moves through attraction, desire, pursuit, temptation, intimacy and uncertainty with striking emotional range across Softies Vibe.
With sensuality emerging as its connective tissue rather than by conscious design, the project sees Rukmani exploring what it means to want deeply without surrendering the confidence, boundaries or sense of self that sit at the heart of her artistry, and revealing a side of her that could be tender and emotionally open without ever surrendering agency or self-respect.
The EP opens with ‘MOG’, short for “Matter on Ground”, where Rukmani arrives with complete self-assurance, fully aware that she is the subject of attention and conversation, and sets the tone with an easy, composed confidence. ‘Lock It In’ featuring Ema Onigah pushes that confidence towards flirtation as she challenges a love interest to stop hesitating and act on what is already between them.
‘Down for It’ gives Rukmani space to lean further into desire and attraction, playing with the knowledge
that she can remain on somebody’s mind long after the moment has passed, while ‘Sneaky Link’
complicates that attraction with secrecy and borrowed time.
Built around trumpets, electronic textures and relaxed percussion, the track finds Rukmani caught in the thrill and moral tension of being the person somebody cannot stop thinking about even when he goes home to someone else.
That push and pull between confidence and emotional exposure becomes even more pronounced across the project’s second half. On ‘Property’ featuring Tar1q, Rukmani makes no attempt to disguise who she wants, with Tar1q meeting her energy and turning the song into an exchange built around mutual attraction, trust and emotional surrender. ‘Whine’ sees Rukmani and F3line slow everything right down into a more intimate space shaped by close dancing and sustained chemistry.
Then ‘Top 5’ unsettles that certainty. Faced with someone who has yet to decide where she belongs in his life, Rukmani allows vulnerability into the room without abandoning her standards, making it clear that she may want him but has no interest in being treated as one option among many.
The EP closes with ‘Check on Me’ that reconnects with the self-assurance of ‘MOG’, and brings us back to the idea that Rukmani remains the “matter on ground” as we reach the EP’s immersive final moments.
