Yemi Alade & Bien Deliver a Cross-Continental Love Anthem with “Don’t Be Shy” | Watch the Official Video

If you’ve been searching for the perfect song to soundtrack your next birthday, Yemi Alade and Kenyan singer-songwriter Bien have just handed it to you. “Don’t Be Shy,” the lead single from Yemi Alade’s forthcoming album, “It’s Yemi Alade,” is a warm, generous love letter to a woman who lights up every room she walks into. Built on Afro-R&B rhythms with touches of Kompa, and produced by Nigerian producer De Yaso and Kenyan producer Kobby Worldwide, the song celebrates the kind of person whose smile and dance stop a room cold. Lines like “Baby you know I adore you” sit comfortably alongside Nigerian Pidgin and Swahili, giving the record a pan-African tenderness that feels completely natural given who’s on it.

Now the official video is here, and it delivers. Shot across three atmospheric spaces, a minimalist studio lounge with a vintage leather sofa and a large oriental rug hung on the wall like a tapestry, a lush tropical green room framed by deep draped curtains and potted indoor palms, and a narrow red neon corridor with golden pillars that turns the whole thing into a late-night celebration, the visual world the video builds is as considered as the music itself. And then there are the dance sequences. Yemi Alade moves through each setting with the kind of loose, confident ease that makes the choreography feel less like performance and more like she simply cannot help herself, which, given what the song is about, is entirely the point.

The styling is worth its own conversation. Yemi Alade arrives in three looks: an off-the-shoulder black lace gown with a sweeping floor-length skirt, a red sequinned mini skirt paired with a sheer asymmetrical chiffon cape top, and close-up beauty shots that put her dramatic winged eyeliner, glossy red lips, and tiered gold coil earrings front and centre throughout, all anchored by a high braided top knot wrapped in thick gold rings. Bien, who has collaborated with Alade several times before, including on a Swahili version of her hit “Nagode” and a remix of his own “All My Enemies Are Suffering,” matches the moment in a burnt-orange zip-up jacket and gold-buckled ochre trousers across two sharp, tailored looks.

“I have always loved the soulfulness of Bien’s music and working with him on this record was so easy,” Alade said. “And I feel like in ‘Don’t Be Shy’ we are both being playful, confident and honest, in expressing feelings when you’re into someone.” Bien added: “We want you to just feel good and loosen up when this song comes on.” Consider that brief taken care of. Watch the official video below.

 

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