“This time I felt like, ‘Be true to self,’” Ghanaian singer-songwriter King Promise tells Apple Music about his third album. “I found the right balance between what my sound truly is, who I really am and what I really want to churn out through my music. The title speaks for what I actually want to give off with this album.” As forthright about conceptualising his album as he is forthcoming about the real-life romantic relationships that have inspired notable songs on it, he explains, “I’m the most vulnerable I’ve ever been with my music, the most true I’ve been, and everything has clues to it where it’s not just fiction.” Five years on from his debut, 2019’s As Promised, and two years from his sophomore 5 Star, his passion for creating new music burns bright on this 2024 album. “You attain new heights in life, in career, in love, in family and business—and all those ones push you even to believe furthermore,” King Promise offers. King Promise’s soothing singing voice and adaptation to a fast-morphing soundscape has helped to maintain his relevance. He’s also willing to mine troubled and, at times, ongoing romantic dilemmas. “I’ve been calling it True to Self even before I had 50 per cent of it, so that kind of even shaped the direction more,” he continues. “This album gives you the liberty to also be free. Also, energy is infectious. If you love what you do and you put it out that way, I feel like people will catch on to the love you had for making it as well.” Here, he talks through the album, track by track. “Believe” “I literally have ‘believe’ tattooed on my hand. This song is me talking about how my mom and my family are there for me from the start. If I could do it from where I’m from, you can do it as well. All you really have to do is believe in yourself because it’s the most important thing. It’s what catches on to people. Your confidence makes other people believe in your shit as well, because what’s the need if you don’t believe in what you’re doing.” “Continental” (feat. Shallipopi) “Me and Shallipopi are such an unexpected combination, but it’s a perfect combination as well, man. It brought out another side of him, because usually Shalli has his own style. But on this one he came with a more conscious, more real style about where we’re from and why we are doing this shit and where we are going. It just was a perfect fit.” “Permission Granted” (feat. Fave) “Fave is exceptional. Recording with her was so beautiful. I like people who are very intentional about what they make and not just making it for making sake, or for the hype. She’s a true artist. Just seeing her in her element while in the studio was beautiful.” “Paris” “Why Paris? It’s really not deep. I was really inspired just by seeing an image of the Eiffel Tower, which of course is romantic. Taking a girl to Paris, and being just by the Eiffel Tower with the lights is not just being lovey-dovey. It’s being on some cool shit.” “Perfect Combi” (with Gabzy) “The perfect combination in a lover is more about energy for me. You might meet someone and think you’ll get along so much, but you just might not. And there are people you meet and you might be so different, but you just get along as well. So really and truly for me, it’s more energy. There’s no specifics for a perfect combination in a lover. I just keep it as real as possible. If I fuck with you, I fuck you.” “Paranoid” (feat. Fridayy) “Fridayy is someone who’s a true artist. When I sent him the record, we’d never met but I appreciate his music so much. He said to me, ‘The song was so special. I had to take my time and do it.’ My choice for Fridayy on ‘Paranoid’ was basically done based on purely musical admiration for his sound. He really delivered it.” “Ringing in My Head” “The relationship I wrote about in ‘Ringing in My Head’ is not something I made up. It’s from my very last relationship, where I said what I said based on how I felt, but also, it’s a continuation of ‘I Tried’ from my first album As Promised which was also from a past relationship as well. It’s just my truth. At the end of the day when a relationship is over, we don’t have to be enemies and I wish you the best. Do your thing. We don’t have to be childish about it. But how can you bring sunshine into my life and still bring rain? It’s real shit. The people you love the most are the ones who can hurt you the most as well. So it was just an embodiment of love. I just put it in the music.” “9:45” (feat. LAPIDOE & Lasmid) “The lyric ‘It’s 9:45/You can’t tell me you’re still at work’ was said to me by someone from a past relationship, but I kind of dramatised it. It’s just me picking on small truths here and there and just putting them in the music, because I know I have to paint a picture. I feel like that’s one of my very good things when I’m working on an album. I like music that has context to it, not just putting words together. So I try to make sure that movie wins an Oscar when I’m writing it. I’m a big fan of Lasmid’s music. He is one of the hottest new artists from Ghana. What really draws me close to him are his melodies and his lyrics. He says things that I wouldn’t say. LADIPOE I think is really fire. To me, he’s probably one of Nigeria’s best rappers of all time. He’s definitely one of them. And he delivered on the song, exactly what I wanted.” “Mad Oh” “On ‘Mad Oh’, I sampled R2Bees’ ‘I Dey Mad Oh’ [from 2017’s R2Bees, Vol. 2], a song that’s so iconic to me. Growing up, I was in the classroom listening to that, and obviously now we are friends, but I’ll forever be a fan of theirs. It’s just one of my very favourite songs. So it just felt right. It had context to it. So this is me just making music off the back of records that I liked from back in the day and we made it perfect.” “Favourite Story” (with Sarkodie & Olivetheboy) “People like Sarkodie were born for this music thing. There’s nothing you can say to justify why he’s still around, apart from the regular things you need to do if you really loved this shit and you want to own it, you need to give it your life. You need to give it your time. You need to give it your best, which he does exceptionally. I learned from that. Olivetheboy also smashed it with his verse. It is all a beautiful blend of Ghanaian artistry.” “Own It” “‘Own It’ is a song just about reassurance. Life is yours and you need to own it. Most of the time because of the turn of events and experiences people have, I won’t say it makes them insecure, but it’s kind of like they’re not really sure if they should fully put their foot on the gas, or just hang around hovering. In ‘Own It’, I’m like, ‘No, it’s yours. You need to own it and just enjoy it.’” “Terminator” “There's some log drums on ‘Terminator’; you can say it does have elements of amapiano, mixed together with Afrobeats and Afropop. Do I feel the need to add any West African elements when making a South African sound like amapiano? No. Whatever sounds you make, you need to be true to yourself on that. If I’m making an R&B [track] or making whatever, you’ll always feel my Ghanaian elements in there—my core, what inspired me, what made me make music today. Growing up on Ghanaian music and knowing the trueness of our sound, you’ll always find it in my music.”