Music Review: Gimme Love By Eddy Kenzo ft Matt B

A Ugandan group named Abayudaya, Ugandan Jews hailing from Mbale, were actually the first music act to be nominated; they were nominated in 2005 in the Best Traditional World Music Album, which was also called Abayudaya. The album was a collection of religious songs and traditional folk music.

Ad no, they did not win – the album had particularly awful production values, which may have been the reason – the academy doesn’t provide explanations.

Edirisa Musuuza (no wonder he changed names, eh) was nominated in the Best Global Music Performance category of 2022 for his song, Gimme Love. It probably already has tonnes of views on YouTube, with everyone curious to know exactly what sent the folks at the Grammys Eddy’s way.

The song has 280,000 views – doesn’t stack up to much when you compare it with Sitya Loss, which has over one million views.

I listened to Gimme Love at the end of a long day. There were a couple of surprises – it features a certain Matt B (never heard of him) so this will be a shred award, at the very least. There’s nothing particularly mind-blowing about Matt B’s vocals, and there’s nothing particularly memorable or captivating about the song’s melody.

It’s a little ‘Meh’. A little simplistic, it’s a light pop ditty with an electronic sound. It’s not bad per se; just a little underwhelming, truth be told.

I am certain every Ugandan listening is like “They nominated him for this?”

We are a patriotic lot, and we will all be wishing him the best of luck. His competition includes Burna Boy, Zakes Batwini, Nomcebo Zikode, Arooji Aftab and Anoushka Shankar.

Now Eddy is no stranger to awards – he won a BET Award for something or other in 2015, a Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award in 2018, and a host of other continental prizes. He is always dashing off to collect some prize or other – but this Grammy may just be a little beyond him.

I will be genuinely pleasantly surprised if he wins this.

Eddy Kenzo and Matt B, Edirisa Musuuza, Gimme Love, Matt B