Eric Bellinger says Tiwa Savage collaboration was years in the making

Eric Bellinger recently released the deluxe edition to his Afrobeats-inspired album, It All Makes Sense. It includes the original track list, as well as five brand-new songs and two additional guest features.

Projexx and Kheilstone join previous collaborators BRNDN, Daecolm, VScript, PaBrymo, VERBB and Quintelli, as well as Tiwa Savage — a feature he tells ABC Audio he’s been waiting on for nearly 10 years. Tiwa was supposed to be on his project It’ll All Make Sense Later, but was in the process of recording her own album.

“I wasn’t in a rush to put the song out. I was just like, ‘Yo, I’ll wait. Like, finish your album. I’m here to support you and your movement,'” Eric said.

Though it took some time for the collaboration to come together, Eric said it happened at the perfect time “in God’s timing,” as there is now more hype around the Afrobeats genre.

“This is before there was a Tyla ‘Water.’ This is before ‘Essence’ with Tems and WizKid, but I felt it was too far ahead of his time,” Eric said.

“I was like, ‘Let me just wait.’ And I’m glad I did, because now Afro went through the roof,” he said. “Had I just put it out five years ago, it could have been here and gone.”

Eric notes Tiwa’s feature on the “Understood (Remix)” was the ultimate stamp of approval as he adds his R&B flair to songs in the genre. He now has his eyes set on collaborating with Burna Boy.

“We had [a song] but the clearance issue was crazy,” he said. “So I think I would love to do that. I’m a big fan of his music. I like how he infuses R&B, even American R&B with his Afrobeats.” 

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