Music  

Ruger returns with new album, ‘BlownBoy Ru’

By Musa Adekunle

28 March 2025   |   5:28 pm

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Nigerian singer-songwriter Ruger has returned with a new album dubbed BlownBoy Ru. The new 13-tracker features hit spins like ‘Jay Jay’, ‘Toma Toma’ Ft. Tiwa Savage and the Kranium-assisted ‘DuDu’. This comes hot on the heels of his recent viral COLORS performance, in which he performs ‘Toro’. BlownBoy Ru, Ruger’s incredible sophomore album and the…

Nigerian singer-songwriter Ruger has returned with a new album dubbed BlownBoy Ru. The new 13-tracker features hit spins like ‘Jay Jay’, ‘Toma Toma’ Ft. Tiwa Savage and the Kranium-assisted ‘DuDu’. This comes hot on the heels of his recent viral COLORS performance, in which he performs ‘Toro’.

BlownBoy Ru, Ruger’s incredible sophomore album and the follow-up to his 2023 debut Ru The World, sees him expand on his globally adored Afrodancehall sound. While his signature energy remains, this project reflects his growth as an artist – as he explains:

“With Ru The World, I was proving a point, showing people that Ruger is not just a hitmaker but an artist with depth and range. But on this album, I feel more comfortable in my artistry. My songwriting has evolved; with more intentional lyrics, delivery, and emotions I’m passing across. I still have that raw energy, but now it’s refined, more calculated,” he tells Guardian Music.

The album touches on Ruger’s journey, love, enjoyment, reflection, and just living life to the fullest. Sonically, it’s as eclectic as ever—RnB, pop, Afrobeats, dancehall, and even Fuji influences shine through.

“I never want to be boxed into one sound. My music has always been a blend of influences—Afrobeats, Dancehall, R&B, even Pop. On this album, I just let myself be free,” he says.

Key highlights include the trap-infused ‘Give Away,’ featuring Nigerian rapper Zlatan, and the amapiano-tinged ‘Runaway,’ featuring Ugandan soul singer-songwriter Haile. Tiwa Savage joins Ruger on the high-energy ‘Toma Toma,’ which has already surpassed 30 million global streams.

READ ALSO: Rugers shares why he left Jonzing World, says they couldn’t push me further

Since November, anticipation for BlownBoy Ru has been building. ‘Toma Toma’ became a streaming juggernaut, while January’s ‘Jay Jay’—a tribute to Nigerian football legend Jay-Jay Okocha—racked up 234K opening-day Spotify streams and exploded on TikTok with 50 million+ views. Following the release, Spotify featured Ruger in its hugely influential Global Artist To Watch 2025 list, alongside Lola Young and Mercury Prize-winner Barry Can’t Swim. February also saw Ruger nominated for the 2025 MOBO Award for Best African Music Act and making waves with his BBC 1Xtra Live Lounge debut.

Describing his music as Afrodancehall – a fusion of Afrobeats with Dancehall elements – Ruger has created a catalogue that including his multi-million streaming records like ‘Asiwaju’ (#1 single in Nigeria, 130M YouTube views, 155M Spotify streams, 1M TikTok creations) ‘Toma Toma’ with Tiwa Savage, ‘Girlfriend’ (133M YouTube views, 75M Spotify streams) ‘Dior,’ ‘Bounce’ and ‘We We’. An in-demand artist all over the globe, Ruger has also collaborated with a vast array of superstar artists, such as Rema, BNXN, Clean Bandit, David Guetta & Anne Marie.