Three years in the making, Gyakie’s After Midnight takes its name from the late-night hours the Ghanaian singer, songwriter and producer found most inspiring during its creation. “We had so many sleepless nights because most of the records were done after midnight,” she tells Apple Music. “I create very well after midnight.” Likewise defying a pedestrian bedtime were producers P.Priime, SOSA, Nova, Afrolektra and DeeYasso, along with guesting vocalists Shatta Wale, 6LACK, Kojey Radical, Omar Sterling and Headie One, among others. Recording sessions for After Midnight spanned Ghana, Nigeria, the UK and beyond, with Gyakie drawing on diverse environments to shape the project’s rich, genre-blurring sound. The result of all that cross-cultural/geographical collaboration is an expansive, emotive debut that balances introspection with irresistible grooves. Below, Gyakie breaks down the album, track by track: “intro” “The intro came with a lot of creativity because there’s so many transitions, from the drums into different genres, [and] it ends with hip-hop. You can hear some drums in the beginning, and those are traditional drums from the Ashanti region, where I’m from. The intro is supposed to make you understand what you are about to listen to because the songs on the album are different genres. I co-produced this with Nova, SOSA and Baba Wood.” “fire on the mountain” “‘fire on the mountain’ is a heartbreak song where I’m really talking about the doubts I have in love because of encounters with a few people where every time it always feels like it’s not working out. I did this record in the UK, and that was my first time working with [Ghanaian producer] M.O.G. I completed the song on my flight back to Ghana and I [had] finished it when I landed. When I was writing on the flight, it felt so different because being in the clouds kind of gave me an inspiration of what I wanted the song to sound like.” “damn u” “This record was produced by P.Priime from Nigeria. We did this song in 2023, and when we finished the record, I could hear a masculine version of it. Around that time, I had reached out to 6LACK. I had already reached out, not for the song, but to actually give him his flowers and let him know how much I appreciate his music. And I mentioned that sometime I’m hoping we get to make a record. A year later, we reached out to his team and sent the song over. The first time I listened to his verse, I was in Johannesburg, South Africa, I was mind-blown. It meant a lot to me because his songs have done so much for me emotionally.” “harmattan” “This record was produced by SOSA and I. This song is supposed to give you that Jamaican feel. It is a love song, a flirtatious kind of song where, let’s say, you are in the club or you’re at a party with your lover just dancing and having a good time. You hear dancehall, you’re definitely going to hear Shatta Wale.” “y2k luv” “This album brought me close to my production skill because I got to realise it’s something I would love to get into properly. In this song, I sampled one of my dad [Ernest Nana Acheampong]’s biggest songs. It’s really old-school hip-hop vibes, talking about the positive side of love. And this one features Omar Sterling from R2Bees. I’ve always been speaking about Omar Sterling, I’m a big fan of his music.” “sankofa” “‘sankofa’” is produced by Afrolektra, a Ghanaian producer. This song has done so much, it’s still doing so much. It’s the first song that we dropped off the album. It is a positive love song and we did some solid visuals for it that we shot in Ghana.” “after midnight (interlude)” “[This] interlude is a transition between the first part of the album and the second part. Produced by Baba Wood and written by Baba Wood and I, this one is more like a lullaby for love. [It’s a] subtle, calm, jazzy, soulful sound.” “i’m not taken” (feat. Headie One) “We did this one two years ago. Headie and I kind of have a very cool friendship where whenever he comes to Ghana, we always try to hang. This record was the only one where I was in the studio with the collaborator. The rest of them, I had to send a song and then they had to send their verses over. But Headie and I were in the studio. I saw him do his verse, it was amazing.” “no one” “I recorded this one in Nigeria with DeeYasso. It’s an inspirational song, a song for people who have lost confidence, who look at themselves in the mirror and feel less of themselves. It’s for people that are almost about to give up on life. I made that song for people like that because there’s been times in my life when I felt that type of emotion before.” “breaking news” “If you’re someone that loves Azonto, the dance move, this song is actually for you. I did this song in Ghana as well, it was written by me, produced by Afrolektra. It’s really a song that’s supposed to get you on your feet, get you dancing. It is that song for the parties.” “house party (feat. Young John)” “Big shout to Young John. We went to see him and he was playing some songs and productions, and this song was one of the songs I had. It came out so amazing. It’s a love song as well and a party song.” “unconditional” “‘unconditional’ was recorded in Ghana. It was written by me and co-written by Offei Music. We recorded this song when we were camping at the studio for so many days. We were not going anywhere, we’re just making the music. And this song is amapiano. There’s a visual for it, which we shot in South Africa.” “story” “I recorded this song in Nigeria. It’s also a love song that talks about the positive side of love. It’s the last song that we recorded in Lagos when I was doing some mini camp for the album.” “wanted” “‘wanted’ has a vintage R&B feel; it’s a love song as well. It was produced by RORE from Nigeria.” “party galore” “I’m a huge fan of Kojey Radical, a phenomenal UK artist. I sent the song to Kojey, he loved it, he recorded his verse and it was so amazing. It was produced by UK-based Ghanaian producer, Sogee.” “is it worth it” “This is one of my favourite songs on the album. It talks about life and the questions that some of us always have about the afterlife. We’re all doing this hustle and working and then after everything, to what end is it going to be? So it’s a song about life, a song about motivation and a song that’s also supposed to question life in general. It was produced by SOSA and it was written by me.” “hallelujah” “Basically, what a gospel record is supposed to do for your soul is what “hallelujah” is meant to do. In my entire catalogue, I have one gospel song called “Nana Nyame”, and this is my second gospel record. It’s a motivational record that is supposed to bring healing. It’s supposed to boost people’s enthusiasm or people’s drive for whatever they’re doing in life.”