Angélique Kidjo is still unstoppable at 65
It’s on songs like I’m On Fire, an uptempo dance tune in which Angélique Kidjo evokes the spirit of Fela Kuti with the help of Nigerian highlife duo The Cavemen, that you appreciate the breadth and depth of Kidjo’s musical palette.
The song comes roughly halfway through HOPE!!, a 16-track album that sees the Beninese legend going everywhere from Atlanta to Kinshasa and Rio de Janeiro to Johannesburg in search of sonic building blocks.
At the age of 65, you’d be forgiven for thinking Kidjo might feel she’s said and done enough but the acclaimed singer shows no signs of slowing down.
She has performance dates lined up across Europe with stops in England, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Poland and Switzerland between May and November. I first got the chance to see her perform at the Culture Summit in Abu Dhabi last year where she turned a formal TED-styled conference into a Coachella-esque concert in the desert.
HOPE!! is an album that comes four decades deep into one of the most decorated careers of any African musician and contains much of the grounded versatility that has taken Kidjo to stages across the world. It also arrives at a moment shaped by personal loss and reflection, with the death of her mother becoming a quiet but persistent presence throughout the project.
“This album was in the making since the release of Mother Nature,” she says, referring to her 2021 album. “And I haven’t done anything because in the meantime, my mom passed away. So I paused a lot of things to grieve.”
Creating the album became part of the grieving process for Kidjo: “I promised my mom I would record my own version of Malaika because she would always ask me to sing it for her before she died, but for a long time I couldn’t do it,” she explains.
“So I said I have to do a whole album to fulfill this promise that I made to my mom. And somehow I did with this album. She has been somehow all the way guiding me to everything that I do. That’s the feeling that I have because I felt her presence completely throughout this album.”
That sense of presence is most clearly felt on the album’s closing track, a sweeping orchestral version of Malaika featuring French singer Florent Pagny. The song itself carries a long history. Written by Tanzanian composer Adam Salim in 1945 and later recorded by Kenyan musician Fadhili William, it has become closely associated with Miriam Makeba, whose rendition introduced it to global audiences.
Kidjo’s version honours that lineage while adding her own emotional imprint, moving between the original Swahili lyrics and a new set of lyrics in French.
Elsewhere, the album moves with a restless sense of curiosity. Its collaborations stretch across continents and genres but they are held together by a clear sense of purpose that Kidjo returns to repeatedly when she talks about her work.
“For me, it’s always about the song. I’m always at the service of the song,” she says. “My music is not for me to keep. I grew up with the philosophy from my parents that when you surround yourself with people to talk about something that is meaningful, it’s more powerful. The message is delivered more powerfully.”
That philosophy runs through the album’s extensive list of collaborators, 15 featured artists in all, across the album’s length of just under an hour.
The opening track Bando brings together Pharrell Williams and Quavo, formerly of the Atlanta trap trio Migos. It’s a surprising collaboration that turns a word for an abandoned house used for cooking and selling drugs, into an upbeat anthem about overcoming struggle. Pharrell no doubt brought some of the sensibilities he used to produce Clipse’s Let God Sort Em Out.
On Aye Kan, Ayra Starr adds a contemporary Nigerian pop sensibility, while Fall On Me pairs Kidjo with PJ Morton for a more soulful exchange. Each collaboration is shaped by the question Kidjo poses to herself in every creative encounter. “What can I learn? What can the person learn from it and how and why are we telling this story?”
The answers shift from track to track. Oyaya brings together Nile Rodgers and Brazilian artist IZA, creating a groove that feels at home in both Lagos and Rio.
Superwoman with Dadju carries a smoother, more melodic energy, while Kakua featuring Diamond Platnumz leans into the rhythm of Tanzanian Bongo Flava. There’s a sense that Kidjo is intentionally drawing unexpected connections between people, locations and musical styles.
That instinct is perhaps most evident on Sunlight To My Soul, where the Soweto Gospel Choir provides a powerful choral backdrop and on Joy, where Davido brings a buoyant Afropop energy. Even the inclusion of Jerusalema, originally by Master KG and Nomcebo Zikode, feels like a continuation of a song that has already travelled far across the world.
Kidjo’s ability to hold all these threads together speaks to a career built on consistency and a refusal to be confined by expectations. That consistency was recognised last year when she became the first Black African artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
“I think that it means my consistency in my work and forecasting the richness of the culture of this continent has resonated so far that I am able to be there,” she says. “So it means the door is open now to all of us. So let’s get to it.”
The statement carries the same sense of collective thinking that defines her approach to music. Success, in her view, is something that gains meaning when it creates space for others.
It’s a perspective shaped by the artists who came before her, figures like Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela, whose careers unfolded in far more restrictive circumstances.
“We paid a huge price for the youth today to be able to put out their music and deliver it instantly,” she says. “It was a battlefield filled with a lot of bombs.”
Her advice to younger musicians reflects that history: “Today is easier. And easy means you have to be more aware. Don’t take anything for granted because things that are easy are the most complicated. Be strategic. I’ve never thought of my career being a fashion or being something of the moment.
“And AI is going challenge authenticity today. Be authentic. Speak up for yourself. Be consistent in your work. Be a hard worker and don’t settle for less. And be respectful of yourself and others.”
She continues with a clarity that comes from experience. “Music is a very possessive mistress. I mean, there’s no compromise there because if you start compromising, you fool only yourself. You don’t fool the public but without the public, you don’t exist.”
The emphasis, once again, returns to the relationship between artist and audience, a dynamic that cannot be sustained through shortcuts.
“You can be pretending and getting millions of likes and clicks but where you can actually make a difference is on stage in how you perform and how you’re there on time to do what you have to do.”
That commitment to performance remains central to Kidjo’s identity. It is also where her seemingly boundless energy becomes most visible. When asked where that energy comes from, she doesn’t hesitate.
“The energy comes from my mother,” she says. “She raised 10 children. And my mom, from the moment she woke up at five o’ clock in the morning everyday she was on her feet and she was always the last one to sleep.”
The memory is vivid, almost cinematic. “As a little girl, I was looking at her like, on what battery is she running?”
It’s a question that still lingers, even as Kidjo mirrors that same pace in her own life. “I have that energy because I know it’s possible to have the energy to do so many things during the day. And if it makes you happy, why should I stop doing it?”
That sense of joy is embedded throughout HOPE!!, even in its quieter moments. It is there in the rhythmic pulse of Nadi Balance with Fally Ipupa, in the warmth of For Me featuring Charlie Wilson and in the expansive closing gesture of Malaika.
Kidjo herself seems content to let listeners find their own path through it. “It’s no longer in my hands anymore once it’s released. It’s in the hands of everybody. So just feel free to do whatever you want and have fun with it.”