This Feels Like An Interlude is a project built on feeling, crafted to be felt, and Donli ensures the listener is submerged in it.
By Yinoluwa Olowofoyeku
Zainab Elizabeth Donli, better known as Lady Donli, has quietly grown into one of Nigeria’s most confident and versatile artists. Born in Cleveland in 1996 and raised between Abuja, Kaduna, and later the UK, she holds a law degree from the University of Surrey.
That cross-cultural upbringing shaped her genre-blending sound, which draws from Alternative R&B, Neo-Soul, Alté, Afrobeat, Jazz, and Highlife. A key figure in Nigeria’s Alté movement, she first gained attention around 2014 before riding her newfound wave with her EP, Letters to Her, in 2017, and her critically acclaimed debut studio album, Enjoy Your Life, in 2019. That project fused Afro-Pop and retro soul into a confident, cosmopolitan sound that helped define the rising wave of self-styled Nigerian alternative music.
Lady Donli’s fearless collaborations with artists like Odunsi (The Engine), Tems, Amaarae, and her performance for COLORSxSTUDIOS have all demonstrated her ability to move fluidly between soulful ballads, jazzy experiments, and infectious Afro-inflected grooves. Following her 2023 album, Pan African Rockstar, and a globe-spanning tour that reached Europe, North America, and several African countries, she now returns with a new EP titled This Feels Like An Interlude. It is the first of three planned releases for 2025 and serves as both a continuation of her genre-fusing ethos and a moment of introspection within her evolving Alté-Indie framework.
This Feels Like An Interlude opens with “Keep On Loving Me (Biko Biko)”, a vibrant yet emotionally uncertain piece that blends reflective guitars with a genre-melting, groovy drum arrangement. The lyrics, “So many fish in the sea but I still choose you, I know you dey for me cause I dey for you”, establish a longing and committed tone, only for the vulnerability to surface through the repeated question, “Will you keep on loving me? Can you keep on loving me?”, as she recounts the instability of a waxing and waning romance.
Lady Donli’s reverbed vocal performance is soaked with feeling, supported by Yinka Bernie’s lush instrumental palette, which brings together Rock-style electric guitar power chords and bass synths, lively Afrobeat brass reminiscent of Fela’s arrangements, and rhythm guitars that trade melodies with her vocals. Metallic percussions are sprinkled across the stereo field, giving the track a vibrant sense of movement.
“Supposed 2 Do” follows with brevity and punch, opening with a thrilling drum barrage reminiscent of Amerie’s “1 Thing”. Lady Donli immediately presents the emotional thesis, singing, “Okay okay okay okay okay, you love me, now what? What am I supposed to do?”, cutting to the core of a post-breakup haze where love alone is no longer enough. The instrumental evolves to adopt a Dancehall-tinged groove with synthetic bass and warbled synth stabs, perfectly matching her detachment as she distances herself from a relationship that no longer serves her.
On “I No Know”, the energy shifts into a tender reflection, with Rock guitars and intricate, genre-defying syncopation charged with Afrobeats rhythms. Donli’s vocal delivery is gentle, sitting somewhere between singing and spoken word as she confesses uncertainty: “I no know if you still love me, oh baby, I see you in my dreams, I no know how e go be, oh baby, do you still love me?” The themes of emotional doubt echo the opener. While the melody remains on the safer side, the track’s impact comes from its narrative continuity and affective atmosphere, carried by layered harmonies and restraint.
The closing track, “Time Heals”, brings a sense of resolution. Here, Donli fully accepts the dissolution of the relationship, posing introspective questions over subdued Afro-tinged percussions and phasing synths. “Time heals all wounds, but I don’t see myself healing any time soon”, she admits, her vocals grounded in pain and clarity. Distorted guitar runs and a rumbling bassline build a darker sonic base, with her signature Alté sensibility saturating the arrangement. The track closes the emotional loop of This Feels Like An Interlude, moving from longing to detachment, confusion to resignation, and ultimately, emotional honesty.
The title This Feels Like An Interlude feels especially apt, with the project wrapping in just under seven minutes across four songs. Yet what it lacks in length, it more than makes up for in depth. Lady Donli dives headfirst into a tightly focused emotional arc, unravelling the uncertainty, self-doubt, and confusion often accompanying fragile love.
Impressively, she achieves this without leaning on ornate lyricism or complex melodic structures; instead, she simplifies the emotional communication, allowing the atmosphere to shoulder the narrative weight.
That atmosphere is crafted with surgical precision through rich, genre-blurring production and thoughtful engineering, yielding a soundscape soaked in the same tension, movement, and variation that mark the relationship she’s singing about. The sonic palette is a melting pot featuring Funk, Afrobeats, Rock, Dancehall, and Alté ingredients.
Expertly combined by Yinka Bernie and JMS, it all simmers into one potent stew of tone and feeling, creating the ideal vessel for Donli’s voice. Her vocal delivery isn’t overly technical or showy; rather, it thrives in its honesty, its vulnerability, and its plainspoken emotional clarity.
This Feels Like An Interlude is a project built on feeling, crafted to be felt, and Donli ensures the listener is submerged in it. Its brevity lends it the appearance of a singular continuous tale that can be conveniently looped and replayed, which is fitting for a story about a love caught in stasis. And true to its title, it plays like an interlude in a larger romantic journey. In this way, This Feels Like An Interlude lives up to its name, not only thematically, but perhaps structurally within Lady Donli’s discography too, serving as an evocative pause that hints at more to come, and leaves us eager for what that might be.
Lyricism – 1.4
Tracklisting – 1.5
Sound Engineering – 1.6
Vocalisation – 1.3
Listening Experience – 1.4
Rating – 7.2/10
Yinoluwa “Yinoluu” Olowofoyeku is a multi-disciplinary artist and creative who finds expression in various media. His music can be found across all platforms and he welcomes interaction on his social media @Yinoluu.