After Midnight succeeds as an easy listen, full of cool grooves, calming beats, striking guest appearances, and flashes of resonance that remind listeners of Gyakie’s natural gift for connection.
By Yinoluwa Olowofoyeku
Jackline Acheampong, known professionally as Gyakie, is a Ghanaian singer-songwriter from Kumasi. She first began attracting attention with early singles such as “Love Is Pretty” and “Never Like This”, before breaking through regionally with the five-track Seed EP and its sleeper hit, “Forever”—a song that charted across West Africa and earned a remix with Omah Lay.
Born into a musical family as the daughter of Highlife star, Nana Acheampong, she balanced her studies at KNUST while steadily building a reputation for warm, melody-driven Afro-R&B and incisive songwriting that fuses Highlife, Afro-Fusion, and Alternative R&B textures.
Her early momentum secured international distribution and label support, most notably partnerships that placed her within the Sony/RCA family, while she continued to work with Flip The Music at home. Now, after several years of steady growth and a string of high-profile collaborations and playlist placements, Gyakie has released her debut full-length album, After Midnight, on 29 August 2025—a record that marks a defining next chapter in her evolution from breakout singer to fully-formed album artiste.
After Midnight opens with “Intro”, a ceremonial entry point that draws from Ashanti traditional percussion. Cinematic strings rise into a rapid wail, while tambourines and bass inject energy, grounding the piece with Hip Hop drums and rattling hi-hats. Soft ululations from Gyakie drift in the background before a trance-like group vocal locks into a hypnotic chant of, “We’re here, we’re here, we’re here, again”. The spell is abruptly broken by the sound of a morning alarm, ushering After Midnight proper into being.
“Fire on the Mountain” follows with simple strummed guitar chords, airy piano, Afroswing drums, and a gliding sub-bassline, crafting a spacious backdrop for Gyakie’s rapid-fire, semi-rapped Twi verses. These are tempered by softly sung English sections, as she laments the emptiness of lacklustre romances. Her phrasing makes the ache palpable: “One time when I gave love a taste / Why I go love when it’s tasteless … Roller coasting loving, I rebuke it for myself / If you want to love me, every single action for dey show”.
On “Damn U”, filtered synth plucks intertwine with Afro-Swing percussion, countermelodies, and a pulsing synth bass to form a moody frame. Gyakie’s delivery hovers between R&B and Afrobeats in tone, aching with unmet expectation. After Midnight’s first guest, 6lack, enters with his trademark laid-back R&B stylings, shadowed by Gyakie’s sweet ad-libs to create a duet that feels like a wounded conversation.
“Harmattan” shifts to brighter textures, with arpeggiated string plucks and syncopated Afrofusion drums, fattened by 808s and bass. Subtle strings and sudden horn stabs punctuate Gyakie’s spirited delivery, her almost rapped lines bursting with personality: “Make I defend your body like Alaba / Clearly I don dey craze for your matter / Make my body to bend like avatar / Cold just dey enter body like harmattan.” Shatta Wale’s energetic patois verse only doubles down on the song’s fire.
With “Y2K Luv”, Gyakie draws on her lineage, weaving a sped-up sample from her father, Nana Acheampong, into an instrumental built on flat shakers, plasticky guitar strums, DJ scratches, and ghostly backing vocals. The result is pure throwback—from the production to her melodic choices—evoking the essence of early 2000s R&B. Omar Sterling of R2Bees adds further nostalgic grit, amplifying the song’s playful charm.
“Sankofa”, After Midnight’s lead single, drapes itself in an emotive atmosphere of reversed piano chords and cinematic Afrobeats percussion. Gyakie moves fluidly between Twi and English, offering intimate lyrics: “Beginning to think I don’t need another lover / Found you today, I don’t wanna go back / I don’t want to be with a Casanova.” The chorus grows big and bold, with strings and plucks swelling as her voice belts, transforming the romantic confession into an anthemic plea.
The “After Midnight Interlude” softens everything into a lullaby. Jazzy, smooth piano chords roll gently as Gyakie sings in airy tones, with the warmth of a whisper: “Oh baby, I love you / I love you, Oh I love / Wherever you are, I wanna get close to you / All day long.” It is a delicate pause in the journey—an intimate transition into the record’s second half.
“I’m Not Taken” livens After Midnight back up with electric guitars layered over disco-kissed Afroswing drums and bright synths. The atmosphere is joyful, but Gyakie’s lyrics underline her stance clearly: “Until you make this right, until you ask me out / Until you want this now, baby I’m not taken.” Headie One’s verse enters with a narrative-driven rap, cushioned by her harmonies, before Gyakie soars through the chorus with bold, pop-leaning vocals.
With “No One”, sombre mallet chords, warm pads, and sparse percussion create an open, contemplative space. Gyakie reaches out to the listener directly, asking: “So look at yourself in the mirror / Do you like what you see? / Yes you do, no you don’t / Don’t say that … I’m asking for motivation / And it’s all in this song.” The track doubles as a self-affirmation anthem, subdued yet quietly uplifting.
“Breaking News” keeps the Afrobeats framework light, mixing atmospheric guitars, shakers, and subtle log drums. Gyakie asserts her claim in both Twi and English: “Breaking news / If anybody wants you, tell them you are fully taken / Embrace me, chest full for your little headache / I’ll be your comforter, say the least, come for a hug.” The delivery feels like an intimate announcement—spoken directly to her lover but overheard by us all.
“House Party” delivers some of the most energy across After Midnight, shifting gears entirely with Young Jonn’s production, infusing Street-Hop vitality into choppy chord stabs and pattering Afrobeats percussion. He sets the tone himself—“You know the night is young / And we’re famous and young / And I don’t really send nobody / I don’t care anymore”—before handing the baton to Gyakie, who blazes through her verse with rapid-fire Twi. Together, they ignite the chorus with log drums.
“Unconditional” imbues After Midnight with a touch of Amapiano while keeping an Afrobeats heart. Drums bang beneath a bed of pads, melodic strings, and guitar flourishes, with log drums thickening the groove. Gyakie’s voice rises into mantra-like simplicity: “It’s you and I for life / Come and give me love, you no for pay / Want make you dey my body, make I feel okay / This be unconditional, you no for pay me.” The repetition is hypnotic, as though she is willing the words into permanence.
On “Story”, bright strummed guitars and synth chords meet thumping kicks and log drums, with saxophone bursts lighting up the chorus. Gyakie beams through her lyrics, painting her love tale in vivid lines: “Send me the location I am coming / Nobody can make me this happy / You dey give me give me vibration / I’ll never leave you hanging.”
“Want It” takes After Midnight in a sultry direction, leaning into throwback R&B. Analogue bass, sweeping pads, and bright piano-synth chords meet old-school drum programming as Gyakie sings with a smooth ache: “Temptations all over, don’t waste any more time / I mean every word I say to you / Lean back and babe that’s all / I’m flattered by your touch / It’s action on your count / Do you want it?” Her whispered ad-libs and stacked harmonies heighten the intimacy, pulling the listener close.
“Party Galore” strips the groove back to rattling shakers, subdued percussion, and rhythm guitars. Sparse but textured, the track blooms with group vocals on the chorus—“Party today, party all day, special something / Tonight o, tonight o, tonight”—turning it into a communal sing-along. UK rapper Kojey Radical enters with a sensual verse, his tone grounding the airy celebration with a contrasting grit.
“Is It Worth It?” turns After Midnight inward. Gyakie frames her questions in plain terms—“Do you believe in the afterlife from here? / Do you believe we have somewhere to go? / From birth we grow to death, yeah / It’s casket after the toil”—before letting filtered key chords, subtle strings, and Afroswing drums guide her through. She leaves much of the questioning unresolved, making the song linger like an unfinished thought.
Finally, “Hallelujah” closes After Midnight with uplift. Gospel-styled group vocals sing praises over strummed guitars, syncopated percussion, and a thick bassline, merging Afrobeats rhythm with devotional tone. Gyakie encourages with simple, clear words: “Rome wasn’t built in a day / So pick up your tools and build right from scratch / Hmm if I did it, and if he did it, and if she did / Then you can do it too, yes you can do it too.” Sermon snippets weave into the outro, fading into softened instrumentals and leaving the listener in a glow of motivation and hope.
It might seem unusual that After Midnight is Gyakie’s debut album, considering how firmly she has been in the public eye for years. That speaks both to how well her early work was received and to how early she still is in her journey. This project arrives at a stage where she is not only finding her footing as a leading voice but also beginning her path as a producer, sharing credits across the tracklist. The duality of promise and rawness runs throughout the record, showing both how far she has come and how much space remains for growth.
Her songwriting carries much of the same spirit as her breakout, “Forever”. She has developed a stronger grasp of harmony and backing vocals, often stacking and layering them to create depth and richness. Yet the main melodic approach on After Midnight still leans on singular, straightforward lines, with rapid-fire Twi and drawn-out sung segments typically delivered in her comfortable lower register.
Her voice is strong and emotive, and when she does push into belts or higher notes, it becomes clear just how effective that range could be if used more frequently. Still, the simplicity of her lines is not a weakness in itself. The delivery is expressive, the choruses memorable, and the songs are always driven forward with conviction.
The production provides much of After Midnight’s colour, leaning primarily on Afroswing while allowing space for detours into Amapiano, R&B, and Afropop. These shifts in sound give Gyakie opportunities to vary her delivery and break any sense of monotony, while the engineering ensures her voice always feels polished, dreamy, and well-balanced. Her collaborations are well chosen, too, with featured artists bringing tonal contrasts that elevate the duets and sharpen the dynamics of the songs. Energy and texture are never in short supply, and she proves adept at creating those standout moments that listeners will return to as anchors.
Where she still falters is in her lyricism. The melodies are simple and the beats often spacious, leaving her words to carry the weight of meaning, but too often the ideas are broached rather than deeply explored. She writes with intention about love, life, and motivation, yet the phrasing can lean on clichés or surface-level images, and some rhyme schemes come across as clumsy or overly simplified. There is little of the storytelling depth, personal detail, or metaphorical sharpness that would elevate the songs beyond their mood.
Even so, After Midnight succeeds as an easy listen, full of cool grooves, calming beats, striking guest appearances, and flashes of resonance that remind listeners of Gyakie’s natural gift for connection. It is a project that highlights both her strengths and her current limitations, but more importantly, it points to her potential. With greater lyrical depth and a fuller embrace of her vocal range, she has every chance of stepping into the stardom that continues to beckon her.
Lyricism – 1.2
Tracklisting – 1.3
Sound Engineering – 1.5
Vocalisation – 1.4
Listening Experience – 1.4
Rating – 6.8/10
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.