I Have Come: A Well Timed Year Closer From Elfrida Onuora

By: Emmanuel Waziri Okoro

December is always a busy period for Nigerians, with the advent of Detty December, a lot of activities come up. From ravers and nightcrawlers, end of the year part, annual general meetings not forgetting the religious folks.

December is the period where they organize their open crusade, musical concerts  thanking God for an impactful year. The musicians are not left out of this, they organize events, some of them also release songs or albums to end the year. 

One of such is Elfrida Onuora’s new tune “I Have Come.” The song which is a mix of chant, singing and shout out provide a means for the artiste to give a superb account of herself. 

Just like expected, the song starts with a slew of chants with a thumping drum, synth and baseline colliding to form the bedrock of the production. The instrumental has Reggae music flow with the skittering drum almost overshadowing the vocals yet the mixing and mastering seem to have done the magic for the singer.

This song is simple to learn, the singing along, the vibe and the easy to remember lyrics make it a beautiful delight. In less than four minutes, the singer delivers his message of hope, comfort to the listeners, with copious help from the production.

Cheerfulness remains the dominant trait of this song. He softly sings, professing with authority what she wants, in a way, you don’t even notice as the time goes. At the last sixty seconds of the song, the back up singers are more pronounced as they enchos what she sings. The singer drops words in between as the song comes to an abrupt end.

“I Have Come,” has an R&B feeling, the intro of the song reminds the listeners of mid 2000s R&B yet it does not, it just shows the versatility of the singer, her ability to switch between ways as she navigates the sonic voyage. The back up singer on this song didn’t come up until after the sixty second mark, Elfrida Onuora deliberately shows off how brilliant she is. This shows her thoughtfulness and clarity of purpose. She expertly shows why she remains one of the most recognized gospel musicians around, tags like this are never given, you need to work for it.

Thematically, this song is a total submission to the will of God. She preaches these and more all through, her vocal range shows the different frame of emotions she was in while recording this song, at the early part of the song, she is excited, in the middle part, she is sombre,she regains the momentum towards the end of the song.

“I have come,” is a compelling way of ending the year, perhaps, the singer would release a fuller project next year. For the teeming fans who can’t do without her music, they might savour this compelling tune for now.