Victony knows that the cost of success can be an unshakeable single-mindedness that borders on delirium. Across two EPs and an album, it’s that very resolve that lifted him from the squalor and dysfunction of life in Ojo to the pinnacle of Afropop. On this follow-up to 2024’s Stubborn, he pays homage to the grit that fuelled his blistering rise. “They don’t know where I come from/They no fit understand what I’m made of,” he sings on “Way Home”, a response to misguided social media chatter comparing him to his musical peers. If Stubborn was a forward-facing embrace of his change in station, Very Stubborn is its introspective accompaniment, Victony reflecting on survival guilt, emotional unavailability and the impulse to surrender to the perks of celebrity life. “Way too many girls I’m shuffling,” he admits on the Terry G-assisted “Tanko”. Victony’s brooding ruminations are delivered with an even-keeled disposition atop the spartan, orchestral instrumentation he favours across Very Stubborn. Due to the texture of his message, only a few guests ride along for the journey. Afrobeats icon Don Jazzy lends a verse about predestination and mettle on “E Go Be”, while Olamide joins dance-floor summons “Skido”. Still, the narrative of Very Stubborn is wholly Victony: Whether he’s trying to banish the memories of his early career struggles on “Gangsta Cry” or channelling the healing powers of gospel on “Amen”, the journey is what made him who he is.