Joy radiates from every aspect of legendary Beninoise performer Angélique Kidjo’s newest release. It is, firstly, visible on the cover, on which a luminous Kidjo grins, eyes shut in serenity and hands clenched beside her face in an expression of anticipation. Wrapped around her silhouette are her name and the album’s title, stylized in bright, bold capital letters: HOPE!! Even more vivid are the sonic interpretations of happiness that fill the album. Kidjo‘s spirits are remarkably high for 2026, and the record is ebullient against all odds. If anyone can pull it off, of course, it’s irrepressible icon Angélique Kidjo, who faces the trials of the world and sings through them.
Indeed, for how much metaphorical soaring she does throughout Hope!!, Kidjo starts the album on a grounded note. “Bando” features Pharrell and Quavo, who sing alongside Kidjo as she asserts survival even as she notes in her refrain that “sometimes, the bad guys win”. Pharrell returns on “No Stopping Us”, a song touting collective strength against an abundance of unjust systems: “We get together, nothing’s stopping us / They’re gonna learn it when they’re blocking us”.
Around the record’s midpoint, “You Can” is a gentle admission of personal and societal imperfection that seems to be from mother to child, the former encouraging the latter to take on the mantle of working for what seems impossible: “I’m so sorry, you deserve much better / Than this world you were born into / I’ve been fighting a real good fight to get us together / I hope you do better than I could do.”
Even under the weight of the responsibilities of which Kidjo sings, she does not seem close to giving up. Her pan-African and diasporic circle of musical friends bolsters her messages. With young Nigerian highlife band the Cavemen lending an energetic low end, Kidjo declares herself “too hot to handle” in compelling “I’m on Fire”. Longstanding South African ensemble Soweto Gospel Choir brings brilliant harmonies to “Sunlight to My Soul”.
Gap Band lead vocalist Charlie Wilson backs her on sunny “For Me”. The album nears a close with a statement of purpose (“Just let it flow / My brother, take it easy”) on “Nadi Balance”, featuring the Cavemen, Congolese rumba star and sultry vocalist Fally Ipupa, and Kokoroko trumpeter Sheila Maurice-Grey. The final track is a solemn orchestral cover of the famed Swahili love song “Malaïka”, which Kidjo notes was a favourite of her departed mother.
Kidjo’s commitment to spreading happiness and empowerment around the world, especially to those who are disenfranchised, is admirable. Even so, it does not always come across as the most innovative or effective way to take action. “Joy” has a melody that sounds like synthesized stock commercial music. “Big Heart” features the line “when they go low / I go high”, a philosophy that has been much critiqued for its ineffectiveness in political contexts.
However, Kidjo means it. Her sincerity, as demonstrated by decades of music and social activism, is irreproachable. She fights the fires of hate with the fires of love. Hope is a crucial thing in times of crisis. HOPE!! is Kidjo wholeheartedly believing in it.