From Delta State, NigeriaRecommended if you like Omah Lay, Rema, XXXTentacion, Juice WRLDUp next Album Night out nowBorn and raised in Delta State and now based in Lagos, Strei is part of a new generation of Nigerian musicians turning away from Afropop’s extroverted certainties and towards something more inward-looking. His self-described “Afromood” sound retains the melodic instincts of contemporary Nigerian pop, but softens them into something more atmospheric and emotionally porous. There are traces of Omah Lay in his melancholic delivery, and of the late Juice WRLD in his confessional songwriting, but Strei’s music doesn’t feel like a mix of influences so much as a deliberate attempt to find emotional clarity.That quality comes into focus on his recent project, Night, a loose, quietly ambitious collection built around the idea of darkness as a zone of release rather than withdrawal. “At night, you can dance, you can laugh, you can express yourself, you can feel,” he toldthe Native, framing the project as a space where vulnerability becomes easier to inhabit. The standout Obobe captures that sensibility in miniature. Over featherlight percussion and a gently elastic rhythm, his voice drifts rather than insists, allowing the song to unfold with an unforced intimacy.There is no obvious push for virality here, and that restraint is part of what makes Strei compelling. He belongs to a growing cohort of Nigerian artists interested less in spectacle than in mood, using Afropop as a framework for subtler emotional expression. At a moment when the country’s mainstream continues to expand outward, Strei is making music that turns inward – and, in doing so, he is opening up a quietly distinctive path of his own. Mary ChineyThis week’s best new tracksA perfect debut … Imani Imani. Photograph: Instagram/imanimaniImani Imani – Come Together