Ak and Ej Odjighoro of twin duo KAIRO take us track-by-track through their bold, breathtaking debut album ‘ARE WE THERE YET?’ – a defining musical statement that is as soulful and seductive as it is truly, undeniably beautiful.
Stream: “BRAND NEW” – KAIRO
The vision for this record was to tell our story as immigrants, as Black men in America, and as young men experiencing the world.
As sleek and seductive as it is bold, brash, and truly beautiful, KAIRO’s debut album is an undeniable triumph from two brothers actively – and unapologetically – making their own mark in the alt-pop music world.
Intimate and vulnerable, emphatic and assertive, ARE WE THERE YET? hits hard and leaves a lasting impression through dramatic sonics and stunning vocal performances soaked in rich harmony and raw emotion. It’s an immersive, charged, and charming collection that brings its audience deep into the duo’s world as they spill the contents of their souls in song.
It’ll all be okay in the end
What you crying for?
Boy, don’t cry no more
This is just how the story begins
Before you go
Take a look around
Remember all the ways you’re feeling
They’ll be better days and healing
Soon it’s all gon’ change
Soon you’ll learn to believe it
Takes a little time to see it
Yeah you’re on your way
If you could wait for it
Keep going straight for it
You’ll see light
Let it set you free…
– “FRONT LINES,” KAIRO
Released November 13th, 2024 via Def Jam, ARE WE THERE YET? is a defining statement of arrival and intent from KAIRO.
Active (in one way or another) for the better part of the past five years, the genre-bending duo of Nigeria-born, Houston-raised, and Los Angeles-based identical brothers Ej and Ak Odjighoro have been capturing ears and hearts through their achingly expressive and equally catchy performances full of raw passion and breathtaking energy.
Atwood Magazine previously praised KAIRO’s 2022 debut EP Love Letters From Houston as “a sun-kissed record brimming with sweet n’ soulful acoustic pop and the enduring power of love,” going on to emphasize their lasting impact on the listener:
“Every now and then, an artist comes around with music so beautifully buoyant and effortlessly uplifting that it renews our faith in life and love. It’s hard to be cynical when listening to KAIRO’s debut EP; simply put, the Nigerian-born twins give us too many reasons to smile, to look up, and to see the good all around us.”
Two years after the double-helping of Love Letters From Houston and its follow-up EP, Return to Sender (released November 2022), KAIRO’s first full-length album showcases the Odjighoro brothers’ vocal, lyrical, and melodic talents with a more full-bodied, instrumentally rich, and fully produced sound. It’s an electrifying evolution for the pair, and one that stays true to their core artistic identity while further building out who they are what they’re capable of.
And to put it simply, they’re capable of a LOT.
“Our debut album is the culmination of years’ worth of writing, working, and growing as artists,” KAIRO tell Atwood Magazine. “It’s the story of our lives – both as young Nigerian immigrants kids coming to America, as young men experiencing all the love and heartbreak, and as two brothers working together pursuing their shared dream. The title ‘ARE WE THERE YET?’ served as a throughline between all these things – asking ourselves, ‘We graduated college and were able to make music our full time jobs. Are we there yet? We’ve made an album we are so proud of. Are we there yet?’… asking our parents, ‘Are we there yet? Were all your sacrifices worth it. Did we make you proud?’”
“The vision for this record was to tell our story as immigrants, as Black men in America, and as young men experiencing the world,” the brothers continue. “We wanted to tell our story with sonic elevation from our previous two EPs, and we think we did that. And, if we’re being super honest, we wanted every song to sound like a ‘single.’ 13 songs, 13 chances to bring people to the table!”
KAIRO candidly describe ARE WE THERE YET? as fresh, energetic, and unpredictable. The title, they further explain, has been with them now for over two years, and captures a they’ve been asking themselves often, “Have we made it? Are we accomplishing our goals? Are we there yet, and what’s next? And now it’s a rhetorical question to the listener. After you listen, you now know that KAIRO is here to stay.”
It’s the story of our lives – both as young Nigerian immigrants kids coming to America, as young men experiencing all the love and heartbreak, and as two brothers working together pursuing their shared dream.
This record also serves as a definitive longform introduction to the duo – a mission statement that goes well beyond the music and lyrics in their two EPs, which have a combined half hour in length.
“ARE WE THERE YET? is the full embodiment of KAIRO,” the duo explain. “It is the purest version of ourselves encapsulated in one album. It blends genres and blurs the lines between pop, alternative, and R&B, but we still hold firm in our roots of melodies and harmonies in every track.”
Highlights abound on the journey from the album’s cinematic, scene-setting opener “FRONT LINES” to the lush, dreamy, and emotionally tender finale, “MAMA” – a heartfelt musical letter of love and appreciation to the Odjighoro brothers’ mother.
Between these two brilliant bookends lies a seductive smorgasbord of undeniable talent distributed between smoldering, soul-stirring R&B-soaked reveries and radiant, rock-fueled fever dreams.
Lead single “BRAND NEW” remains a standout on the record, both for the track’s white-hot, intoxicating energy, as well as its lyrical and emotional substance – unpacking racial identity from multiple perspectives:
First question your parents asked
“is he black or white?”
Prob’ly hard to digest to they appetite
Knowing damn well they prayin’
that you answer “right”
Never seein’ eye to eye
askin’ questions like
“Do they sing, do they rap?”
Yeah we do a lil’ both
“Where they from, where they at?”
From LA to the ‘Gos
“Where is that on a map?”
Do they really wanna know?
Everybody raise a glass
and get ready for the toast
Everybody see me in the room
Whatcha wanna do
What’s your next move
Seem like everybody tryna play it cool
Whatcha wanna do
You actin’ brand new
– “BRAND NEW,” KAIRO
“‘BRAND NEW’ is inspired by a relationship I was in – my then-girlfriend’s parents, to put it frankly, didn’t approve of me because of my race,” Ak tells Atwood Magazine. “We started our debut album era with this song because the story is an underlying theme of the entire album; as Black artists – as Black individuals – we will always have to work ten times harder, especially in the alternative/pop space that hasn’t always been the most welcoming to guys that look like us. We’ve got work to do.”
“BRAND NEW” is in good company across ARE WE THERE YET? – from the rip-roaring “ANYBODY HOME?” and its story of the brothers’ immigration to America from Nigeria, and their goals of being a disruptive force in the alt-pop space, to the sweaty, feel-good, saxophone-laced “BREAK BREAD” and its exploration of family, relationships, and Nigerian culture, KAIRO hold nothing back in sharing their true, unfiltered selves in song – such that, even if a listener can’t relate to a specific aspect of the brothers’ lived experiences, they can still connect with them on an emotional, visceral, and human-to-human level.
“My favorite song off the record would have to be ‘EVERYTHING YOU WANTED’ because a deeply personal anecdote inspired it, and the when we finally finished it, I felt the production unlocked something in us,” Ak says on the topic of favorite tracks. Pulling elements from R&B and soul, trap, hyperpop, and more, “EVERYTHING YOU WANTED” aches from the inside out from the moment it begins and Ak sings, “Heartbreak doesn’t feel great when you’re sitting back home throwing dirt on my name.”
Meanwhile, Ej cites the beautifully ambient and ethereal breakup song “HANDLEBARS” – another brutal, intimately emotional inner reckoning – as his favorite. “That song is very personal for me,” he offers. “It was actually one of the last songs we wrote for this album. The album was basically done before this, but this one came out of us so easily that we had to honor that and make sure it had its place on this album.”
The brothers agree that their favorite lyrics come in “HEAVEN,” the delicate and vulnerable confessional that directly follows “HANDLEBARS” and acts as a follow-up to that song: “But I don’t wanna die a sinner, because I spent all my prayers on you.”
“After questioning a breakup, there’s this feeling of realizing you may want your person back, which is why we placed it on the tracklisting here,” the pair add. “To the point where you would even sacrifice them being with someone else… if they would just keep a bit of you everywhere they go.”
“We aspire for listeners to connect deeply with our music, experiencing emotions they may have always felt but may not have been able to articulate,” KAIRO share. “Our favorite music always serves as a mirror to us, and we hope that ARE WE THERE YET? can do the same to a whole new generation. This album is crafted for the kids who embrace diverse genres and value authentic artists who share uniquely specific stories. KAIRO aims to be that artist for them.”
Experience the full record via our below stream, and peek inside KAIRO’s ARE WE THERE YET? with Atwood Magazine as Ak and Ej Odjighoro take us track-by-track through the music and lyrics of their debut album!
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:: stream/purchase ARE WE THERE YET? here ::
:: connect with KAIRO here ::
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‘ARE WE THERE YET?’ – KAIRO
:: Inside ARE WE THERE YET? ::
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FRONTLINES
“FRONTLINES” is the introduction to our debut album ARE WE THERE YET? and a reintroduction to KAIRO, both in our music and in our storytelling. The album opens with sounds of kids playing in the park, which we specifically chose because it reminded us of our childhood and some of earliest memories of our parents. We come full circle and end the album with “MAMA.” It’s a reminder to ourselves that through every hardship, there’s always a way out to the other side. And that self belief comes from our family and how they raised us.
ANYBODY HOME
“ANYBODY HOME?” tells the story of how we immigrated to America from Nigeria and our vision in being a disruptor in alternative pop. You haven’t seen or heard anything like this before – so we wanted to bring this energy of “Here we are…listen up!”
BRAND NEW
“BRAND NEW” is inspired by a relationship I [Ak] was in – my then-girlfriend’s parents, to put it frankly, didn’t approve of me because of my race. We started our debut album era with this song because the story is an underlying theme of the entire album; as black artists – as black individuals – we will always have to work ten times harder, especially in the alternative/pop space that hasn’t always been the most welcoming to guys that look like us. We’ve got work to do.
SPECIAL
“SPECIAL” is about that new relationship that you jump into, but quickly realize post-butterflies that the person doesn’t deserve you, doesn’t respect your boundaries, and it drives you crazy!
PLANS
“PLANS” is about wanting someone so badly you kind of lose yourself in them. You sort of romanticize your future together before building the actual foundation it takes to get there.
HANDLEBARS
Honestly, “HANDLEBARS” is the true definition of a breakup song. It’s perhaps the emotional standout moment off our album. The questions you ask yourself, the questions you wish you could ask, and the thoughts that cycle through your head. It’s acknowledging that sometimes you have to just take your hands off the steering wheel and trust the process for what it is. Sometimes it doesn’t pay off, but we’re all hoping for the one time it does.
HEAVEN
“HEAVEN” is a follow-up to “HANDLEBARS” – after questioning a breakup, there’s this feeling of realizing you may want your person back, which is why we placed it on the tracklisting here. To the point where you would even sacrifice them being with someone else…if they would just keep a bit of you everywhere they go.
EVERYTHING YOU WANTED
“EVERYTHING YOU WANTED” turns that hurt and pain from a lost love into something that propels you forward. You begin to understand the reasons why parting ways was better for you both in the long run.
ALL I EVER WANTED
“ALL I EVER WANTED” represents the pendulum of feelings that happen when you are no longer with someone you loved. In one moment you are excited about the future you could’ve shared and in another moment you are reminiscing on the life you once shared.
BREAK BREAD
“BREAK BREAD” explores the idea of family and our Nigerian culture being at the center of our lives — truly the rock of who we really are. We’ve been in relationships where they maybe don’t respect nor care to learn the special relationship we have with our family. It’s a reminder that you need to be authentic in any new relationship that you find yourself in.
WONDER WHY
“WONDER WHY” was one of the first songs we wrote for the album. We wrote it at a time when we were both in new relationships and were also getting record deal offers, which is just a wild time to be getting to know another person. We quickly realized you gotta watch out for the true intentions of people you let into your life.
BACK FOR YA
“BACK FOR YA” was written about our experience of moving from Houston to Los Angeles and dealing with some of the struggles that come with that. Two totally different cities with two totally different energy. We wrote it as a reminder to ourselves that we will always call both places home because of the way they developed us into the men we are today. No matter where we are in the world, we will always come back home.
MAMA
“MAMA” is a letter to our Mom. We would not be anything without her supporting us in the most loving and caring way. She has seen her boys grow into young men with confidence in the gifts that she blessed us with, and it’s our duty to pay our respect and make her proud in this life, and we want her to know that.
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:: stream/purchase ARE WE THERE YET? here ::
:: connect with KAIRO here ::
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© Léo Joubert
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