Following a strong rise into stardom, two-time BRIT award (British equivalent of the Grammys) winner, David Omoregie, better known as Dave, comes out swinging, releasing his 4th studio album, The Boy Who Played the Harp. The album contains 10 songs, some featuring artists such as James Blake, Tems, Kano and Jim Legexacy. The rapper, after one and a half years with no songs, announced the album on October 1, 2025, and, with no rollout, released the album on October 24, 2025. This release has added to what has been a great year for hip-hop music.
Dave’s interest in music started at a very young age. According to Wikipedia, Dave’s spark for music appeared at 11 years old, after seeing one of his brothers rapping. At 14, he got a keyboard player for Christmas. His interest in music grew to where he decided to pursue a career in music full-time in college. He indulged in drill and trap music with his early albums, such as Game Over and PSYCHODRAMA, but branches out to pure melodic songs and ambient instrumentals in this collection of compositions.
In this album, the instrumentals shift between upbeat and emotional and nostalgic, and heart-wrenching on the ten songs. Dave touches on topics of lost love and self-healing. He also speaks on the more sensitive topics, like seeing injustice everywhere he travels and the trauma of people close to him. These subjects include family drama, people masking themselves online, and how, despite being wealthy and free, he feels broke and “caged.” This project goes deep into his personal life and past. It’s a story of healing in the form of music. The songs that talk about these topics the most are “My 27th Birthday” and “The Boy Who Played the Harp” where Dave does a 180 on the lyrical content where he speaks on his conflict in his life and involvement in music. Overall, while Dave’s lyrical content was always introspective and deep, this album seemed to put it all together.
In its first week, the album received high marks and broke some of his career records, tallying almost sixteen million streams and getting high ratings from across the world. It reached the top five on the UK charts and on numerous platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, and became the number one album in the UK. On social media, the album received high praise in its first week, with people pointing out its deep lyrical content. One fan noted that the album doesn’t include any commercial or mainstream elements like boasting about getting women or saying how much money he has. It’s just Dave “speaking directly to your soul and conscience.”
Tracklist:
- History (featuring James Blake)
- 175 Months
- No Weapons (Featuring Jim legxacy)
- Chapter 16 (Featuring Kano)
- Raindance (Featuring Tems)
- Selfish (Featuring James Blake)
- My 27th Birthday
- Marvellous
- Fairchild (With Nicole Blakk)
- The Boy Who Played The Harp
