As the title of Tiwa Savage’s This One Is Personal suggests, the Queen of Afrobeats is in rare form across her fourth studio album. “It’s the most vulnerable I’ve ever been on a record,” Savage tells Apple Music. “Every single record resonates with an experience I’ve gone through. It took two years for me to do this record.” Though she recorded the project in various locations around the world, she limited features to just Skepta, taves, and James Fauntleroy, opting instead to give herself the space to reflect on love, heartbreak, and faith as she’s experienced it. “It was a very dark time for me, and it was very therapeutic too,” she says. Below, Savage explains just how This One Is Personal, taking us through the album track by track. “I’m Done” “This is one of those piano-led records, where it’s just piano and vocals. It was very important for me to open the project with this, just to set the tone and almost to get it out of the way. It was hard for me to record this, too, because every single line was personal. But ‘I’m Done’ is a ballad. It’s emotional.” “Angel Dust” “This song is about a toxic relationship. Angel dust is a drug, so in this song I’m talking about a relationship where I know I’m kind of addicted to the relationship, but it’s not necessarily good for me.” “You4Me” “This is probably one of the lighter records on the album. I love the sample of the Tamia record, ‘So Into You.’ It’s one of my favorite R&B records of all time. I wanted to lean into this genre a lot more; it was very important for me to do a sample because I love records that are sampled well. ‘You4Me’ is a great summer record, a girl fantasizing about a guy that she has feelings for.” “On the Low” “‘On the Low’ is about something that I’ve experienced where you are seeing someone, but you guys are keeping it on the low, for whatever reason—maybe two celebrities or two people that shouldn’t be together, but they found themselves together; being in a relationship that we kind of want to keep on the low, but I don’t know if I really want to, but I know that that’s the best thing. And I was happy to get Skepta on the record. I think this is the first time we’ve heard him rap in a more romantic way.” “Holding It Down” “‘Holding It Down’ is an experience or relationship, I would say, where you guys are together, but you don’t want to give yourself titles of boyfriend or girlfriend or couple—you are in a situationship. [This is] me saying that I’m not doing this for entertainment. I’m holding this down because there’s a lot of sexual chemistry between us.” “10%” “This was a real-life experience. I was in the studio recording and I got a call from someone that I was with at the time. He was like, ‘Yo, pull up, come through.’ And I literally stopped my session. I was feeling like a bad girl at that time—every girl has that person that can bring out that wild side of them—and I was basically just driving to this guy’s house and my phone was on 10%. I was just praying that my phone doesn’t die before I get there because I’ll have to call him when I’m downstairs. I didn’t have a charger or nothing in the car. So yeah, ‘10%’ is a fun, sexy record.” “Twisted” “One of the last songs I recorded on the project. My heartbreak from the first record, ‘I’m Done,’ was so bad, it left me in such a bad state that the next person I got with, my heart was hardened. I found myself even being toxic and being the same person that broke my heart to this [new] person. And this poor guy was accepting of everything, and I was just like, ‘Yo, this is twisted.’ But it was kind of like, ‘OK, I’ve been treated so bad and I’m just out here just being the toxic person.’” “Scared of Love” “It’s self-explanatory. I’m scared of love now. I feel like it’s just hard for me to give that part of me like I did before, because I got burnt. So, ‘Scared of Love’ is like, ‘Should I really be scared? But then when I’m with you, I’m not scared. When I’m with you, I feel like I can conquer the world—but then I’m also scared of that because of the power that we have together.’” “Pray No More” “The title kind of makes you think I’m saying ‘pray no more,’ which is contradictory to what the song is about. I’m a very spiritual person. I love God. I have fear of God, of Jesus Christ. I think it’s very important to always pray. But in the song, what I’m saying to the guy is, ‘You don’t have to pray for me anymore, you already have me. So you can pray to God for money or work or career, but when it comes to my heart and my loyalty and just me being there for you, me being your ride-or-die, you got me.’” “Addicted” “This song gives that ’80s vibe, the drums. It’s such a cool midtempo record. Again, it’s talking about being addicted to a love, being addicted to something that is not necessarily cool for you. It’s a follow-up for ‘On the Low.’ Being so addicted to something that you’re just like, ‘How long can I keep this a secret?’ Because eventually people are going to find out.” “This One Is Personal (Interlude)” “You know when you’re in love and it doesn’t work out, and then you go through that disbelief phase and you’re just like, ‘What? How can you do this to me? I’m that bitch. I’m that girl. You’re nothing without me.’ And your friends are also echoing like, ‘Yeah, girl, you don’t need him.’ This was my moment of trying to encourage myself and pick myself back up again.” “Will I Run Again?” “The song is basically like, ‘When will I learn my lesson? And how will I learn my lesson if I keep repeating the same [mistake]? And will I run again? Will I be able to fly again? Will I be able to get through this?’” “For One Night” “This song is talking about a situation where you found yourself having a one-night stand, but you don’t want it to be a one-night stand. You’re like, ‘Can we pretend this isn’t just for one night?’ But it is for one night. But in that moment, you’re telling yourself, ‘Can we just pretend like there’s nobody else in the world? Let’s just pretend like this isn’t just going to go away. This isn’t just for one night.’” “You’re Not the First (You’re Just the Worst)” “‘You’re not my first, you’re just the worst…’ Again, talking about the relationship, saying, ‘You’re not the first person to break my heart, you’re just the worst one and you’ve just done it in the worst way.’” “Change” “This is such a special record to me because I’m saying, ‘I want to change for you. Whatever is going to make you love me, I want to [do that].’ But people might think that I’m talking about a guy, but ultimately, I’m talking about God. Because after all was said and done, the only person I could run to was God. And I was just like, ‘Listen, God, I’m here now. I’m in this hole, I’m in this dark space. So many challenges—heartbreak, whatever it is, career—and what do I have to do? What do I have to change to reconcile with you, to come back into your love?’ Because God is the ultimate love and it’s just changing for God, who is truly love.”