FOCUS ALBUM

For Ali Yusuf—better known as Arrow Bwoy—his second album is an extended promise to his Ugandan mother to make her proud. But being Kenyan as well, the singer’s loyalties to the sound that raised him pop up all too frequently through Focus, the follow-up to 2019’s Hatua. Swahili intermittently intersperses with English and Nigerian pidgin and the “Digi Digi” hitmaker’s versatility triggers fireworks on “Bella”. On “Unconditional Love”, trumpets go gaga and drum solos layer Arrow Bwoy’s declaration of a love that passeth all understanding, with a laser focus that would make Cupid proud.