In the month of May, Money Badoo’s Porn$tar washed over me like a pink and orange sunset on a Friday night would, if it were a form of precipitation. With only 10 songs on her debut album, Money Badoo encapsulates a consistent feeling of confidence and appreciation for the feminine divinity within herself that she speaks on so frequently.
The entire body of work is the type of music I would use as a pick-me-up before any occasion that would demand my presence to be an alive and graceful one. Upon immersing myself in listening to this composition, I found myself having to restart each song over because I did not want to miss a single lyric.
Money Badoo aka Jade Alves’ vocals are a treat. Her voice is so silvery, sultry and smooth and so every song coupled with the hip-hop base of the instrumentals is a warm and sensual experience that makes you wish you knew the lyrics upon your first listen.
The intro, “K.R.E.A.M”, at first glance looks and serves as an erotic nod to the title of the album. However, after listening to the details of the song, we realize that the song is instead a demonstration of how the entire album is about more than an exploration of sexuality and instead, an exclusive introduction to who Money Badoo is a person and musician.
We also notice two major things worth mentioning, first that “K.R.E.A.M” stands for “kroon rules everything around me” and second, the mixture of organic sounds all come together to salute the country in which she resides, South Africa.
Following the intro of the album, we are exposed to some iconic features from the likes of lordkez in “g2g”, Rick Tyler in “47K$” and on one of my personal favourites Sliqe and Yanga in “100 DAY$”.
This composition succeeds in evoking many emotions towards one’s own life and self-image so that not only are we left looking within ourselves to find and accept desirability as our portion but mostly looking outward at how we can keep moving towards our goals, dreams and desires.
We see this in “Gone Girl” where she says: “Yeah, see me move, they tryin’/ I get money five ways/ My way or the highway/ On it any time or place/ Fashion come in cryin’/ Cruisin’, yeah, we wilidn’/ Post up in my city/ Only real ones with me”.
These lyrics, to me, sound like a list of short and valuable pieces of advice that Jade is relaying to her fans based on her own push to the top. She also conveys the same ambition and affirms the importance of pouring consistent effort into your niche in “100 DAY$” and “PI$TOL POP”.
Finally, when we near the end of the album with “cum 2 me” and “PORN$TAR”, we are whisked into a state that pleasantly heightens the listener’s awareness of the intimate and sexual aspects of themselves.
This ties the entire project together with a dazzling elaborate bow because we now understand that this composition was not necessarily dedicated to a sensual presentation of her music even though the project is titled PORN$TAR.
It is with this that we can better understand the weight and value of the album’s title which comes from an ill-intended jab that she received in 2019 stating that if the music didn’t work out then she could always become a stripper.
Giving her first project this name is a beautiful display of her determination to keep presenting herself in the ways she feels most committed to herself and her craft. This body of work is profound in sound, lyrics and message and is showing the masses that she is a force to be reckoned with.
Listen to PORN$TAR below and purchase it in other formats here.
Words by Kimberleigh Campher
