Kotrell Wants To Document Love

Rivers State has long been a forge for some of Nigeria’s most resilient musical exports, the home of high-octane Afro-fusion and artists who carry the grit of Rivers State in their cadence. It is no surprise, then, that Kotrell began his journey with this kinetic energy, rapping and dancing by the age of ten.

However, it was Ed Sheeran’s emergence that made him pivot to R&B and Soul. Watching Ed Sheeran perform with an acoustic guitar and woo the crowd, Kotrell wanted that. So, he started writing his own soulful songs in his room, taught himself to play the guitar, and, one day, decided to perform one of them. “The audience took turns telling him how the song made them feel,” he recalls. “When I used to rap and dance, the feedback would be, ‘Wow, I was so entertained.’ But with the soulful performance, it wasn’t about me. It was the fulfilment of making people feel something.”

Since then, Kotrell has dipped his toes into the R&B world with two EPs titled ‘Love is…’ and ‘Forever,’ released in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Still, he’s just starting, building on the acclaim that followed those projects with his debut album ‘And Everything In Between.’ While his popular song,“Now And Always,” established him as a premier balladeer of romance, ‘And Everything In Between’ sees Kotrell trading rose-tinted glasses for a mirror. He is not just singing about the “sweet madness” of falling; he is documenting love, heartbreak, healing and self-love.

“This project is the closing chapter of a story I first whispered into the world in 2023,” he explains  “Now, I return to it with a fuller heart and braver honesty. This time, I am not only singing about the sparks and the sweet madness of falling in love. I am telling the truth about what happens after the fireworks fade.”

One of the most striking moments in the project arrives on  “Deserve It,” a deconstruction of the manifestation of love in a decidedly Nigerian context. In Nigeria, there is a pervasive trope that love is only valid if it is endured through pain, and that “fighting” is the ultimate virtue. On “Deserve It,” Kotrell wants to dismantle that myth. “We have to acknowledge, accept, and constantly remind ourselves that we cannot truly say we know love if we do not first love ourselves,” he says. “Sometimes we become so focused on fighting for love from others and holding on to relationships that we fail to realise that letting go can be the very first act of self-love, and sometimes, that is the more important fight.”

By mapping the boundary between devotion and dependency, Kotrell also challenges the instant gratification that’s seeminly an intrinsic feature of modern dating. On “Love Me Slow,” he frames patience not as a delay, but as a litmus test for genuine interest, arguing for a return to empathy and patience.“If someone is genuinely interested in you, they will be patient because they believe you are worth waiting for,” he says. “I think we have to be intentional about showing empathy to the people we love. When we do that, we are better able to respect and honour each other’s timelines.”

Love does not exist without its heartaches, though, and on “Easy,” Kotrell and Amaeya detail the agony of a breakup, watching someone exhale while you are still suffocating. “After all of the things that we’ve been through, I carry you for head, and all of my shoulder/ My everything I been give you, You say you go ride for me now I’m a loner,” he sings. There’s pain and disbelief evident in his voice, and Amaeya’s response is sombre, her vocals sounding as if they were recorded through a veil of tears: “So hard to get back the day, If I could I’d be walking away, From the time and place we began, And make it easy for me too, But I’m holding on to lost patterns.”

When I ask Kotrell what he’d say to listeners who feel crazy for still caring when the other person seems unaffected. “It is completely valid to feel frustrated in a situation like that,” Kotrell says. “Love does not disappear the moment someone leaves. Healing takes time, and that is okay. The fact that it hurts is proof that your heart is capable of real love, and after healing, it will be able to love again.”

What makes ‘And Everything In Between’ especially resonant is the emotional safety it provides. It acknowledges that love brings out a childlike vulnerability and that everyone carries wounds that need dressing. “There’s no judgment for my scars,” Kotrell shares. “Safety in love is when two people intentionally create a space where each person feels seen, loved, and accepted exactly as they are, even while they are still growing,” he says. “It is found in the little things: the small compliments, thoughtful gestures, and quiet reassurances that remind you, ‘You can be vulnerable here’ and ‘You are safe here.’” 

There’s a grounded realism that refuses to be cynical. Even his definition of radical love is surprisingly simple. On “I Love You,” he insists on loving a person’s entirety, their mess, their history, their uncurated selves. While this may feel like an anomaly in an era of social media personas, for Kotrell, it is the baseline. “To be honest, I cannot fully speak on that because, from my own experience, it has never felt like a radical act,” he says. “The love I have grown up witnessing and the kind of love that inspires my music accepts a person fully, in all of their complexity. To me, that is what love is meant to be. I understand that not everyone has had the privilege of experiencing that, but I believe that is the way love ought to be.”

Kotrell’s music serves as a guide to slow down, feel the weight of your heart, and recognise that you are worthy of a love that doesn’t require you to disappear. For those still praying for that kind of connection, his advice is a reflection of the music itself: “Never settle because you feel pressured or afraid. The kind of love that is right for you exists, and you deserve nothing less.”

Listen to ‘Everything In Between’ here

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