While live sets, gigs and festivals still remain out of the grasp of our deprived pandemic-suffering fingers, the past year has given many artists the opportunity to explore the many dimensions of their performance styles. One such musician is Nigerian producer IceBeatChillz, proving that his hit-making prowess is still very much intact even without the kinetic energy of his live shows, with his brand new live jam session.

The artist’s hip-shaking debut tune “Area” – featuring Jamaican legend Beenie Man – racked up streams last year with its anthemic Afro-Dancehall based sound, and his latest heat-inducing drop “Bad and Naughty” is certainly no different.

“I actually had the “Bad and Naughty” beat for several months, but I was sleeping one day and hearing this African percussive sound and flutes playing in my head with the melody, and when I woke up I went back to my old beat and started developing it,” explains IceBeatChillz. “But when the story came in, Terri started out by saying “Girl it’s past 2:30 and I don maya” which is Nigerian Pidgin English for saying that you’re drunk, basically. And anything can happen, you know? (laughs) So in his drunkenness, the guy wants this girl he doesn’t know to take control and take whatever she wants. But I love to love, so most of my music will still have a romantic element in it, so when me and my team started writing, my guy went as far as falling in love with a stranger “Make it right / Hold me tight / I put my trust in you / Only for you.””

For his live jam session, IceBeatChillz performs an impromptu atmospheric mash-up of the two tracks “Area” and “Bad and Naughty”, stripping back both songs with just the sparse nostalgic accompaniment of a keyboard.

“I was up at 4am in the studio with some of my guys, and I started playing the piano and singing Area live and solo for the first time,” the artist details. “I got a crazy amount of love on “Area” and “Bad and Naughty” when we released them, so I was just inspired to do a mashup with both of them. I had my friend, Kele, the guitarist in the background, come in and add a little soul to the session. I just felt it would be something sweet to try a new vibe with a live band type of feel.”

Watch the live jam session for “Area x Bad and Naughty”…