Baby (Is It a Crime)
by Rema

Album: released as a single (2025)
Charted: 53
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In "Baby (Is It a Crime)" Rema oscillates between poetic seduction and streetwise bravado, singing in both Nigerian pidgin and Yoruba. One moment, he's all deep yearning; the next, he's casually name-dropping Birkin, because nothing says romance like a high-end Birkin bag.
  • When asked about the track by BBC Radio 1's Jack Saunders, Rema explained, "It's all about good vibes. It's all about love. I think it's important to keep the love vibration going on. There's so much happening in the world, and we just need someone who's always there with us."
  • Rema said he wrote the song alone in a room in Kenya – it was just him and a bottle of red wine. He wanted to sing about his experiences, so the track reflects on "the same collective scenario that every guy goes through, walking up to a girl, asking the girl out, trying to vibe with a girl, stuff like that."
  • The intro samples the chorus of Sade's 1985 confessional hit "Is It A Crime?," with bits of the sample heard throughout the song.
  • Producer P.Priime created the pulsating Afrobeat rhythm. His other credits include "Anoti" from Wizkid's Grammy-nominated album Made in Lagos and "Alone" recorded by Burna Boy for the soundtrack of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
  • The song's music video was directed by Salomé Gomis-Trezise and shot in London in January 2025.

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