GhanaWeb published a sharp critique of ROTTI's new single Two Planets on November 4, 2026, and the verdict is blunt: a banging instrumental wasted on a voice that refuses to meet it halfway.
The review, written by entertainment critic Zolla Nie, dissects the song written by Ahmed Olanrewaju Oladapo under the pen name Àròkọ. The track promises a cosmic love story in its opening line, e be like two planets, but according to GhanaWeb's review, it never leaves the ground.
What the song gets right
Give the writer credit where it is due. The pre-chorus moves. It follows the dancer, the heat, the lady who lights up the room, and then lands on the line that gives the whole lyric its pulse: Me wey I just settle, I be funny, no dey hate.
That is a man who has relaxed into contentment and sounds mildly surprised by it. In a song built for a picnic blanket and a loudspeaker, that single moment of honesty is the human centre. It is also, sadly, the only moment the song stops performing and starts feeling.
The title that never lands
Two bodies pulling at each other across space is a lovely image for a couple with obvious chemistry. The problem, as Nie points out, is that the lyrics never return to it. No orbit. No gravity. No distance to cross. The title shows up in line one and then the cosmos is left standing outside the party.
The chorus belongs to Monica, whom the narrator asks to dance like Shakira. That comparison is concrete, physical, and instantly legible. So it is puzzling that the very next line swaps it for a vague sexy diva. You do not trade a specific image for a generic one and come out ahead.
Àròkọ's pop culture shorthand
The pen name itself is doing clever work. Àrokò is speech through objects, a cowrie or a knotted cord saying what the mouth will not. Oladapo's objects come from pop culture, and they do the talking in this track.
Shakira stands for hips that obey nobody. Babylon, in the Rastafari sense of a corrupt system, makes you come from Babylon a compliment to a woman who owes the world nothing. The stallion is shorthand for confidence.
These shortcuts are fast and legible, which suits a song built for dancing. But Nie notes the trade-off: a cowrie once conveyed one precise message, while these phrases convey only a mood. They stay on the surface.
The Tunde Ednut pun
The most intriguing moment in the lyric is Mr Tunde no be ednut, answered by a muted ad-lib of God bless Africa. The pun on head nut reads as a nod to Tunde Ednut, the Nigerian blogger, influencer, entertainer and musician born Tunde Olaoluwa Adekunle, known for his blog and for songs such as Jingle Bell and Catching Cold. His Instagram account was deleted, then reinstated after fellow Nigerian stars rallied for its return.
If the reference is intended, it ties neatly into the second verse, where the street talking so much nonsense is the song's complaint about gossip. A narrator who shrugs off chatter while name-checking a man who trades in it makes for a tidy joke, even if it is a private one that most listeners will miss.
Where the writing slips
The second half of verse two loses discipline. Investor no too dey carry bag, but my p wan dey carry bag is innuendo engineered to win one laugh, and it has nothing left for the second listen.
That is the difference between a lyric that ages well and one that expires on first contact. Afrobeats is crowded with writers who can land a joke and still say something. This line only lands the joke.
The flat delivery problem
Then there is ROTTI himself, and here the review pulls no punches. His voice is flat and lackadaisical, and that is the song's biggest question mark.
The instrumental is banging, ideal for friends gathered outdoors with the volume high, and it asks for a singer who answers with energy. What it gets instead is a shrug. The vocal delivery is so laid-back it borders on indifference.
To be fair, the lyrics suit his nonchalant stance. He has decided not to chase after his lady and not to settle for hatred from anyone. But a decision to sound unbothered still requires the voice to show up for the beat.
Two forces that never meet
Here is the irony Nie lands best. The gap between a lively beat and a sleepy voice is, by accident, the closest the song comes to earning its title. Two forces share the same space and never quite meet.
A little more of Àròkọ's gift for the unsaid, and a singer willing to push against the groove, would have turned a pleasant picnic track into the cosmic love song the first line promised. Instead, as the review concludes, it is a loose, unfocused song that tries to win hearts and woefully fails at it.
For Ghana's growing audience for music criticism, reviews like this one matter. They hold songwriters to a higher bar than a danceable beat, and they remind our producers that a great instrumental deserves a vocal that matches its ambition.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is ROTTI's song Two Planets about?
According to GhanaWeb's review, the song is a loose, dancefloor-oriented love track written by Ahmed Olanrewaju Oladapo under the pen name Àròkọ. It opens with a cosmic comparison, e be like two planets, but never develops the metaphor beyond the first line.
Who wrote Two Planets?
The lyrics were written by Ahmed Olanrewaju Oladapo, who publishes under the name Àròkọ, a pen name referencing the traditional practice of conveying messages through objects such as cowrie shells and knotted cords.
What did critics say about ROTTI's vocal performance?
Zolla Nie's review for GhanaWeb, published on November 4, 2026, described ROTTI's delivery as flat and lackadaisical, arguing that the energetic instrumental demanded a more engaged vocal performance than the song received.