In this era where soundtracks can be so much more than mere background music and a film’s fictional artists can be nominated for MTV’s Video Music Awards, Nollywood’s musical films continue to feature characters who fall under two categories: “aspiring musicians” like Gangs of Lagos’ Pana/Ify and Chief Daddy’s comical Famzy/Femi Beecroft (who are ironically portrayed by real-life superstars Chike Osebuka and Folarin “Falz” Falana, respectively); or fictional artists who give stage presence, although we’re not entirely sure they are the ones performing. But on April 8th— just three days before its Netflix premiere—Chinaza “Naz” Onuzo’s A Lagos Love Story gave us something different with A Lagos Love Story Original Soundtrack: an album credited to fictional singer King Kator (Mike Afolarin), voiced by Afolarin himself and produced by Nosakhare “Impvlse” Abbe.
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Peaking at 20k monthly listeners on Spotify, with his standout track, “Settle Down”, racking up over 90k streams, and three more songs surpassing 20k plays, King Kator exists both on screen and on repeat. In an exclusive interview with What Kept Me Up, Afolarin and Impvlse share how they brought this Afrobeats superstar persona to life.
“Mr. Naz reached out to me last year, I think that was in July,” producer Impvlse, who had previously worked on Onuzo’s Family Gbese (2024), begins. “He said he was doing a movie and he needed songs. He already had the initial idea for ‘Bad As Fontain’ and two others, so he wrote the words. Mr. Naz knew what he needed in each scene. Mike, the other writers—Phanyu and Bash—and I just transformed them into lyrics in the studio.”
As Impvlse credits director Naz (also co-writer for the film alongside Ozzy Etomi) for his role in King Kator’s conception, discography direction, and the story as a whole, it becomes clear that none of these three things could have existed without the others. First, there’s the idea of Kator himself: an Afrobeats superstar with considerable street cred and a bookish past, who becomes entangled with event planner Promise Quest (Jemima Osunde), following a meet-cute (or two collisions) at a Lagos party.
As a business arrangement involving her new boss, Fadekemi Rhodes (Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman), and the wealthy Achike (IK Osakioduwa) forces Promise into the role of his concierge for the rest of the week, we get to know more about Kazeem “King Kator” Toriola through her eyes. But it’s his discography at the heart of the scenes.
There are eight tracks on King Kator’s album, including two radio edits. And each of them has its place. “We recorded ‘Bad As Fontain’, ‘Settle Down’, and ‘Wait For Me’ before principal photography,” says Impvlse, who also served as the film’s music designer. “They were big parts of the movie, so we needed them for the shoot. Like ‘Settle Down’, for instance. Kator wrote it after the kiss on Eko Hotel Road.” This is a pivotal song in the film, signalling the moment Kator feels he has fallen for Promise, and the fact that he sees her as someone he could settle down with. Then, things come full circle, when Promise later sings it with him on stage.
Similarly, “Bad As Fontain” marks a positive shift in the lovebirds’ originally antagonistic relationship, while “Wait for Me” sends a diss to Osakioduwa’s highhanded Achike in another scene. While the intentionality behind the songs is undeniable, the work Afolarin poured into embodying the musician—from recording in the booth to making content in character—is also commendable. “I’ve always wanted to try out music,” the actor confesses.
“There is a creative element I have for it that I’ve never really found a way to express. So, when I got the opportunity to play Kator, I was excited about it,” Afolarin continues. “From my perspective, it was pretty much a collaborative effort. Naz had already conceptualised everything, so when I got into the studio with everybody on the team, I was pretty comfortable. We just started creating melodies.”
Mike Afolarin is no stranger to such artistic pursuits. The actor, who portrayed a visual artist in his breakout role on Netflix Original series Far From Home (2022), is also a professional photographer with background knowledge in cinematography, a skill set that came in handy when it was time to shoot a music video as his King Kator persona.
“I have a deeper understanding of my interaction with the camera,” he explains. “So, I knew what type of lens was on. I knew how much of me they were seeing on the screen and where to tailor my performances. But basically, I just had fun. I think the team made it easy for me.” The ‘Bad As Fontain’ clip in question, which is also featured in the movie, currently has over 17k views on Inkblot Production’s YouTube channel. However, Afolarin takes things a step further with real-life appearances in the King Kator persona, like his own AKtivated Session on the Afrobeats-focused AKtivated TV, which now has over 24k views.
“Mike is a natural,” Impvlse confirms. “I’ve worked with some real artistes that would have found it hard to assimilate the way he did. He made the recording process quite easy for me as well, because that natural vibe was there from the first time we met in the studio. And yo! This was the part that even burst my head, on ‘Bad As Fontain’ when Mike recorded, Impvlse on the beat, when you are bad, you are bad, that was all him. I just told him to go into the booth and record, and he did that. When he came out, I was like men!”
“Yeah, we were trying to figure out how to make the chorus catchy and make it something that everybody will remember,” chimes in Afolarin, who is also a listed composer for the original songs. “Some additional writing had to be done since I wanted the lyrics to sound more authentic, more like an actual Afrobeats song from a street artist, which Kator really is. So, I just thought, why not give a shout-out to the producer—you know, the person on the beat—because most times, people don’t know who the producer is. I added Impvlse’s name to a part of the chorus you can’t take out of the song so that everybody will know who produced it.”
The actor repeats some version of this shout-out on every single track, sometimes extending to other members of the team—particularly singer-songwriter Fanyu Oluwaseun Owatemi (A.K.A. Phanyu), Man Like Bash, and Shody—in some way. Even fictional characters like Kator’s friend, Sheggz/Shege Baba (Kunle Oshodi-Glover), and his producer, D.J. Romeo (Shamz Garuba), were not left out. “For me, it’s not just about one person doing everything,” he clarifies. “So, I had to find creative ways to input the other people on the team.”
Impvlse echoes this particular sentiment with a tale of how Phanyu, his frequent collaborator and a vocalist on the album, also contributed to ‘Settle Down’. “It was supposed to be a rap, but we played the instrumental, and the next thing we heard, Phanyu was coming up with, I was on my own, I dey my dey. I was like, ‘Bro, how far? That’s a totally different vibe,’ but we finished the song and it was amazing.”
“It was a really fun process,” Afolarin agrees, “especially because we wanted different energies on different songs. So, we took inspiration from a bunch of real-life artists. “For ‘Bad As Fontain’, where Kator is being a street guy, we wanted something like a Shalipoppi vibe. Asake was the template for ‘Settle Down’, where he’s being a lover boy. But I channeled the best Olamide I could into ‘Wait For Me’, where Kator is being very braggadocious and very himself.” With a smile, the performer admits that this specific track is closer to the brand of music he himself would vibe to on a regular basis. “I mean, that opening line, You think I give a shit about your bitch?”
Afolarin further explains how every song on A Lagos Love Story Original Soundtrack allowed him to explore not only the different sides of his Afrobeats singer persona but also his own acting range. “It’s always a pleasure doing multiple characters that have different looks instead of doing the same thing throughout my career,” he says, and his hunger for personal growth becomes vivid. In this regard, producer Impvlse is no different.
In fact, the record-maker admits that this potential for growth is one of the things that first drew him to the film’s concept. “I was really excited to work on this film. Like, I knew it was something I’d be really proud of.” Despite working on films like There is Something Wrong With the Bamideles (2022) and 3 Working Days (2024), as well as producing for several recording artists—including himself—A Lagos Love Story is one of Impvlse’s most extensive projects yet.
“Now, I hear a lot of people say that apart from the story, they really enjoyed the songs. People tell me things like, ‘Bro, ‘Wait For Me’ is my jam,’” he shares. “In fact, whenever I ask anybody for their favourite, it is mostly between ‘Bad As Fontain’ and ‘Wait For Me’. Interestingly, mine is ‘All Hail The King’. But basically, the music—this phenomenon—is why the film stands out.” And, in hindsight, there are clear Easter Eggs that hint at A Lagos Love Story’s musical identity.
For example, the title itself (which is apt for a rom-com that completely unfolds in the city of Lagos) is a deliberate nod to Ayra Starr’s 2021 hit single of the same name, which runs over the scenes at several points. Then, from certain angles, A Lagos Love Story bears a striking resemblance to the long-running A Cinderella Story films; an American musical series that almost always features a female lead on a quest to prove herself, a richer and much “cooler” guy who basically has the life she has always dreamed of (or, in Promise’s case, the financial freedom she wants), and quite a few songs, including a plot-defining track or duet that brings their love story together in the end (here, that song is “Settle Down”). For Walt Disney fans especially, this storytelling format is a tale as old as time.
So, while the love story between Kator and Promise doesn’t always click for some critics, the deliberate crafting of Afolarin’s Kator is a rather nostalgic pull for long-time fans of this narrative style. For us, this is where Onuzo’s A Lagos Love Story truly begins to shine. But there’s something else. By marketing A Lagos Love Story Original Soundtrack as King Kator’s real-life debut album, the filmmakers have managed to carve the Afrobeats character’s name into the trending list of fictional performers who have effectively broken the fourth wall in the digital music space.
Willamette Stone from R.J. Cutler’s If I Stay (2014), August Moon from Michael Showalter’s The Idea of You (2024), and the more recent record-breaking Huntrix and Saja Boys from Maggie Kang’s Netflix smash-hit Kpop Demon Hunters (2025) are some of the most memorable personas who have made this virtual leap from screen to stream in the international film space. While Huntrix continues to top the charts, with their platinum record “Golden” earning them a Song of the Summer nomination at the recent VMAs, back here in Nollywood, Afolarin and Impvlse remain open to building more with King Kator’s brand.
“I think King Kator as an artist would actually be a hit because he has a great vibe. I mean, just watching him on stage with the way he carried people along and how the crowd sang along. If he were a real artist, I’d definitely go to his concert,” Afolarin declares.
“The energy will be mad,” his producer adds in agreement, and they promise to sort out the details of a potential musical comeback for the Afrobeats persona. But as things stand, King Kator’s existing songs continue to accumulate more digital plays, making a bold example of the untold potential of a Nollywood soundtrack album where the film’s fictional artist is given real-life opportunities.
A Lagos Love Story Original Soundtrack is currently streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. The film, A Lagos Love Story, is still available on Netflix and Prime Video in some regions.
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