Mannywellz
Small Chops
Album · R&B/Soul · 2026 · Oulala Sounds
Unmistakably warm and earnest, Mannywellz’s Small Chops unfurls with the characteristic breeziness that has defined the singer’s career so far. On it, he bypasses the need for grandiose statements for a stripped-down, soul-lifting exploration of the sort of dreamy-eyed romance that epics are written about. “Please don’t look at me like that/Unless you want to leave here with a ring,” he sings on opener, “Do You.” “Holy Father/How could you make someone this fire?” he asks on “Holy Father,” before paying the ultimate compliment to a lover on “You Are from God.”
At several turns on the EP, Mannywellz goes to great lengths to capture the trade-offs that great romance requires. He’s up at 2 am trying to satisfy a lover’s needs on “Cry on You,” promising to cry with them if need be. It’s the sort of candid sensitivity that allows him to articulate—alongside Wale on “How It Feels”—what it’s like to fall in love or how enriching yearning can be, as on “Wow,” with Lekan. Even when he’s wearing his heart on his sleeve, as he is across most of Small Chops, Mannywellz knows how to get the ladies to the dance floor, as the dancehall-influenced “Zeze” was made to do.
Small Chops
Mannywellz
Unmistakably warm and earnest, Mannywellz’s Small Chops unfurls with the characteristic breeziness that has defined the singer’s career so far. On it, he bypasses the need for grandiose statements for a stripped-down, soul-lifting exploration of the sort of dreamy-eyed romance that epics are written about. “Please don’t look at me like that/Unless you want to leave here with a ring,” he sings on opener, “Do You.” “Holy Father/How could you make someone this fire?” he asks on “Holy Father,” before paying the ultimate compliment to a lover on “You Are from God.”
At several turns on the EP, Mannywellz goes to great lengths to capture the trade-offs that great romance requires. He’s up at 2 am trying to satisfy a lover’s needs on “Cry on You,” promising to cry with them if need be. It’s the sort of candid sensitivity that allows him to articulate—alongside Wale on “How It Feels”—what it’s like to fall in love or how enriching yearning can be, as on “Wow,” with Lekan. Even when he’s wearing his heart on his sleeve, as he is across most of Small Chops, Mannywellz knows how to get the ladies to the dance floor, as the dancehall-influenced “Zeze” was made to do.
