Burna Boy, ahead of his Australian shows, spoke about the tour and his new album

Nigerian superstar Burna Boy is preparing for long-awaited performances in Australia and New Zealand, which will form part of his major 2025 world tour run. In an exclusive interview with Rolling Stone AU/NZ, the artist spoke about the release of the album No Sign of Weakness, the discipline of life on the road, and why staying connected to his roots and cultural heritage remains his main guiding principle in an era of global fame.

What to know about Burna Boy

Behind the stage name is Damini Ogulu, a Grammy winner and named to Rolling Stone’s “200 Greatest Singers of All Time” list (2023). His major-label debut Outside was released in 2018, and the albums that followed—African Giant, Love, Damini, and I Told Them…—turned the musician from a Nigerian star into a leading figure in the current Afrobeats wave on global charts. With each release, he has shown growing versatility as a vocalist, songwriter, and a cultural ambassador for an entire continent.

The African Giant turning point and the birth of a “movement”

Burna Boy considers 2019 the starting point. The release of African Giant changed not only the scale of the audience, but also the depth of the response to the music itself. “That’s when I understood that people weren’t just listening—they were seeing themselves in it. It became bigger than Burna Boy; it became a symbol of what could be,” the artist admits. He recalls how, in different cities around the world, he saw the same look: recognition, relief, a sense of belonging. “The message I heard again and again went like this: ‘Hold the door open.’ That’s when I understood what I had to do.” The music stopped being just music and became a movement.

Australia shows love “in full force”

The Australian leg of the tour holds a special place in Burna Boy’s schedule. He describes it as the perfect balance between “fiery” Europe and the upcoming North America. “Australia shows love in full force. There’s honesty in the crowd’s reaction—no half measures,” he notes. According to him, when the energy comes back from the audience with that kind of force, it becomes easy to go all out and take musical risks. That kind of exchange builds trust between the artist and the audience, and the sun, clean air, and new faces help him find “another gear” onstage.

What else he loves about Australia

Burna Boy says that Australia is a country that knows how to surprise you. Australians, in his eyes, are people who live life to the fullest. This applies to all aspects of life, including downtime. In Australia, travel, barbecues, and festivals are an important part of life.

Burna Boy is also surprised by how openly Australians relate to gambling. Online gambling platforms in the country are very popular—he learned this from people he worked with on organizing the tour. At the same time, Australians actively use online casino no deposit bonuses to try out new sites or games. The ability to make the most of every opportunity is the quality the rapper finds especially surprising.

He also admits that he really likes Australians’ ability to enjoy simple things. As his friends note, in Australia, nature itself teaches this.

Touring as a marathon and a new 2025 discipline

Behind the romance of global touring lies a punishing routine, which Burna Boy talks about with no sugarcoating. Sleep, recovery, hydration, routine, and the ability to switch off instantly the moment the stage lights go down. “A tour of this scale teaches a whole new level of discipline. It’s not just time onstage,” the musician emphasizes. Constant travel, he admits, brought unexpected clarity. Each city adds something new, the songs keep evolving in real time, and the journey itself becomes a source of stories.

No Sign of Weakness as the next chapter and a new approach to sound

Burna Boy sees his latest album as a rethinking of his own creative method. “The percussion still leads, the bass still speaks, the melodies still carry memory,” he describes the record’s foundation. However, it was restraint that became the main discovery. “I realized that silence can be more powerful than volume. On some tracks I said less and let the groove carry the weight; on others I wrote as if in a diary and let the drums step back to make room for the words.” An interest in textures—unexpected percussion over a clean low end, warm analog layers against crisp modern drums—is already pulling the artist toward the next chapter.

Collaborations and the principle of “growth without dilution”

No Sign of Weakness brought unexpected collaborations: Shaboozey, Travis Scott, Stromae, and Mick Jagger. That range of collaborators speaks to the breadth of Burna Boy’s interests, but he emphasizes one fundamental thing. “The world got closer, but we didn’t shift from our core to meet it. Growth without dilution—that’s the win.”

How he protects his inner balance

Protecting his inner balance has long been part of both the creative process and how he operates on tour. The tour and the studio, in his view, must coexist—feeding each other rather than pushing each other out. Staying focused is helped by a conscious choice: real life is no less important than life onstage or behind the mixing console.

Family as a compass—and his mother’s role

“Family is my compass, the community is my mirror. When it gets loud, those are the voices I trust,” says Burna Boy. His mother is both his manager and the voice that brings him back to himself when the noise of fame becomes deafening. “Port Harcourt made me, Lagos shaped me, the world introduced me. But home keeps me human.”

Legacy, the diaspora, and the power of recognition

Burna Boy’s influence on a new generation of African artists is already clear: musicians from different countries across the continent and the diaspora are increasingly finding themselves at the center of global attention. He himself thinks about legacy every day. “I want the catalog to read like a map: where we started, what we lived through, what we built, and how we carried home with us everywhere.” At concerts, he notices flags, families “across three generations,” people who don’t speak Yoruba or Pidgin but sing every word. “Emotion translates even when language doesn’t. I’ve seen people cry at the barricade, and two songs later they’re laughing. For me, it’s more than a show—it’s a reunion.”

“Growth without dilution—that’s the win”

Up next for Burna Boy is the continuation of the world tour: after Australia and New Zealand, the tour heads to North America. The artist is already talking about the “next chapter” and an album that will help him understand himself better than any previous one. The core, as before, remains his roots, culture, and a live dialogue with an audience that finds its own reflection in his music.

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