Akwaboah – Cuddle (ft. Lyrical Joe)

Track nine of an eleven-song project is often where an artist settles into his stride, and Akwaboah Cuddle, featuring Lyrical Joe, sits in exactly that place on the new album Spirit. The song came out on 11 November 2026 as part of the full project, and the audio slide is now on Akwaboah’s official YouTube channel.

Spirit is the fifth musical project from the Ghanaian highlife singer. It runs to eleven tracks, and Cuddle is the ninth, placed between Trust Me and Work Before You Marry. The release is under the Akwaboah Music label.

The YouTube upload for the song went up on 13 November, two days after the album itself. It is an audio slide, which means listeners get the record with a still visual rather than a full music video. For fans who simply want to stream the Akwaboah Cuddle audio and let it play through, that suits the moment well.

Lyrical Joe is the guest on this one. His name sits beside Akwaboah’s on the track as a featured artist, and the pairing adds another voice to a project that leans heavily on collaboration. Fans looking for new music from Akwaboah will find Cuddle sits comfortably among the other tracks on the album.

The rollout of Spirit has been quick. Within three days, the singer put several of the album’s tracks on his YouTube channel, and the audio for Cuddle is the latest of them. Anyone who has been following the run will recognise the pattern, with one record after another landing in short order rather than a slow drip over months.

Spirit and the Akwaboah Cuddle moment in his wider run

The album opens with the song Spirit, featuring Minister OJ, and that video went up on 11 November. Man No Be God and Mmoa, the latter with Fameye, followed on the same day. Me Pe, a collaboration with Wendy Shay, arrived the same day too.

On 12 November came Lonely with Efya and Slow Down, both as audio slides. Our earlier posts cover them, including Akwaboah – Slow Down, which gives a good sense of the quieter, more reflective side of this project. Cuddle is the next piece of the album to get its own upload.

The full track list gives a clear picture of how Spirit is built. It runs: Spirit (feat. Minister OJ), Man No Be God, Mmoa (feat. Fameye), Me Pe (feat. Wendy Shay), Slow Down, Lonely (feat. Efya), Officially Yours (feat. Cina Soul), Trust Me, Cuddle (feat. Lyrical Joe), Work Before You Marry and Odo Ankasa (feat. Kwesi Arthur).

Seven featured artistes appear across the project, and Lyrical Joe is one of them. The others are Minister OJ, Fameye, Wendy Shay, Efya, Cina Soul and Kwesi Arthur. It is a wide mix of voices from across Ghana’s music industry, and it says something about the ambition behind the album that so many of them were brought in.

Listen to the order and a shape appears. Officially Yours with Cina Soul and Trust Me lead into Cuddle, and after it come Work Before You Marry and the closer Odo Ankasa, which features Kwesi Arthur. Cuddle therefore sits in the last third of the album, where the guest slots keep coming.

Spirit is also a personal record. It is a tribute to the musical legacy of Akwaboah’s father and grandfather, and to the authentic highlife tradition they helped establish. That gives the project a family dimension. For a Ghanaian audience that grew up with highlife in the house, at funerals, at weddings and on the radio, that link to the older generation carries real meaning.

The album is also an intimate reflection of an artist at a crossroads. He is seeking purpose and asking a higher authority for direction. Songs such as Man No Be God and Trust Me sit naturally within that frame, and the opening track Spirit puts the idea front and centre.

On the music, Spirit blends authentic highlife influences with contemporary Ghanaian sounds. That balance is the point of the project. The older guitar-led tradition is honoured, but the guest list and the production keep the songs in step with what is being played in Ghana today.

That context is what makes Cuddle worth a close listen. A feature in the ninth slot lets a collaboration breathe after the more reflective songs that come before it. It also gives Lyrical Joe room to share the spotlight with an artist whose album is built on legacy.

For Akwaboah, this is a significant moment. A fifth project is a milestone for any artist, and the decision to root it in family history shows a musician looking both backwards and forwards at the same time. The pace of the release, with song after song reaching YouTube, also keeps the conversation around the album alive from one day to the next.

Where highlife is concerned, Ghanaian listeners are rarely shy about their opinions. They know what a proper highlife record sounds like, and they will have views on how Spirit carries the tradition. That conversation is part of the fun, and a record like Akwaboah Cuddle gives people plenty to talk about.

You can watch the audio slide for Akwaboah Cuddle on the singer’s official YouTube channel. The full Spirit album is available to stream on Apple Music and Spotify, where you can play the project from the top and hear where track nine fits.

Tell us in the comments what you make of Akwaboah and Lyrical Joe together, and which song on Spirit is your favourite so far. Share this post with a friend who loves highlife.

Watch the official video for Cuddle below.

Stream Cuddle on Apple Music.

Listen on Apple Music

Video and artwork: Akwaboah ft. Lyrical Joe (official release).