“Peru” by Fireboy DML & Ed Sheeran

For starters, this song doesn’t appear to have anything to do with Peru, i.e. the well-known South American country. Instead the phrase “Peru para”, which dominates the chorus, was derived from another track entitled 4U by ECool which actually features a vocalist known as Peruzzi or Peru for short. But apparently what the phrase “Peru para” is supposed to point to overall is something like the vocalist being out of control.

An idea has also been put forth that maybe what Fireboy DML is doing via the aforementioned phrase is encouraging the nation of Peru to dance. When you take the second verse of this song into consideration such a postulation is arguable though, all things considered, unlikely.

Indeed some confusion as to what specifically is going down is logical considering that the lyrics of Peru (Remix) are part pidgin English, part standard English and part Yoruba. This is one of those pieces where obviously enjoying the sound of the tune is meant to take precedence over what’s being said per se. In other words, trying to make too much sense out of what “Peru para” may be confusing since said “Peru” is an artist who isn’t even featured on this song. But obviously Fireboy DML is digging his style, which is why he borrowed Peruzzi’s name, so to speak.

That said, all of the big international Nigerian hits as of late, including Peru (Remix), have been romantic in nature. And in this case, we are once again treated to a vocalist(s) who is lavishing compliments onto the apple of his eye. But in the second verse, Fireboy takes a turn subject-wise by focusing more on his music career and how it has him doing his thing in different global locations such as Johannesburg, Miami and San Francisco.

Ed Sheeran

The third verse is held down by Ed Sheeran, who focuses more squarely on the romantic aspect of this song. That is to say that his extended passage is directed towards his significant other, whom he asserts being with is actually “heaven”. But there isn’t really anything outstanding or unconventional about Sheeran’s verse lyric-wise, besides for the fact that Ed, a straight-up Briton, drops a few lyrics in Yoruba. This is a language indigenous to West Africa and mostly spoken in Nigeria.

And by the looks of things, there are quite a few lyrics dropped in Yoruba. But unfortunately there doesn’t appear to be an official translation of such phrases readily available as of yet. But as stated earlier, this isn’t the type of song that one needs to actually understand every word anyway, as its thesis sentiment is clear, i.e. the vocalist being smitten by the addressee.

Ed Sheeran and Fireboy DML

Sheeran is someone whom readers are likely already familiar with. This is because since coming out during the aughts, he has established himself as one of the most successful musicians of the early 21^st century.

Meanwhile Fireboy, the main vocalist, is more of a new artist on the scene as of 2022. He’s actually a musician from Nigeria. His discography dates back to 2018. And whereas he has promptly proven to be a highly-decorated musician in his homeland, Fireboy became known internationally via this selfsame collaboration with Sheeran. This song is actually a remix to his song “Peru” that originally came out in mid-2021. 

Peru (Remix)

Peru (Remix) was officially released, via Nigeria-based YBNL Nation and US-based Empire Distribution, on 24 December 2021. As a side note, it has also been put forth that Sheeran is an artist whom DML looks up to. He actually even inspired Fireboy to pick up the acoustic guitar himself.

This song has proven to be a major success story, especially in the United Kingdom. In the UK, it topped the UK R&B Chart. Furthermore, it also charted in the top-10 on the UK Singles Chart proper. Outside of that it has charted in at least 10 other nations. Furthermore, it went on to be well received by the Peruvian government. Below are some of the countries, in which this song charted:

• Canada
• New Zealand
• France
• South Africa
• Switzerland
• Ireland
• Sweden
• Netherlands

Peru (Remix) also reached number one on a couple of other music listings, including the following:

• the Official Big Top 40 in the UK 
• the Billboard chart known as the Top Triller U.S. stateside

Reportedly it was Sheeran’s idea to participate on a reworking of Peru. Or as Ed explained, one of his people sent him the song to remix it.

According to Fireboy, Ed recorded a verse for this song before even contacting him officially for a collaboration.

This piece was written by the following:

• Fireboy DML
• Ed Sheeran
• Ivory Scott

The track’s producer is a Nigerian musician who goes by the name of Shizzi.