Former professional footballer and Afrobeats artist ELIKIA has released ‘Baller’, drawing on his experience in the game for the second single in his current album campaign. Following September’s ‘Formula’, the track arrives ahead of his debut album First Of A Kind, due on 20 November 2026.
At Ajax, ELIKIA wore the captain’s armband for an academy side that included some of today’s biggest football names. He played alongside Jurriën and Quinten Timber, Ryan Gravenberch and Brian Brobbey, competing against other leading academies at international tournaments. A creative midfielder, he went on to play professionally before choosing to start again in music, carrying the ambition and resilience of those years into the studio.
His take on Afrobeats draws on his Congolese, Dutch and Nigerian roots and upbringing in a musical family, pairing warm vocals with stories shaped by his journey from football to music.
That football instinct runs through First Of A Kind. The album is conceived as a starting XI, with every song given its own position on the pitch. ‘Baller’ brings his experience of the game into that line-up, with ELIKIA believing the song will strike a chord with players in particular.
Speaking about the single, ELIKIA says: “I’ve spent years in football, so when I write about that world, it comes from experience. I was a creative midfielder, and I’ve brought that same creativity into making music. ‘Baller’ is a song I can see players connecting with because it comes from somewhere they know. I want people to enjoy it, but also feel that belief in themselves. I started again with music because I believed I could build something. That feeling is still behind everything I do.”
Those connections have already brought his music back into the football world. Earlier this year, Ansu Fati invited ELIKIA to Monaco to film the video for ‘Jelele’, a song inspired by the player’s injury setbacks and return. For ELIKIA, it was a chance to tell the story of someone he first encountered on the pitch as an academy player.
ELIKIA has already generated more than 30 million streams and over 435,000 monthly listeners, with breakout single ‘Mentality’ accounting for over 15 million. ‘Baller’ builds on the connection between football and music that has been central to his story, as he prepares to release his first full-length album.
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