The meaning behind Desire stems from the concept of one having an alter ego. In a nutshell, Iyanya compares and contrasts his dualistic personalities. He said, "Desire was just an R & B guy with a great voice who took time to write music and talk about his feelings but just a few people appreciate Desire. Desire never made so much money. Desire always begged for shows, hustles for everything but Iyanya is global. Iyanya is accepted by all." Iyanya started working on the album after wrapping up his debut albumMy Story. He got inspired to record the hit single "Kukere" during a visit to his hometown of Calabar. Iyanya realized the Etighi dance didn't have a unique song to it. In order to popularize the dance, he teamed up with producer D'Tunes to record "Kukere".
Promotion and release
Iyanya and his management team celebrated the successful completion of the album by launching the two-concert series called "Iyanya vs. Desire". The first concert was held at Abuja's International Conference Centre on February 24, 2013; it featured additional performances from D'banj, M.I, Wizkid, Tiwa Savage, Flavour N'abania, May D, Vector, Kcee, Slo-Flo, Addiction, I-Sick and Tekno Miles. The second concert was held at the Eko Hotel & Suites on March 2, 2013; it featured additional performances from D'banj, M.I, Wizkid, Tiwa Savage, Timaya, Flavour N'abania, Davido, Seyi Shay, May D, Bracket, Vector, Iceberg Slim and Lola Rae. Iyanya promoted the album in London by performing at the Indigo02 Arena in London and at the HMV Ritz in Manchester. The Indigo02 concert was held on June 9, 2013 while the gig at HMV Ritz was held on June 14, 2013.
Singles
The D'Tunes-produced track "Kukere" was released on December 4, 2011, as the album's lead single. Its music video was directed by Patrick Elis. The Emma Nyra-assisted track "Ur Waist" was released on July 8, 2012, as the album's second single. Its music video was directed by Clarence Peters. The D'banj-assisted remix of "Kukere" was released on August 20, 2012, as the album's third single. The D'Tunes-produced track "Flavour" was released on November 10, 2012, as the album's fourth single. The music video for the song was directed by Mr. Moe Musa. "Sexy Mama" and "Jombolo" were released on February 6 and June 12, 2013, as the album's fifth and sixth singles, respectively. The former features vocals by Wizkid while the latter features vocals by Flavour N'abania.
Critical reception
Desire received generally mixed reviews from music critics. A writer for TayoTV assigned 7 stars out of 10, saying some of the tracks on the album were "awesome and some were below par." In a less enthusiastic review, Ayomide Tayo of Nigerian Entertainment Today said the album is "nothing more than a product of the times we live in" and called it a "pop driven LP aimed at pleasing a demography that loves beats and dance, at the expense of lyrics". Music blog Jaguda gave the album 2.5 stars out of 5, criticizing it for being a "jam-packed project with very shallow and monotonous club and radio friendly cuts which will hold grounds individually but as a body of work, it falls flat on its face." Wilfred Okiche, whose review was on YNaija website, called the album "mediocre" and said majority of the artists on the project "cannot see past their hunger for fame and today’s club banger".
