Track 4: Virtually Yours ft. Ricky Password & Mhinganzima
While A L’Africaine (Iwacu) expresses 1Key’s romantic nostalgia for a time before apps and gadgets, the album’s following track throws us forwards into a celebration of online space and its capacity for enabling love and musical collaboration. Virtually Yours narrates an online love story, with the feel-good mood being inspired by Ray Charles’s influential song What’d I Say (1959). Recorded at audio-producer Barick’s home-studio in Kigali, Virtually Yours is alive and upbeat. The free-feeling quality is achieved by the fast tempo, the strong backbeat of the drum kit, and the attack of the electric piano rhythms. We hear multiple voices singing in Kinyarwanda, French and English, reflecting the new Kigali today, where entwined linguistic and cultural influences feed into an increasingly diverse and interesting creative arts scene.

The Kigali that I am referring to is not constrained by physical boundaries, with digital media platforms connecting Rwandans and non-Rwandans from all over the world. Indeed, Virtually Yours is the first of four collabos on the album and features Mhinganzima, a female singer and member of the Rwandan diaspora. When living in Sweden, Mhinganzima became 1Key’s friend on Twitter and the two of them developed a deep connection. 1Key dedicates Virtually Yours to Mhinganzima and praises her when he says: “I love to read her prose for hours/Her voice sounds like a catchy tune.” (Translated from French to English) In the second verse, we are treated to Mhinganzima’s velvety voice and beautifully thoughtful words. She misses Rwanda, but feels a closeness to 1Key through “[Their] words which devour miles.” (Translated from French to English)
Virtually Yours also features Rwandan world music singer Ricky Password and Natacha, a dear friend of 1Key and a lively and important voice in Rwanda’s fast-growing spoken word scene. The hook, sung in English by Ricky Password, remains loyal to 1Key’s creative style. He plays with words, making reference to various social media platforms when he sings:
“You tweet like a little sweet birdie
Your face, book it for my kisses baby
You’re my sound cloud, your voice takes me higher
I lose instant–grams when you go M.I.A
WhatsApp with you, girl, can’t you see?
I’m so in love with you…” (My bold)
Moreover, the track opens to that familiar start-up sound of Microsoft Windows XP (2001), followed by a robotic female voice saying: “Press 1Key. Enter Password” and the rat-a-tat-tat of typing.

As we progress through 1Key’s album, we discover links between the tracks. In Virtually Yours, Ricky Password says: “Come to me Bwiza, forever desirable”, and later 1Key says: “Come to me and lay on the chest of a strong man,” (translated from Kinyarwanda to English), which is also a reference to A L’Africaine (Iwacu). Amongst the many strands of this multi-layered album – which is reflective of 1Key’s thoughts and lived experiences – is the rootedness in Rwandan idioms. 1Key says: “It’s not just… /…the look of a cow”, referring to the Rwandan saying that when a woman is beautiful she has the look of a cow, especially when she has big eyes. (Translated from French to English) Finally, the last two lines of the song, which translate as “Let me praise you/And play the Inanga for you”, which also link us back to 1Key’s opening track Apprenti_Sage.
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Song lyrics and translations
Virtually Yours ft. Ricky Password & Mhinganzima [Track 4 on Entre 2 album]
Prod. Barick (Kigali); English, Kinyarwanda, French. |
|
[Intro] | [Intro] |
1key: | 1key: |
This is for my tweeps, yeah! | This is for my tweeps, yeah! |
Ricky Password: | Ricky Password: |
Alright | Alright |
1key: | 1key: |
Too many crushes on my timeline. I see y’all! | Too many crushes on my timeline. I see y’all! |
Ricky Password: | Ricky Password: |
I’m “social” in love with you | I’m “social” in love with you |
Iyizire bwiza budashira irora n’irongora mama we | Come to me Bwiza, forever desirable |
Iyizire nkwijyanire iwacu mu Rwagasabo | Let me take you home to the land of Gasabo |
Social in love with you… | Social in love with you… |
1key: | 1key: |
Iyizire ugwe mu gituza cy’ingangare | Come to me and lay on the chest of a strong man |
— | — |
[Verse 1: 1key] | [Verse 1: 1key] |
Elle, c’est pas qu’une douce voix | She’s not just a gentle voice |
Un parfum suave, une touche de grace | A sweet fragrance, a touch of grace |
Une oreille à l’écoute, un regard de vache | An ear to listen, the look of a cow |
Un buste bombé ou une forme de coca | Big boobs or the shape of a coke bottle |
De longues jambes ou un ventre plat | Long legs or a flat stomach |
Comme toutes ces images que tu vénères | Like all the images that you praise |
Elle, elle tourne mes sens à l’envers | She turns my world upside down |
Elle est donc je me sens mieux | She is therefore I am better |
J’adore lire sa prose pendant des heures | I love to read her prose for hours |
Sa voix résonne comme un son accrocheur | Her voice sounds like a catchy tune |
Elle ne sera jamais mienne et j’en suis heureux | She will never be mine and I am happy for that because then |
Car je ne vivrai pas avec la pression de pouvoir la perdre | I won’t live with the pressure that I might lose her |
On ne partage pas la même pression de l’atmosphère | We do not share the same pressure of the atmosphere |
Et certes nos environnements se different | And certainly our environments are different, but |
Mais au delà des barrières, on s’est créé des spheres | Beyond the barriers, we create our own spheres |
Avec notre connexion, on a créé notre propre univers | With our connection, we created our own universe |
— | — |
[Hook: Ricky Password] | [Hook: Ricky Password] |
You tweet like a little sweet birdie | You tweet like a little sweet birdie |
Your face, book it for my kisses baby | Your face, book it for my kisses baby |
You’re my sound cloud, your voice takes me higher | You’re my sound cloud, your voice takes me higher |
I lose instant-grams when you go M.I.A | I lose instant-grams when you go M.I.A |
WhatsApp with you, girl can’t you see? | WhatsApp with you, girl can’t you see? |
That I’m in love with you, girl can’t you see? | That I’m in love with you, girl can’t you see? |
I’m so in love with you, girl can’t you see? | I’m so in love with you, girl can’t you see? |
I’m so in love with you | I’m so in love with you |
— | — |
[Verse 2: Mhinganzima] | [Verse 2: Mhinganzima] |
On ne se connaît pas, on se sait | We do not just know each other, we’re aware of each other |
La nostalgie noir sur blanc | The nostalgia black and white |
Les mots qui dévorent les kilometers | The words which devour the miles |
Et les transforment en nuages | And transform them into clouds |
Je le sais à l’écoute même quand je suis sans voix | We can hear each other without talking |
Il ne peut être à moi | He cannot be mine |
Alors souvent le soir | So often in the evening |
Après avoir tout mis off | After switching everything off |
Je me l’offre | I get him |
Derrière l’écran tout un océan de paroles | Behind the screen in an ocean of words |
À voguer sans amarres il me reticent | We sail |
Je lui pose les questions qui me hantent | I asked him the questions that haunt me |
Crois-tu que Lune et Soleil envient l’amour des étoiles? | Do you believe that the moon and the sun envy the love of the stars? |
Crois-tu que rêve et prière sont jumeaux? | Do you believe that dreams and prayers are twins? |
Et que chacun veille à son tour? | And that each take a turn to sleep? |
Crois-tu que l’on peut faire chanter les mots sans mélodie? | Do you believe that we can make words dance without a melody? |
Ou faire danser l’air sans y toucher? | Or dance in the air without touching it? |
Aimes-tu la pluie? | Do you love the rain? |
Es-tu aussi solaire que je t’imagines? | Are you as “stellar” as I imagine? |
Restes avec moi ce soir, je l’implore | Stay with me tonight, I beg |
— | — |
[Hook: Ricky Password] | [Hook: Ricky Password] |
You tweet like a little sweet birdie | You tweet like a little sweet birdie |
Your face, book it for my kisses baby | Your face, book it for my kisses baby |
You’re my sound cloud, your voice takes me higher | You’re my sound cloud, your voice takes me higher |
I lose instant-grams when you go M.I.A | I lose instant-grams when you go M.I.A |
WhatsApp with you, girl can’t you see? | WhatsApp with you, girl can’t you see? |
That I’m in love with you, girl can’t you see? | That I’m in love with you, girl can’t you see? |
I’m so in love with you, girl can’t you see? | I’m so in love with you, girl can’t you see? |
I’m so in love with you | I’m so in love with you |
— | — |
[Verse 3: Natacha & 1key] | [Verse 3: Natacha & 1key] |
Tant que tu seras, je m’accrocherai à ce bout de rêve | As long as you will be, I will hang on to this piece of dream |
Peu importe le temps que je serai, tu resteras mon amour secret | No matter the time, you will be my secret lover |
Et je m’en voudrai pour toujours d’être cet infidel indiscret | And I will always be guilty for not being discrete |
Incapable de resister aux touches de tes mots doux | Unable to resist the touch of your sweet words |
Car toi seul sait où se trouvent les boutons de mes émois d’où | Because only you know where the buttons of my emotions are |
Tu es malgré tout le temps et la distance entre nous | Despite all the time and space between us |
— | — |
[Hook: Ricky Password] | [Hook: Ricky Password] |
You tweet like a little sweet birdie | You tweet like a little sweet birdie |
Your face, book it for my kisses baby | Your face, book it for my kisses baby |
You’re my sound cloud, your voice takes me higher | You’re my sound cloud, your voice takes me higher |
I lose instant-grams when you go M.I.A | I lose instant-grams when you go M.I.A |
WhatsApp with you, girl can’t you see? | WhatsApp with you, girl can’t you see? |
That I’m in love with you, girl can’t you see? | That I’m in love with you, girl can’t you see? |
I’m so in love with you, girl can’t you see? | I’m so in love with you, girl can’t you see? |
I’m so in love with you | I’m so in love with you |
— | — |
(X 2) | (X 2) |
— | — |
[Outro: Ricky Password] | [Outro: Ricky Password] |
Ah la la la la… | Ah la la la la… |
— | — |
Reka nkuririmbire mama we | Let me praise you |
— | — |
Ndetse ngucurangire inanga henge | And play the Inanga for you |