Darkua Teams Up With TAR1Q for ‘Know You’
Sometimes giving love another chance takes just as much courage as walking away. Ghanaian Afro-Soul and R&B artist Darkua explores that emotional space alongside Nigerian star and Chocolate City signee TAR1Q on their new collaboration, ‘Know You’.
Produced by Ghanaian producer Insvne Auggie, ‘Know You’ moves at an easy, mid-tempo pace, allowing the song to breathe while keeping the focus firmly on the voices. The production is warm and understated, creating the perfect setting for Darkua and TAR1Q to tell a story about love, trust, and the expectations that come with starting over.
Darkua begins the record with a clear sense of conviction. She has decided that she is willing to open her heart again, but she is not doing so blindly. Beneath that confidence is a need for reassurance, as she questions whether the person she is giving another chance will genuinely be there when it matters.
That feeling becomes even more intimate when she moves into Ga, her native language. Her plea for someone who will truly show up for her captures the uncertainty that can come with loving someone after disappointment. She is hopeful, but there is still a question hanging in the air: will this time be different?
TAR1Q provides the response to that uncertainty. His contribution brings confidence and sincerity into the conversation, complementing Darkua’s vulnerability and giving the record a natural back-and-forth. Rather than feeling like two separate performances placed together, the collaboration works as an emotional exchange between two people trying to understand what comes next.
That exchange is what makes ‘Know You’ more than a straightforward love song. At its centre is the idea of commitment and what it means to give someone another opportunity. Darkua’s character in the song is not simply asking for love. She is asking for the chance she has been offered to be respected and not wasted.
There is a delicate balance between hope and vulnerability throughout the record. Choosing to stay open to someone after a difficult experience can leave room for happiness, but it can also expose you to disappointment all over again. ‘Know You’ sits comfortably in that space, allowing both sides of the emotion to exist at once.
The collaboration itself began months before the song’s release, during the CNM x Rainlabs Songwriting Camp in March 2026. The initiative was created to bring artists together across anglophone and francophone West Africa, encouraging intentional creative exchanges and new musical connections.
For Darkua, the camp also created an opportunity to work with an artist she had already been interested in collaborating with. She had TAR1Q on her radar for some time, and the songwriting camp finally provided the setting for them to turn that interest into a record.
The song was recorded on the final day of the camp, a session Darkua remembers as one of the standout creative moments of the entire experience. That spontaneous connection has ultimately resulted in a collaboration that feels considered and emotionally complete.
With Darkua’s expressive delivery, TAR1Q’s assured response and Insvne Auggie’s relaxed production, ‘Know You’ finds common ground between Ghanaian Afro-Soul, R&B and contemporary Nigerian sounds.
More importantly, the song captures a feeling many people understand: loving someone enough to give them another chance while still needing to know that they will value the opportunity. Darkua and TAR1Q turn that emotional contradiction into a warm, soulful record that leaves its message to linger long after the final note.
