25/01/2017
WHY FANCY'S TALENT ALONE CAN'T GET HIM NEW ARTISTE OF THE YEAR AT THE VGMA.
By: Rahamatu-Lahi Zakaria
2016 has been a blessed year for Fancy Gadam. From filling up the Tamale Sport Stadium to the National Theatre, it is safe to say it was the year the gods of his fathers decided to smile on him.
For the first time, national media outlets were talking about him and a lot of interviews were granted to him. We had the likes of hiplife grandpapa twitting about him, he did a peace song with MzVee, EL, VVIP and Luther and he also did a show with StoneBwoy at the Tamale Sport Stadium which was well attended. The
gods really favoured the star boy but did the star boy utilise this favour to his advantage?
I had hope that artiste from the north will also get a major award at the next Vodafone Ghana Music Awards {VGMA} but I was subsequently wrong after seeing the attitude of Fancy and his management towards the promotion of his work beyond the shores of the three regions in the
north. They did not promote any of his songs.
This lack of promotion will cause Fancy to lose out in the New Artiste of the Year category which they are busy companying for and the category some of us had hope that he would get after his explosion onto the music scene.
From the site of VGMA this is the description for New Artiste of the Year ââNew Artiste of the Year is the Artiste(s) adjudged by the Academy Board and the General Public as the most promising and talented emerging artiste(s). The award goes to a relatively new artiste(s) who
released a SINGLE/ALBULM that FIRST shot the artiste(s) into the limelight during the year under reviewââ.
With this description, which of Fancyâs single/album released shot him to limelight like the likes of Medikal, Article Wan or Worlasi, ETC. Maybe the NAAWUNI YIKO album launch gave him the limelight but remember it was not the content, it was the sold-out show that got people talking. Entertainment pundits were not
interested in the album, they only talked about the massive crowd he was able to get at the stadium. The National Theatre was the same story.
In all the news items I read, no one
mentioned his songs and what his music can add to the music scene in the country. All they talked about was the sold out concert. He is a promising act and a very talented one at that but his songs are not promoted nationwide. You do not premiere a song on some selected media outlets and then leave it at that thinking it is enough to get people attention to your song. That is totally wrong. You should have a strategy that is well plan in getting peopleâs attention.
Artistes have done crazy stuff just to promote their album or song. Back in 2014, Ariana Grande and Big Sean were spotted holding hands backstage at one of the Music award show, and naturally, the gossip columns started going off the wall. However, itâs pretty safe to say that the whole thing was staged, as Big Sean released an album around that time and
Grande was trying to take Mariah Careyâs
crown. The couple âbroke upâ a few months
ago, due to Grande being spoiled.
Our very own Becca and Bisa Kdie faked a
relationship to promote their song and letâs not forget about Sarkordie âNEW GUYâ featuring Ace Hood publicity stunt thing to promote that song that was generating a lot of controversy on twitter.
âWE DEY COLLECTâ is a very good song that could have been promoted but after it released, nothing was done. It has all the ingredients that can make a hit song, from the beats to the slang use and phrases are everything that can change the game for Fancy. Lack of promotion is Fancy nemesis. You do not release song week after week. When that happens, you forget
to promote the previous song which could have been your golden beans as a new artiste who wants to breakthrough.
Promotion of song is one of the deficiencies of northern artistes. They do not promote their songs beyond their strongholds to get national attention and are always the first to cry of being neglected by the VGMA organisers. How
will they nominate you when they do not know any of your song or a large number of Ghanaians have never heard your song?
Forget the BASS and JIGWE Awards because it is a different ball game when it comes to the VGMA. There is always conversation about the VGMA., from who gets nominated to who wins what. And in as much as possible, the organisers and the Academy Board will try to save themselves from any controversies and
awarding Fancy the New Artiste of the Year will be the highlight of the show.
VGMA is not about awarding artistes that make news headline for controversial statement or because they had a sold-out concert. It is about artistes whose songs are popular among the Ghanaian people. Fancy failed to capitalised on the news making round about him to promote
his songs. The focus was more on his
personality rather than his music. It was all
about the number of crowd he can get at hisshows instead showing people his work.
People might disagree with me but you can
check the list of artistes that have won the New Artiste of Year. JOEY B, KOFI KINNATA, STAY JAY, KAAKI, ASEM and 5FIVE when they won the New Artiste of the Year, most people knew and could sing to their hit single but that cannot be said about Fancy. When it comes to Fancy,
it is about his sold out shows and remember this year those who will be nominated have their songs all over the place and people can testify to.
Fancy is a very talented and a promising artiste no doubts about that. I have always said that with proper grooming and promotion he could be Ghana Chris Brown in the making and I still stand by it. Those in the New Artiste of the Year category it is not that they are talented more than Fancy, no, they are not. The truth is that their songs are more popular than his.
Just before I wrote this article I did a random interview with 20 friends of mine who are entertainment journalists and are working in some of the nation finest media houses and 10 DJs. Unfortunately, all the 20 friends none had Fancyâs song in their playlist and only 1 DJ out of 10 had his song.
I was still not satisfied so I took the research to another level. This time round, I interviewed music lovers at the Accra mall, junction mall at Nugua, Marina mall and KFC at 18 junction to find out which artiste deserve the New Artiste of the Year. The story was no different. Fancy name was not mentioned.
Fancy and his team attitude towards promotion will be their downfall. They do not regard the importance of promoting of music to an artiste.
Nigerian artistes are dominating Africa music scene not because they are the most talented but because they promote and hype their work.
Borrowing the words of Steuart Henderson Brit on the importance of advertising, he says ââDoing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else doesâ.
Your talent should be seen as a product you need to advertise for people to like and buy.
Fans are not interested in your sold-out show but your works and that is what Fancy and his team have neglected. They do not see the importance of promoting/advertising his songs. They have a slogan that goes .
But then hype is a tool in promoting/advertising which is necessary for the artiste to be a breakthrough star.
Their small minds are that, his talent alone can take him far and they do not need to promote him as they say .
In this showbiz world, your talent is nothing
without hype. Their mentality towards hype
makes me believe that they do not allocate
funds for the purpose of promoting his songs.
Most media houses have packages for artistes that he and his team can go in for and promote his work but because they do not believe in this, it is slowing down his pe*******on onto the national scene that could prevent him from getting the New Artiste of the Year. Take D.Black for example, Ghanaians always see him as wack rapper but he is one of our popular rappers outside Ghana. What do you
think accounted for this?
D.Black is among the few Ghanaian artistes who will go all out to promote his works and that is why MTV Base
Africa rated him among our Top Ten Best
Rappers and he has always won international awards in the continent.
Do not blame VGMA if Fancy should lose out in that category because he and his team are their own enemies. I foresee a nomination just to please people from the north but not winning the coveted award.
Source: nubian-entertainment.com
