Omo… the music of nowadays ehn… what can one say about them?
Honestly, if you write down the lyrics of some of the songs we listen to and gyrate to these days, if you calm down and read all of them, you’ll be shocked by the kind of words that come out of your mouth and the little sense that they make. This is something that has become more and more prominent but for the larger populace, it’s masked by catchy beats and dancey tune. However, the message itself is nonexistent.
These days, if an artist is not singing about money, then they’re singing about bum-bum, or they’re singing about haters. Actually though, I don’t even have a problem if these are the main focus of the songs, after all an artiste can sing whatever inspires him. That’s the joy of being a creative. However, my problem starts when the song itself doesn’t seem to have a main theme. The artiste will classify it as a love song, but he’ll be telling us about the time he used to drink garri and no one thought he would make it. Or if it’s a song about money but his main focus in the lyrics is just bum-bum. It’s crazy!
Our artists really need to do a better job. If you’re going to sing one thing, then sing it. Songs need to pass on a message, now it could be the good kind of message, or it could be the bad kind. Either way, a message must be passed! Some songs don’t even have that luxury. One verse will be totally different from what the chorus is talking about, then the second verse will be on an entirely different trajectory from the rest of the song.
If you’re going to sing a romantic song, then keep the haters out of it. We also don’t want to hear about how your enemies kicked you into the gutter and thought that you wouldn’t make it. If you want to sing about money and your financial growth, then do it. But don’t tell us about how you’ll take some girl for a ride in your Lambo and take your bestfriend’s girl shopping in Paris. This is a trend that many artistes follow. It’s as if they simply start singing and whatever comes to mind is what they just say.
There are artistes like this who still take out time to sing good songs, but the market does not make them as mainstream as they should be. Artistes like Timi Dakolo, Brymo, Psquare (before their split), Chidimma… and the list goes on. But you don’t see them making much waves these days and why is that? Because if the song makes sense, then it won’t sell.
In my opinion, I don’t think our artistes are bad, I just feel that the industry gets to them and corrupts them. When they’re still upcoming and hungry, they always write the best songs. Any artist of today you can think of, when they were coming up, they had some really good songs that spoke right to your soul. Even the upcomers of today still have amazing songs that are making waves for the right reason.
One good example of a good romantic song is Amber Rose by Marvel, the lyrics and everything else about it is just good and when the song came out, I loved it. When you go through his other songs, you’ll find effort. I just pray that he gets the break that he deserves and I hope that it doesn’t turn him into another profit mongering artist.
One thing that becomes clear is that when these guys become famous, their appetite for good songs die away and they simply sing anything they feel like then pump it with PR, practically shoving the song down our throats. Many of them even go as far as employing streaming farms just to boost their numbers and make it look like they’re getting streams.
Well, I really can’t blame the artistes. However, you look at it, music these days is not just for hobbies any more, it’s for business. If you want to sing as a hobby, do it in your bathroom or you do it in your church. But if you want to make money off it and take care of your family, you have to cater to the needs of the market. It’s what the market desires that they’d get. So, no matter how you look at it, it’s down to us. We’re the ones encouraging this. Until we stop entertaining such songs, we’d still keep getting them. There are no two ways about it.
So, if the market demands that the beats and tune are more important than the lyrics, the artistes will deliver just that. But then, if the beat is more important, does it mean that the producers are doing more work than most of these artistes?
Hmm… I guess that’s a question for someone else to answer.