When you find yourself doing something for so long, and in most cases, you have ticked all the boxes from novice to professional, there is a need to devise a strategy that ensures constant talkability.
This situation can be boxed into the role of Public Relations (PR). While PR can be effective in building a personal brand, it may not always be enough to sustain trends for the personality, in this case, the artiste. At this point, gimmicks often come into play.
Gimmicks basically refer to a trick or device intended to attract attention or publicity. To be fair, they may not always be intentional, but once noticed, an artiste can take advantage of the moment.
These gimmicks are also rarely sustainable in the long term. They have existed in the global music industry for decades and have been executed in different forms as the industry has evolved. While some artistes avoid gimmicks entirely, others deliberately orchestrate them and watch them serve their purpose, and some are simply willing to capitalise on them when they surface.
The very interesting case in point is the “Peter spiritual takeover” Fameye displays during his stage performances. It is typical for an artiste to dance on stage, but one cannot help but notice that Fameye’s movements often appear unusual. On several occasions, he has explained that he believes his alter ego spiritually takes charge of his stagecraft.
On social media, many have accused him of being under the influence of drugs, claims he vehemently denies.
Think of it this way: what is there to talk about beyond the music? The spiritual dance. Fameye may not have intentionally planned this gimmick, but it has undeniably drawn more attention to his brand and performances than in previous years.
Still on the subject of dance, who comes to mind when you hear “Fa ma omo, fa ma omo, ma me azonto no”? That should be Sarkodie. A simple performance moment that could have been forgotten after the night eventually became a full-blown social media trend. Since Medikal’s show at the Accra Sports Stadium, no Sarkodie performance has been complete without the Azonto dance.
With Rapperholic UK announced, one of the major expectations is for Sarkodie to deliver the now-famous “Dangerous Azonto.”
This not only generates conversation around Sarkodie as an artiste but also keeps the music in public discourse.
Shatta Wale, however, approaches this quite differently. He often addresses issues directly on his social media platforms, especially TikTok and Facebook Live.
If he is not trending because of a song, it is almost certain that videos of him seated behind a microphone, addressing one issue or another, will surface online. What makes this approach even more interesting is that his commentary cuts across multiple sectors, keeping him consistently relevant in public conversations.
Some musicians, rappers to be precise, often engineer gimmicks by engaging in beefs with fellow rappers. Sarkodie has also resorted to this approach, notably with the release of his song Kanta. For Sarkodie, Kanta was intentionally released to generate talkability.
“I started it, and I was like, let me just create some controversy. I know what it’s going to be; it’s going to benefit certain people. It’s going to make people talk a lot,” he told Ebenezer Donkor of BitAfrika. Intentional or not, gimmicks remain very beneficial to artistes.
Stepping outside Ghana, Nigerian artiste Ruger gained widespread attention during his tour through his highly exotic stage performances. Ruger’s shows often featured sensual moments with female fans on stage, which sparked significant social media outrage, particularly after an incident where a fan’s bosom was accidentally exposed.
While this may be morally questionable, it undeniably amassed attention for the tour and kept his name in circulation.
Ultimately, these gimmicks do not all serve the same purpose. In some cases, the attention feeds the artiste’s personal brand more than the music itself, as seen with Fameye and Shatta Wale, where the conversation often centres on the personality.
In other instances, the gimmick amplifies both the artiste and the music, like Sarkodie’s Azonto moment, which has become inseparable from his performances and songs.
There are also cases where the attention is directed at a specific project, as seen with Ruger, whose stage performances became a talking point for his tour. Whether intentional or not, these gimmicks show that talkability in today’s music industry can be attached to the artiste, the music, or the project and sometimes, all three.
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