Gyakie is the new girl on the scene. And this girl isn’t shy to show that she’s arrived. Most recently, the talented ‘Songbird’ took over London’s KOKO Café to celebrate her new single ‘Days Pass By’, created in partnership with musical multi-hyphenate KJ Spio.
24-year-old Jackie Acheampong, known in the industry as Gyakie, has been charging through the ranks of ‘Afro-fusion’, steadily paving her way towards a lasting legacy as Ghana’s rising star. She sounded the alarm of her presence within the Afro-zeitgeist with her debut single “Love is Pretty” back in 2019. Since then she has snagged career-shaping collaborations with the likes of AKA, Diplo, Blaq Jerzee, Major League DJz, and Mayorkun. Her breakout single “Forever”, ultimately pushed this shining star to new heights, collecting over 150 million streams across the globe.
Gyakie’s music is a concoction of contemporary sounds with a splash of classic West African Highlife influences. In reality, she isn’t a “new” stranger to the music industry. As the daughter of legendary Highlife pioneer Nana Acheampong (Lumba Brothers), this young artist deliberately fuses her familial homages into a succinct, modern sound tailored to a whole new generation of music consumers. She has joined the ranks of the few (but ferocious) young women who have completely taken charge of the African sound. However, Gyakie’s growth as a new entrant on the scene isn’t a feat to be taken lightly. Her success soaring through the music charts mirrors a larger-scale evolution that we see across the entire African continent, where no longer are men the treasured placeholders within entertainment.
Throughout the 2010s, we all witnessed the monumental paradigm shift, in which Afrobeats infectiously spread its branches into the Western market. The torchbearers of this ‘great shift’ were rightfully awarded the media title of “The Big 3”, comprising artists Davido, Wizkid, and Burna Boy. While this badge of honor was certainly well-deserved, in recent years, said “Big 3” have had to make way for a new school of change-makers. More specifically, a new school of female change-makers. With Nigerian artists Tems and Ayra Starr both scooping up Grammy nominations (and winning – Tems!), or South African starlet, Tyla, beating industry titans Davido, Asake, and Burna Boy out of a triumphant win at the 2024 Best African Music Performance title; it’s apparent that the winds of power have changed in the direction of the previous female underdogs.
In the words of music curator and Spotify manager for West Africa, Benewaah Boateng: “Women are no longer afraid to speak their minds and express themselves,”. Gyakie is no different from the boundless roster of previously unrecognized female artists, curating this expressive Afropop renaissance. In an interview following the heels of her successful “Seed” EP, when asked about the challenges of being a young female artist in a male-dominated industry, a then 20-year-old Gyakie stated:
“If we’re being honest, a lot of the big artists right now are men and the women are quite few. I feel what I’m doing right now is meant to motivate any young girl out there and the major challenge is being one of a few women in the industry. Because you’re part of the few, everyone expects you to keep getting to the top. You can’t ever slack!”
Gyakie exemplifies that navigating the fields of music as a woman is not a task meant for the weak. Not to mention how the West African context extends this figurative ‘red line’ that all women are barred from crossing, regardless of the industry in which they work. Nonetheless, this monumental shift should be marked as a time of excitement and hope in the history of music. Now more than ever, the possibilities as a female artist are in bloom! Yet as expected, this shift is steadily being overlooked as music heads, stakeholders, and Afro-fans at large, stay blindingly on the hunt for ‘the next new sound’. We are falling victim to a pattern in which we fail to see the bigger picture forming in front of us until it is in full effect.
Instead, let’s break this pattern and act now because news flash! The future of Afro is female.
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