Being a top artiste can’t guarantee you a hit song – Kaywa tells Sarkodie

Renowned sound engineer David Kojo Kyei known in showbiz circles as Kaywa, believes that an artiste will require a great deal to get a hit song.

He told Andy Dosty on Hitz Fm, being a reigning artiste cannot guarantee the musician a hit song.

Reacting to claims by Ghana’s rapper Sarkodie that recording a hit song is an easy thing to do, the CEO of Highly Spiritual Music said there are so many things to consider before one can get a hit song.

Kaywa disclosed that an artiste needs to consider his production, his lyrics and getting a great video to get a hit song. He added that a hit song is the one that remains popular for a long time.

“What goes into a hit song isn’t just being a popular artiste, it goes beyond that especially when you’re considering great records of our time, from the past to now, it hasn’t been dependent on the popularity of the artiste only but great production from the studio and even great videos can give you a hit song.

“Even the instrumentation, one way or the other contributes to making a song a hit that is why I’m saying Sarkodie has devised a super way of getting hits. But there are songs that have been produced and once it comes with its own dance, can give you a hit. But to get a hit in a record, takes more than just that. It can perhaps appeal to your fans who are close to you in this part of the world but when you’re perhaps producing for a very strong fanbase like people from America, you ought to do more especially with the quality making sure that your lyrics are appealing. Over here in Ghana, most of the artistes don’t really write well so we need writers in Ghana.

“For me it’s not just being a top artiste that can give you a hit song.” Kaywa said.

When asked why the likes of Daddy Lumba, Kojo Antwi, Amakye Dede churned out great songs which were not hit songs yet they did n’t follow the rules of getting hit songs, Kaywa said, “The songs these great artistes churned out were hit songs because once it touched down to the heart of the listener, they were hit songs. Hit songs are usually not the ones that come and in about a week or two they blow everywhere, those songs don’t last… Hit songs last forever.”

According to Kaywa, “Hit song has to appeal to a larger audience, has to stay in the system for a while or stand the test of time and should have a great production, great videos and great lyrics.”

He noted that the popularity of the song doesn’t make it a hit song because the song can fade out easily after a while.

READ WHAT SARKODIE SAID ABOUT GETTING A HIT SONG

Rapper Sarkodie has hinted that recording a hit song is an easy thing to do but it is not a sure guarantee that a successful musician will retire from music industry and live a comfortable life.

According to him, there is more to maintaining a reigning artiste’s status than just recording hit songs. He explained such an artiste also needs to build a large following, record timeless songs and build a lovable brand that will win the hearts of the die-hard fans any day.

He made the comment while speaking at the launch of the fifth All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) at the Movenpick Hotel in Accra on Monday evening.

Speaking at the event, the rapper said, “As an artiste, my advice for the young ones is that they should focus on building the brand which is the hardest way but the easiest that allows you to relax and … it lets you make money anytime you want… We say we need hit songs which is very easy. People don’t know but hit songs are very easy. You can say something and it hits tomorrow but that doesn’t mean you have a stand in the industry. If hit song is about to save certain people then we have thousands of hits by one person but the person still doesn’t have stand. So it means the focus should be on building that deep love for your brand from the people. How you do it is individual strategies.”

Sarkodie also used the careers of celebrated musicians like Amakye Dede, Daddy Lumba and Kojo Antwi as examples of musicians who have stood the test of time because of their hard work to build the numbers and their brand in Africa.

“They had time to make the music grow on the people and fade into their hearts and focus on the people. Daddy Lumba had a conversation with me in the studio and said we the young ones have one dream which is going to international which is good. But before that what do we do? …We are waiting to be recognised out there to call it a success but we are still losing out on the numbers we have here, which is way more than the numbers of the so-called artistes out there that we want to be like,” he added.

He revealed that the last time he checked, Nigerian artistes like Davido and Wizkid had more following than American artiste Miguel.

However, Africans are made to think they need to be heard out before they could be called successful “because it is a mind game the rest of the world is doing. They are trying to control what we have term as the highest key.”

AFRIMA is a platform designed to promote the distinct rich African music worldwide, engaging millions of fans by propelling its music to glorious pinnacles beyond the borders of Africa. This year’s ceremony will be the fifth edition and it was launched in Ghana.