Other elements than just lyrics now tell stories behind songs – Okyeame Kwame

Ghanaian musician Okyeame Kwame, has explained why he agrees with veteran broadcaster Tommy Annan-Forson that modern songs lack storylines.

In a conversation with Kwesi Kyei Darkwah on CTV, Tommy said musicians now “blabber” and do not give genuine content, hence he barely listens to modern songs.

“I virtually don’t listen to our [modern] music because there’s nothing to understand. There’s really nothing to understand. It’s just blabber music. There’s no storyline,” he said.

Commenting on Tommy’s submission in a Facebook post, Okyeame Kwame said the veteran broadcaster’s claim applies to pop music.

“I want to assume he meant “pop” music.

“This statement is very controversial because we are no more in the audio-visual era, we are in the visual-audio era. The songs are abstract and simple and the tales are told in the videos, “visualisers”, TikTok dances etc,” he indicated.

Read also: Modern music lacks substance – Tommy Annan Forson

He added that popular music nowadays pays less attention to using lyrics to tell stories because there are other elements to help achieve the same impact.

“The background elements are now being used to elaborately express the stories behind the songs. So, yes pop music is not lyrically telling stories. It is intentional. They leave some meaning to audience interpretation so that the listener can take part through interpreting the song through a social media reaction (dance, skits, speech etc)

“This phenomenon is because we are now in the Visual-audio era and not the Audio-visual era. Let’s look at art with respect for the creators and the audience equally. That’s how we can fully appreciate the ‘why’,” he added.

The post Other elements than just lyrics now tell stories behind songs – Okyeame Kwame first appeared on 3News.

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