Ghanaian artist and reigning VGMA Artiste of the Year, Kidi, has disclosed that it breaks his heart to hear people tie his successes in the music awards scheme to Richie, his manager, being part of the board.
Kidi, who refuted claims of Richie having anything to do with his winning, posited that he feels discredited for his hard work each time such a statement is made.
“It’s crazy that every VGMAs night when I go on social media, I always see comments like, ‘as for Kidi [and co] they are winning because Richie is on the board’. A lot of things don’t hurt me, but I feel like sometimes that statement hurts me more. [People who do that] are trying to say that all the hard work does not count because Richie is on the board, but sometimes I don’t even know who is on the board”.
Kidi
The ‘Touch it’ hitmaker, speaking in an interview, after bagging five awards at the just-ended VGMAs, emphasized that his current success is a result of hard work backed by vigorous campaign for votes before the awards night. According to him, every member of his team came on board to champion a “Vote for Kidi” agenda.
“It’s like a flock in the church evangelizing. Everyone is going out to preach the word about Kidi, that ‘Kidi has been nominated so make sure you vote for him’,” Kidi revealed.
Kidi’s ‘Touch it’ Received Backlash
Meanwhile, not everyone has been excited about Kidi’s hit song, ‘Touch it’, as he disclosed that he received several backlash from “feminists” over the song.
According to him, he has been called out by “feminists” who are not too happy about the song’s lyrics, particularly the part where he says “shut up and bend over”.
The Lynx Entertainment signee noted that he has had people describing him as “disrespectful,” even though the song was written without malice.
“At a point, the pushback was very strong. You know we come from a society where certain things are not very accepted. [I’ve had] people asking, ‘why is this young boy telling us to shut up and bend over, it’s a bit disrespectful’. Even on my social media, I used to get threats from feminists that ‘this guy is disrespectful. No one should pay attention to this song’. People made articles that the song is derogatory, no one should patronize my songs, but when God says it will be, it will be”.
Kidi
Despite the criticisms, Kidi was pleased that the song made it as the Reggae/Dancehall Song of the Year and the Vodafone Most Popular Song of the year at the 2022 VGMAs.
“I think we overthink music sometimes, but it’s just a vibe, and I’m also happy with how some people also received it. For others, it was just a song to dance to. It wasn’t like men instructing anyone or being disrespectful,” Kidi said
Kidi further speaking disclosed that the song was greeted with some uncertainties at the initial stage of its production. Explaining what transpired after the production of the song, he noted that he sat back and laughed a bit and kept asking himself “what are you singing about? Shut up and bend over what?”. According to him, some of his team members were surprised about the song and he started wondering if he should release it.
“There was a little bit of ‘are you sure’, but I said you know what, ‘Arts in its purest form would be appreciated’, and it’s crazy what the song has gone to do,” Kidi said .
According to Kidi, the first big shock he received over the song was when the song entered India.
“As artists, when we see some of these things, we say it’s crazy. Say you just enter the studio and spend two or three hours in the studio making a song, and the song is just traveling,” Kidi indicated. “It’s so humbling to see, I want more of that”.
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