Ghanaian musician Jackline Acheampong, who is widely recognized by her stage name Gyakie, has shared some of the difficulties she encountered in the early part of her music career.
In a candid interview with BBC Africa, Gyakie opened up about the immense pressure she faced after the release of her highly successful hit song, “Forever.”
She revealed that the success of this track led to high expectations from her fans, who demanded that she consistently produce more hit songs. Gyakie admitted that the weight of these expectations often became overwhelming and, at times, left her in tears as she struggled to meet the intense pressure to maintain her success.
“If I am pressured or shouted at, I am going to grab a tissue and cry. So, I don’t like to be pressured or shouted at.
“In the beginning of my career, almost every three days, I would be crying at home because the pressure was getting too much especially when ‘Forever’ blew up,” Gyakie stated.
The ‘Rent free’ hitmaker added that the expectations to make hit songs “is good when it feels like motivation but different when it now feels like you are giving me pressure to do something.”
However, the “Forever” hitmaker said she has since become more resilient after learning more about the music business and how to deal with criticism and negative comments on social media.
“Also like, these negative criticisms that are not coming from a good place, it took me a while to not really let it get to me when people say bad things about me on the internet.
“But now I could see anything about me, where the person knows what he is saying is not true, I would be like, somebody should give me some water to drink because the country is already hard,” Gyakie noted.
Despite the challenges she faced early in her career, Gyakie has firmly established herself as one of Ghana’s most celebrated female artists. Her breakout hit, “Forever,” has now surpassed an impressive 150 million combined streams, cementing her place in the music scene.
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