Afrobeats not exciting people again – Amaarae laments genre’s stagnation

Ghanaian-American singer Ama Serwah Genfi, popularly known as Amaarae, has claimed that fans are no longer as excited by Afrobeats as they once were.

She expressed this strong opinion during a recent interview with Madame Joyce.

The ‘Wasted Eyes’ singer argued that the global momentum of Afrobeats has stalled, blaming the trend on the fixation of Afrobeats artists on money and a refusal to experiment.

The 31-year-old singer explained that the financial success of Afrobeats artists has led them to stick to the sound that works, thereby stifling the urge to innovate and try something new with their music.

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Amaarae used Rema’s album “HEIS” as an example of what she means by pushing the boundaries with Afrobeat’s sound.

Noting that “HEIS” was one of her favourite albums last year, she praised the body of work for its genre-bending style and credited it for both moving the culture and Rema’s career forward.

She said: “Afrobeats and African music need to evolve. It needs to evolve in a direction that is fearless, and I think right now, artists have made so much money from a certain type of sound that they are afraid to step out of the boundaries because they are probably more focused on the financial aspect of it. And as a result, I think Afrobeats has stalled.

“One of my favourite albums last year was Rema’s ‘HEIS.’ That’s what I consider the evolution of Afrobeats. You see how it moved the genre and the culture forward, and you see how it moved his career forward.

“There have been a lot of people that have big hits that aren’t willing to push the boundaries of the music, and as a result, Afrobeats is in a bit of a rut. So, I think Africans need to get it together, get on up, and start to experiment. Music needs to evolve, and it needs to excite people again. Right now, Afrobeats is not in the exciting space like the way it was in 2019”.

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