{"id":115734,"date":"2022-11-21T17:13:31","date_gmt":"2022-11-21T15:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/?p=115734"},"modified":"2022-11-21T18:17:57","modified_gmt":"2022-11-21T16:17:57","slug":"adomaa-becoming-adomaa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/adomaa-becoming-adomaa\/","title":{"rendered":"And through it all, Adomaa rises again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Though raised in a house where everybody sings, Joy – Adomaa\u2019s first name, couldn\u2019t be forced into a solo in front of her family. Humming shyly in the privacy of her dad\u2019s church hallways, she had to be harassed for months to join the choir. And when she finally recorded herself interpreting a mashup of Ghana\u2019s biggest tunes, she tried hard to keep the video under the radar. She never asked for fame and attention. But her bright, alto voice and natural charisma couldn\u2019t be kept in the shadows. Adomaa became viral, and with that came recognition, award nominations, and her first album Afraba<\/a><\/em>. Soon after came disenchantment, doubt, bad contracts, depression, and ultimately, a crash. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though it\u2019s hard to empathize with artists\u2019 complaints about the hardships of fame, cameras, public scrutiny, and pressure. Isn\u2019t fame the ultimate goal? What more could one possibly need once you have it all? Isn\u2019t that the dream? Adomaa would beg to differ. Nobody warned her of fame\u2019s pitfalls, and the Ghanaian-Nigerian songstress learned her lesson the hard way. Her first ride through the industry circus almost killed her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


Years later, Adomaa is ready to start over. She fought the fight, did the healing work, and found solace in acting and a new approach to music. She\u2019s beginning again, and after her 2020 project Barely Adomaa<\/a><\/em>, she\u2019s finally back and releasing the second part of the trilogy: Becoming Adomaa<\/em>. She talked PAM through this uninhibited testimony on surviving the highs and lows of fame, out now via Hakuna Kulala<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cloud nine and stormy weather <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Adomaa was propelled to fame overnight out of unplanned circumstances. \u201cThings had happened too fast, and I never got any opportunity to let it sink or properly accept it. I was just this shy, quiet, reserved girl, and all of a sudden I was this celebrity that people recognized as I walked in the streets. It was too much for me at once.\u201d<\/em> Working as a junior reporter at ViaSat1, her freshly posted medley of The Evolution of GH Music<\/a> sparked her colleagues’ interest. Once they put the video on air, it quickly made rounds all over TV stations, radio, and social media. Her youthful rendition of E.T Mensah, Amakye Dede, Kojo Antwi, Kwabena Kwabena, and R2Bees hit the spot. And just like that, her soulful, airy vocals and bubbly attitude took the country by storm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things went swiftly: more medleys and covers, interviews, live performances, comparisons to A\u1e63a<\/a>, and an EP. In early 2016, Adomaa released Afraba<\/em>, a one-of-a-kind alternative treasure flowing from rock to gospel, pop, and folk, and a rarity at Ghanaian award ceremonies like the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (where she won Unsung Artist of the Year). \u201cI think people were more impressed by the fact that it was very different because in Ghana at the time, there was a lot of dancehall and Afropop music. But to get a project that seemed so alternative and different, people felt like it was a breath of fresh air\u201d. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a9 Nelson Desouza Henry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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This idyllic time of change and discovery, between \u201ccloud nine<\/em>\u201d and imposter syndrome, is recounted in the dreamy \u201cIn the Clouds\u2019\u2019, the second track on her 2022 album. \u201cI was in two minds. A part of me was very grateful because people work so hard in this industry for years, and they don’t get recognition like that. But at the same time, I felt like a fraud. I felt like I didn’t know enough, hadn’t done enough. I felt like there was still so much to learn, and there were people who were more deserving of the recognition. And I also felt like I wasn’t ready.\u201d <\/em>Here lies the issue:  Adomaa was thrown in at the deep end to sink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Welcome to the (industry) circus <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Pushed into the dog-eat-dog<\/em> music industry, Adomaa promptly realized what was at play behind the spotlights and critical acclaim: her mental health. \u201cI don’t think if you want to grow in a sane environment, the music industry is the place to do so. My advice to anybody trying to make it in music: you should probably have everything sorted out before you come in. You should probably have your talent sorted out, like your top-notch vocals, all your skills on lock.\u201d <\/em>Adomaa didn\u2019t, and in the acoustic \u201cSmoke and Mirrors\u201d, the bitter reality sinks in. The young singer is now unable to recognize herself. Her music isn\u2019t hers anymore, and neither are her creative choices, signed away in shady deals. So inevitably, she started to crumble. \u201cI used to flop big time on stage. It started being more obvious to the world, and my mental health was in the gutter. So I was struggling, and it was starting to look much more visible. And that is when my career started to dip because I wasn’t that person.<\/em> I couldn’t keep up with the facade I had started with.\u201d <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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