Has Safo Newman failed to blow big despite Sarkodie’s feature and endorsement? I will say yes and the reasons are imminent.
The Ghanaian stardom [ musically] is not saturated but takes courage and energy to stay relevant and established as the Shatta Wales, Sarkodies, and the Stonebwoys.
In the early first quarter of 2024, Ghana saw the emergence of another sensational singer with great writing prowess Safo Newman when he hit the trends with a single titled Akokoa after a retweet of the song on X by Sarkodie.
He quickly became the media’s topic of discussion. But that didn’t last for a fortnight as the singer began to disappear from the trends and captions.
And so, as an entertainment critic and a blogger, I asked what caused the sudden ste-back of Safoa Newman. Why did he fail to stay relevant despite the Sarkodie effect on his career?
Why Safo Newman Failed To ‘Blow’ Big Despite Sarkodie Feature
1. His Branding Or Presentation
Safo Newman lacks that ‘perfect’ branding or presentation of himself as an art.
The first viral video I saw of Safo Newman was him wrapped in a very thick blanket trying to interpret the song in sign language in a very awkward way.
Then followed by another at a lonely background iminating zero energy nor vigour.
Consequently, he emotionally dampens anyone who hops on the song in content creation, thus creating only boring content on the song, except for dancers and Youtubers.
The singer’s branding, from the point of a critic, would be rated less than 4 and that is just one of the things that contributed to his sudden disappearance.
Thank goodness, dancehall star Shatta Wale touched on this during one of his live sessions and heavily criticized his management
2. He Lacks The Vibrancy In His Music
To stay atop the Ghanaian music space, you need to be vibrant and up to the task. This is not a major point but contributes to sustainability in the Ghaiana music space.
This is because there are a handful of artist on top of their game now despite lacking vibrancy, a typical example is Fameye.
The vibrancy of Stonebwoy, Sarkodie [ in their primes ], and even Black Sherif is what any Ghanaian artist needs to stay afloat and that is also lacking in Newman’s music.
Let’s not go too far into the past. The emergence of Balck Sherif, King Paluta, Kwesi Amewuga, and many others indicated that Ghanaians like it with energy.
They want to see the energy and life in whatever you do even if it doesn’t make sense at the moment. And that is how most successful brands became household names.
And also, who wants to remember his sufferings when the economy is already a dose of ‘Kwakye bankyes’
3. Wrong Seasonal Song
I can boldly say that Safo Newman failed due to the wrong timing of the song.
The song went viral when Black Sherif was the most sought-after in Ghana with songs of extra confidence and motivation, such as Soja, Kwaku De Traveller, and many more.
At the time, most of the neutral music consumers in Ghana wanted something encouraging to keep going against the weather. Unfortunately, Safoa’s song broke though at the time least expected.
4. No Better Musical Approach To His Music Career
As a teacher, according to him, Newman has more time for his teaching career than his singing career.
In Ghana, a new blown artist would be storming every radio station to make the face visible behind the song known with other vital information that will make fans better resonate with him.
However, Safo prefers his bedroom, lonely places, and school campus alongside TikTok to promote his song. Which doesn’t do much of the work a media tour would have done.
Leveraging social media for music promotion goes beyond creating viral dance on TikTok [ did he even create a viral dance for his song?].
Aside from that, we haven’t heard or seen any effort from his camp in trying to reach out to other artists who could make his brand grow bigger.
The likes of Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy are there for reference.
Despite all said, it doesn’t mean Safo Newman has failed beyond a comeback. He is still new in people’s heads and I bet we still want to hear from him.
