‘I was body shamed, my music was not appreciated’ – Wiyaala speaks about early career challenges

Award-winning singer and songwriter, Wiyaala has shared some challenges she experienced during the early parts of her career journey for singing in her native Sissala language.

In an interview on 3FM Lounge, Wiyaala said she was disappointed at Ghanaians who initially didn’t accept her style of music.

She said she was body shamed and her style of music was not appreciated at the time she began her music career.

According to the ‘Rock My Body crooner’, she was only encouraged and urged on by the diasporan community which appreciated her style of music.

“The disappointing part was immediately I stepped out only Ghanaians living abroad, diaspora accepted me. They just accepted me quick, but the authentic Ghanaian were not even minding me.

“They were like that girl is she not a footballer? They were talking about how I’m going to beat somebody, my body is too hard, my back is too flat and my body is too hard.

“The flip side is that, that made me popular so I capitalised on that. There were certain things that I just knew that it was going to take years to try and convince anybody to accept me so I just channeled my energy to the community of people in Ghana and outside that appreciated me,” she told AJ Sarpong on Friday, March 22.

The award-winning singer added that she heeded to her instincts which informed her to “concentrate on abroad where the music is selling” with expectations that people will come around later.

VGMA is all about awarding Accra-based artistes – Wiyaala

Wiyaala explained further that she was advice by his management to feature a few Ghanaian artistes whose style of music have been accepted to fit in the industry.

However, despite her efforts, she said she found adapting to a different style to be financially draining and could not go ahead.

“I tried but I was not doing that because I wanted to but the people around me wanted to feature some few artistes in Ghana so they will introduce you.

“I tried one or two but then it was still not catching up, I was rather spending unnecessary money just to fit in…adapting meant I had to force and convince not just emotionally, psychologically and physically but financially and I could not,” she stressed.

The ‘Sissala Goddess’ has since won many awards including international ones and etched several achievements with the same style of music.

The post ‘I was body shamed, my music was not appreciated’ – Wiyaala speaks about early career challenges first appeared on 3News.

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