Let's be creative, diversify our lyrical content - OJ

Gospel musician Minister OJ, born Michael Oware Sakyi, has made an appeal to his fellows in the industry to seek originality and creativity when they are writing their songs.

He was bemoaning the fondness artistes have for using cliches, Sunday, January 8, 2023, on the Church Groove with Rev Thompson.

"I think they need to work more on the content because sometimes, when I listen to some of the songs, the instrumentation is solid, the production is up there, the mixing, everything is good, the video and everything [else] is good but I keep hearing certain words in almost - if you pick about 10 songs, you'll hear the same thing," he bemoaned.

He cited lyrics like "'Obi nti se wo [There's none like you]' and 'His mercies are new'," as some of the overused lines in Gospel music. He wondered if there was nothing else that could be said about or to God.

"Maybe it's from my background; I get fed up with things quickly," Minister OJ stated, adding that he believes: "God wants to hear something new everyday. That's why God doesn't even dwell on stale mercies. His mercies are renewed [everyday]."

He argued that if God does not like stale things, typified in daily renewed mercies, why would a worshipper be in the habit of repeating words to him till they lose their meaning?

"I keep hearing the lyrics 'Nobody like you', all over the place," he bemoaned how jaded those words are. Rev Thompson broke out in laughter. "You know, those are the things we need to work on," OJ stressed.

A prolific songwriter and seriel hitmaker, he encouraged musicians to: "Reach deep down within you and go to God and tell God that, 'Lord, I want to tell you something different from what everybody else has been saying'."

"So if I'll make any recommendations, those are the things I'd say," the award-winning Gospel musician noted. "Let's work more on the content [of our songs] so we won't end up hearing the same lyrics [all the time]."