Pulling the seductive reins as Ebony ‘reigns’ [Article]

It is said that showbiz is all about getting attention from one’s target group and that granted one is sure of selling their craft to their audience they are free to do whatever they want to get them.

Showbiz is a combination of show and business. There is always a show that attracts the business and a business that makes the show tick. Failure to know how to play these cards well is a resultant relegation to the doldrums.

Some people have devised controversial means of making success in the showbiz industry and the biggest example that has ever happened in the history of Ghana’s showbiz is the ‘Dancehall King’ Shattawale. Since the day he went berserk at the organisers of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards for ‘robbing’ him off an award that he deserved, he has always waxed controversial, aggressive and abusive to all manner of people.

A lot of people abhor his style but others have grown to understand that what he does has become his brand and this style of gaining attention is what has made him relevant up till now.

I remember when Mzbel was at the high noon of her music career, where she wore very revealing clothes and sounded erotic in her musical pieces. Many enjoyed her songs but though her style of dressing was amoral [relative to Ghana’s social norms and mores]. Perhaps what broke the camel’s back was when she was sexually molested at a show at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. That was a sad incident. It was unjustifiable but only God knows what about Mzbel attracted the miscreants to assault her.

Enough of Mzbel! Let’s talk about the hottest ‘chic’ in the entertainment scene at the moment – Ebony Reigns. Before her latest hit song, ‘Poison,’ I had not really seen the music side of her. I had only seen her hot pictures; I mean pictures that showed some sensual parts of her body.

I fell in love with her not because of her pictures and sex talks. Her sweet ‘Poison’ caught my fancy. In fact, that is a nice song!

Ancient and medieval art teaches that nudity is art – nude art was very common in prehistoric times when fine artists like Michelangelo painted with nude and erotic themes. Your themes define your purpose and that translate into the use of your work of art.

However, any type of art must conform to the art culture and societal norms. It is very difficult to marry art and morality and it is even more of a headache to separate them. This is because while the moralists use their moral barometers to discredit the amoral artiste, these same lily-white people sneak to patronise the Immorality.

I believe that ways of gaining attention and getting one’s brand accepted in the showbiz circles are varied and relative. However, there are two major ways: the organic and inorganic. The organic means incorporate properly laid down structures by a well-organised management outfit.

No artiste becomes successful by fluke. You need good management, effective and efficient marketing strategies and the choice is yours to choose the organic or the inorganic.

The organic strategy of artiste promotion goes through a process to mature.

It is one step at a time. The inorganic, on the other hand, can be likened to adding chemicals to a fruit to quicken its ripening. This type of promotional strategy is what Shattawale used. That is what Lord Paper used and that is what Ebony is deploying.

Yes, people will give you the attention if you create stunts, go naked or verbally assault people. But the question is “for how long would you do that”? Your brand will fade away in no time if you only rely on inorganic ways to make yourself relevant in the showbiz circles.

Ebony is not just beautiful; she’s a good talent but she’s fledgling and needs a lot of work to be done on her talent than her body. Those sex talks will keep people talking about her but her ability to sing well, perform better on stage and churn out good music will take her farther in her music career (that is if she wants to really go far).

At the moment, she is enjoying what most established artists are struggling to get – attention. This fame may be pleasurable to her now than what she claims she likes doing the most (sex) but she should know that after climaxing in this transient fame, music lives.