Afrobeats Has Stalled – Amaarae

Ama Serwah Genfi, the Ghanaian-American singer, who is widely known as Amaarae, has stated that the global rise of Afrobeats has lost its momentum.

The Sad Girls Love Money hitmaker made the claim in a recent interview with British-Nigerian media personality, Madame Joyce.

She explained that Afrobeats and African music in general, needs to evolve, adding that some artists have made so much money from a certain sound to the point where they are afraid of experimenting with new sounds.

Amaarae said, “Afrobeats and African music need to evolve. It needs to evolve in a direction that is fearless, and I think right now artists have made so much money from a certain type of sound that they are afraid to step out of the boundaries because they are probably more focused on the financial aspect of it. And as a result, I think Afrobeats has stalled.

“One of my favourite albums last year was Rema’s ‘HEIS.’ That’s what I consider the evolution of Afrobeats. You see how it moved the genre and the culture forward, and you see how it moved his career forward.

“There have been a lot of people that have big hits that aren’t willing to push the boundaries of the music, and as a result, Afrobeats is in a bit of a rut. So, I think Africans need to get it together, get on up, and start to experiment. [African] music needs to evolve, and it needs to excite people again.”