When Bullet; the owner of Rufftown records introduced Wendy Shay on the VGMA stage in 2018 while taking awards for late Ebony reigns his former artiste, there was that one question running through my mind which is “Can this girl actually match up to the talent of Ebony?”
I strongly believe I was not the only person with that reservation because to fill the shoes of Ebony of blessed memory was not going to be easy. That girl was super talented and unfortunately people only came to terms to love her craft only after her untimely demise.
There were those who didn’t like the idea of Bullet bringing in someone to fill the space of the late Ebony.
Business is business and looking at the monies Bullet perhaps spent on shaping up his record label, he couldn’t have just kept watching on for it to collapse because Ebony passed on.
Ebony was loved by many and many also didn’t like her for their own reasons. That is normal because she was not jollof, even with jollof not everyone likes it. Some prefer waakye instead.
But if Wendy Shay was going to have it difficult in getting herself known by music lovers, then it was about making sure she produce nothing but quality music for music lovers for that matter her first single was very important to this mission.
She didn’t disappoint in that regard.
In the very instance as she found herself, her first track was very important and Yes she did it in a classical way clearing doubts from doubters like myself.
Wendy Shay’s first track with the record label dropped titled “Uber driver”
It was just a perfect piece to start ones career with because aside the rhythm, it came with it own controversy with many saying the “P3 Hw3” lyrics meant something else in Twi which I don’t have to say, whatever it is let’s move on with the substantive issue that necessitated this write up.
That was a masterpiece to introduce oneself properly into the music scene. The song was well produced by MOG and the video well executed by Yaw Skyface.
Since then, she has held herself high winning some notable awards like the VGMA Discovery of the year, 3Music award Breakthrough Act of the year etc
However, just like the sugarcane and houseflies, Wendy has not broken to the music scene without controversies.
Show business is a whole art and it will take how crafty you are to be able to stay consistent. Both Stonebwoy and Shatta Wale are talented musicians but not until they started their beef, truth is their names wouldn’t have traveled as far as it has in the music space.
My Public Relation lecturer will say “There’s nothing like a bad publicity as the bad publicity is a god publicity in itself”
This is what exactly Wendy Shay and her team have been up to.
From her rumored sexual escapade with the manager of the label Bullet, to wild allegations of sexual relationship between her and Shatta Wale and Kuami Eugene and finally to the needless “fights” between her and Fanatana who was also on same record label.
I have no problem with people using attention seeking gimmicks to stay relevant in the entertainment industry.
Truth is just as everything has it own disadvantage, overly seeking attention and building your career around needless controversies will hurt your brand for the future.
In the last few weeks Wendy Shay has been in the news for not too good reasons.
From the change of her looks to what appears to be a hostile approach she has developed towards her critics and those not in her good books.
When I read news about Wendy Shay unfollowing Delay on grounds that Delay raised concerns about her recent looks and how she has pierced herself among others, I asked myself if it’s just for hype or it’s a true story, because If you indeed calls someone a sister as Delay revealed they call each other and the person sees you are going off track and draw your attention to it perhaps not even in public, the best thing to do will be re-examining yourself and see if indeed you have to change your ways and not just burst up and unfriend or unfollow the fellow on social media.
Even though Wendy Shay has denied allegations with her involvement with drugs in recent times with her mother coming to her defense insisting her daughter is not no such things, I feel it will be better if Wendy Shay and her management take a pause and realign their quest to stay relevant. It may not be issues of drugs as alleged by some but perhaps she is just stressed or depressed. In her last days with Lynxx entertainment, not until she opened up about it nobody ever knew Mzvee was depressed which took her off the music scene for over a year. It may be the same thing happening to Wendy Shay because it’s one thing getting the fame and another thing handling the fame and the pressure it comes with.
Look, whoever will raise doubts about the prowess and ability of Wendy Shay’s talent ever since she announced herself into the music scene is obviously doing that for mischief purposes.
Without a doubt, she’s the biggest artists among her female colleagues at the moment. The numbers are there to support this claim. On YouTube her “Uber Driver” released 2 years ago have 3.6 million views, “Stevie Wonder” Which she featured Shatta Wale have 3.7 million views after a year, with “All for You” pulling 2.2 million views after a year of release etc.
This is why I feel some of the controversy around her are needless because if it is about the numbers and attention she already has it.
There should be a time where celebrities must understand that they cannot be doing same thing and expect difference in result. When Sarkodie broke through, he came with a style of always feeding us with hardcore rap and punches but as he grows in the industry he has added new twist to his style to stay relevant for over a decade. This is why I largely associate myself with Obrafour’s view that music is dynamic and every good artiste must know what time it is and switch accordingly.
If after serving us with hit songs back to back in the last 2-3 years and management of Wendy Shay can still be edging her to be craving for these minute attention, then there’s a problem with everything they intend achieving as a management team.
Obviously, those who love her craft like myself are worried about the change in her looks.
We can all testify to how destructive drugs has been to many talented musicians even here in our country, if in doubt check Okomfo Kwadee.
I am not in anyone saying the concerns by others about her behavior and appearance lately is anything close to truth.
But truth is, rumours are such that sometimes they come with an iota or truth in them.
Wendy Shay has indeed suffered from a lot of trolls and bullies on social media and that I am heavily against but the silence of her management on current issues around her wouldn’t help the fan base she has built for herself.
Her progress in the music industry will bring no financial freedom to me, neither will her destruction bring me any joy.
However, as a music lover, I am for all opportunity that will put Ghana on the global stage to prove our worth not only when the big boys are mentioned but when the big girls are mentioned too.
If America could have Beyoncé, Rihanna with Nigeria having Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade among others then Ghana can also dream of having Wendy Shay and other huge talents like Adina, Efya among others. Wendy Shay is a household name name as such the approach of management will have to change especially with controversies. I pray and hope whatever the issues with her are she is able to pull through. I know there are those bent on making sure she does not succeed in whatever she’s doing, such are the people who reported her single “Pray for the world” to YouTube for it to be pulled down on copyright issues. Gladly after management filing counter complaints that the song does not violate any copyright issues, it was restored back to YouTube. That should be the fighting spirit, it is not every criticism she would have to worry her head over but the genuine ones which are meant to shape up her talent into a globally recognized one should not be antagonized by Shay herself and those around her for we don’t want the career of our “Ghana Beyoncé” to die just as it has been with other equally great Ghanaian talents.
I hope this piece finds her or her management so together they can come to terms with the fact that, controversy do not build a last brand, good lyrics does.
In other news: Shatta Wale sets records with Hajia Bintu
