Fameye has a message for you

Fameye, who won Songwriter of the Year at the 2022 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards, speaks as he sings; deliberate, good-humoured, and holds your gaze as an apostle would. Two gold crucifixes often hang from his chest, and lately, his hair has taken to the forming of dreadlocks.

“I think this should be personal,” he begins. “I was talking for myself – how I feel about the new me.”

Of course. Aside from a title referencing his Christian name, Fameye’s new album, a sobering 13-track set, discusses his journey to self-discovery, and how he has come into new spiritual freedom.

“I feel ‘Peter’ is quite different from ‘Fameye’,” he goes on. The former refers to how he was treated when he was young and a nobody. The latter alludes to the privileges that attend stardom, “but ‘Peter’ is the real me, and he puts me on my toes,” says the artist. “He makes me feel like I’m nowhere and need to work hard while putting across a positive message.” Unlike ‘Fameye’, ‘Peter’ bothers nobody and seeks no one’s validation about the quality of his music.

Every artist must evolve, and Fameye cites time as the driving force of his new sound. “I have been doing this music for a long time, and before, I was just doing it to blow up. Over here, when you don't make a hit song, you’ll go missing.”

Over the years, however, Fameye has come to the realisation that it all comes down to his content as a musician, and its impact on people. Today, he has grown to know himself better.

And it’s okay if his new journey means that he may not reach as many people. “When you are growing, you’ll lose some people, but they will eventually come back because they will now come to understand you and your direction.”

Fameye says Songs of Peter didn’t undergo a “creative process” in the strictest sense of the word. “It was just me being myself and speaking the truth” This required remaining in his lane and not feeling like he competed with others.

Its dense messaging aside, Songs of Peter solidifies a remarkable creative bond between Fameye and producer Liquidbeatz, who worked on nearly every song on the project. The pair first met about seven years ago, and has collaborated regularly ever since. “He knows the kind of music I do and he knows part of my story,” says Fameye about the producer, whom he now also refers to as family. “And so, he knows what I want and what I need.”

Fameye holds a similar sentiment about Amakye The Rapper, who appears on Fameye’s 2020 debut Greater Than, and on two tracks on Songs of Peter. “Amakye The Rapper is a career mate and good friend. We have that connection and he is equally good. We have collaborated on many songs.”

Regarding his choice of features on the album, notably hip hop acts Kwesi Arthur and Pure Akan, as well as contemporary highlife great Ofori Amponsah, Fameye points to a mutual creative admiration between his guests and him, as well as their ability to complement what he seeks to communicate on a record. With ‘Everything Now’, featuring Kwesi Arthur, Fameye felt an inkling that the rapper could “say something I could not say.” On ‘Make Am’, Pure Akan’s task was to distil the theme of working towards success while “solidifying the whole song.”

Overall, Fameye doesn't see Songs of Peter as a final product, but rather as a chapter in a constantly evolving journey. “I’m still growing. In a few years, I will be more dangerous.”