Love Is Pretty, a song released in 2019 was how we were introduced to the beautiful woman now known in the music industry as the songbird. Fast forward to 2022, the 23-year-old Jacqueline Acheampong known worldwide as Gyakie has won the hearts of many, collaborated with many of her idols, and has performed on some of the most coveted stages in the world.
Today we take a look at how it all started for this Ghanaian R&B and Afro-fusion musician.
Born on 16th December 1998, Gyakie was raised in Kumasi, the capital city of the Ashanti region of Ghana. Gyakie did almost all of her schooling in the Ashanti region. She is a graduate of T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School and for her tertiary education, she majored in International Business at the prestigious Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
The musician who cites Asa and Omar Sterling as her biggest inspirations, officially started her music career in 2019 when she released her debut song ‘Love is Pretty’. The song helped her gather enough momentum to release her sophomore song ‘Never Like this’ in the same year. ‘Never Like This’ made a huge impact, especially amongst the Ghanaian community. People were just drawn to it and organically, the song received a lot of user-generated content. For those who didn’t know about her previous release, this was to them when Gyakie burst onto the music scene. Her star started shining and she began experiencing a bit of success.
Gyakie has had a good support system since the start of her career. Her career began with or under the management of Flip The Music, a Ghanaian-owned Record label and talent management agency founded in 2019 by Emmanuel Kojo Sedo better known as AGBO or Electro Mirror. In a 2022 article I came across on ameyawdebrah.com, Electro Mirror had this to say with regard to the aim and goals of Flip The Music:
“Our plan is to continuously scout musicians from the grassroots and make them into global superstars. This is how the industry would grow as a whole. We are definitely going to be seeing more of these expansions in the coming years.”
We can say Flip The Music is on the right path as they have done just that with Gyakie. We are eager to see the work they will put in for other musicians in the coming years.
So back to Gyakie’s good support system, she is the daughter of Highlife living legend Nana Acheampong. He was one-half of the popular music duo The Lumba brothers. The other member was of course Daddy Lumba. Although she officially started her career in 2019, music is nothing new to Gyakie. It is said that as early as age 8, she was already experimenting with her father in the studio. The support Gyakie received here has to do with her being born into a family of musicians meaning they at least understood the business and did not persuade her not to pursue a career in music. I’m certain what they’d be concerned about most is her finishing her tertiary education so she would have something to fall back on if the music didn’t work out but it did and in a major way! It is also worth mentioning that Gyakie and her team never really used the fact she was the daughter of a musical legend as leverage to help her music career. Most people got to know after she was already buzzing.
2020 and 2021 were very important years for Gyakie. She experienced international success and had one of her most successful collaborations to date. Still enjoying the success of “Never Like This”, the songbird released ’Sor Mi Mu’ featuring prolific Ghanaian musician Bisa Kdei. The music video for the song currently has 6.2 million views on YouTube. Later that year in August, she released her highly anticipated 5-track debut EP. On the artwork of the aptly titled ‘Seed EP’, we see a young Jacqueline Acheampong in the studio with her father Nana Acheampong. With the success she’s had so far, it’s safe to say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Seed EP charted in a number of countries including Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria. Out of the 5 songs, one song stood out and made a huge impact on the continent. ‘Forever’ became that song everyone was singing along to. DJs were playing it on the radio, in clubs, and at almost every event. The chorus and even the verses of the feel-good love-themed song were so catchy that anyone could easily sing along to it after a few listens. As if this wasn’t enough, she secured a collaboration with Omah Lay for the remix of ‘Forever’ in 2021 and it took the song to a whole new level. A few days after the remix was released, it was announced that Gyakie had signed with RCA Records UK, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America or Sony Music Entertainment. I believe this was a joint venture agreement between Flip The Music and RCA Records. The song peaked at number 1 on Apple Music’s Ghana and Nigerian song charts. It also made its debut on the Billboard Top Triller songs charts. It was also nominated for “International Collaboration of the Year” at the 2022 edition of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards which she won.
So it’s 2022, Gyakie releases her sophomore EP titled ‘My Diary’ in July. The EP features Nigerian superstar Davido. Prior to the release of the project, Gyakie was really active in dropping music and collaborating with other musicians. She released ‘Need Me’, my all-time favorite Gyakie song, and collaborated with artistes like Blaq Jerzee, D-Black, Fiokee and Chike. She also worked with Bisa Kdei on another song titled Sika. After the EP release, she performed on some very prestigious stages. One worth talking about is her performance at the Global Citizen Festival which took place in Accra.
We certainly can’t wait to see what the future holds for this amazing woman.
