Interview: Gyakie On Her Single, 'Scar', Working With AKA, Musical Influences, Future Projects + More

The music video for Gyakie’s latest single ‘Scar’ is almost at a million views on YouTube. The single has 1 million + streams on Spotify, The song in which she teamed up with North London rapper JBEE, talks about walking around with internal scars, bleeding inside. Her effortless vocals flow over an 808-laden soft Drill beat that JBEE laces with heartfelt swaggering raps. 

The Ghanaian R&B and Afro-fusion artist has been rising through the ranks since bursting onto the scene with singles like ‘Love is Pretty’ in 2019 and the massively successful ’Forever’ in 2021. She also dropped the EPs ’Seed’ in 2021 and ‘My Diary’ in 2022. ‘Gyakie’ appeared on AKA’s last album ‘Mass Country’ in the single ‘Paradise’ alongside Musa Keys. She has also worked with the likes of Diplo, Major League DJz and several others. 

We caught up with Gyakie (pronounced “Jackie”) and she told us about ‘Scar’, her influences, working with AKA and what to expect from her in future. 

Tell us how your new single, ‘Scar’ was brought to life. What were you going through at the time? 

I hadn’t dropped music in a minute so I needed to drop a song that people are going to love. ‘Scar’ was recorded on my phone when I first met JBEE and we recorded in the studio for the first time, because he had come to Ghana from the UK. 

My producer worked on a beat and we put some vocals on and it was such a beautiful song. This is a song that talks about so many things that people are going through, you can affiliate it with personal relationships, to personal life experiences as well because me talking about running around with a scar on my leg, what’s going to help is literally me talking about many of us who are bleeding inside but because we are smiling, looking okay, you are not able to see the scar.

How did the collaboration with JBEE come about?

He came to Ghana, I had not met him before, since he was here we arranged to have a studio session. So it was a song made from scratch. It was a one day, one time, same time take on everything for that particular song and that’s what makes it extra special to the both of us.

Your father, Nana Acheampong, is a Highlife legend. How much did he influence you to become a musician? 

My dad is one of the few people that influenced the kind of music that I do now. One of the things he used to do when I was a child, was, whenever he had free time from his shows or when he’s going to the studio sessions to record, he usually went with me or my family and I. So I was always fond of music, I always had music around me and I always got to see him with his fans and his people. So, it kind of gave me that love for entertainment and music at that time.

Can we expect a full body of work from you? What can you tell us about it? 

Oh yeah, for sure. Before I dropped ‘Scar’, I dropped a project called ‘My Diary’ so that is my second EP. Coming up, is me dropping a couple of more singles and I’m very positive that there should be a project along the lines.

How did you get to work with AKA on ‘Paradise’ and how was the experience?

May his soul keep resting in peace. He was such a legend and I was so proud and honoured that I got to work with such a super amazing superstar.

Stream ‘Scar’ by Gyakie and JBEE and watch thematic video below: