Spotify, an online music streaming platform, has announced Ghanaian singer and songwriter, Moliy, as the EQUAL Africa ambassador for the month of June.
Phiona Okumu, Spotify’s Head of music for sub-Saharan Africa, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, in Lagos.
Okumu said Moliy was known for her ground-breaking ‘WONDERGIRL’ EP, released in 2020 as well as for her feature on Amaarae’s hit single, ‘Sad Girlz Luve Money’.
She noted that the EQUAL Africa progamme by Spotify was geared toward shedding light on powerful female voices making groundbreaking moves on the continent’s music scene.
“The singer born Molly Ama Montgomery is deeply influenced by her rich Ghanaian heritage.
“Moliy takes inspiration from her childhood spent between Accra and Orlando, Florida, where she was exposed to musical sounds like Afrobeats, Reggae, Soul, Jazz, and Hip-Hop.
“The voices of women are still missing from popular music, our goal with the EQUAL Music programme is to shine light on creative young African women who are finding their voice through music.
“We are grateful for Moliy’s remarkable journey and experiences that have shaped the strong voice she has.
“We are also excited for her future in the music industry and are happy to welcome her to the EQUAL programme,” she said.
Reacting to her EQUAL Africa selection, Moliy said she had always felt there was a huge disparity between the levels of success amongst male and female artistes.
According to her, this disparities ranged from bigger paychecks to bigger venues afforded to male artistes over female artistes.
She said as a staunch advocate for female empowerment in the creative scene, Moliy feels that EQUAL Africa had provided a platform that inspired generations of women in Africa.
“As if that is not enough reason to uplift female artistes, there’s always a reason to bring us down: from body shaming to constantly comparing and pitting us against each other.
“There is also this theory that women ‘supposedly’ have a ticking time bomb hanging over our heads on when we can be successful and when our prime time is over,” she said.
“When people ask who are the biggest artistes here, the first five names you hear are likely to be male, but this is what I live for, this is why I am here, there will be a day when the top five will be females and I’m going to be alive to see it.
“I am going to be one of the greatest artistes to ever come from Africa and inspire an entire generation of women,” she said. (NAN)
