Singer Ssaru: Why I love releasing ‘dirty’ songs
Female emcee Slyvia Ssaru popular by her stage moniker Ssaru Wa Manyaru, claims Kenyans love ‘dirty’ songs.
The Gen Z artists adds that dirty songs make the most money.
Ssaru says anytime she releases a song with dirty lyrics, it tends to do so well compared to the more conscious ones she ever released.
“We see a lot of foreign musicians getting a lot of shows in Kenya that pay them well. But when we the local artists do songs in a similar manner, the reception is always never great. But when we do songs perceived as dirty like Kasikie Vibaya, the reception goes wild, I end up getting a lot of shows.” Ssaru observes.
She goes on to add,
“To me what that means is that Kenyans do love dirty songs. I mean I released a rhumba song fans didn’t like it, I released a dancehall the reception hasn’t been that good but when you release a record perceived dirty, the reaction from fans becomes crazy ” Ssaru says.
When Ssaru released Kasikie Vibaya, eight months ago which now has over 10 million views on YouTube, the record trended catching the attention of many including former Kenya Films and
Classification Board Chief Executive Dr Ezekiel Mutua now CEO of Music Copyright Society of Kenya MCSK) criticized the hit song for promoting moral depravity.
But the 21-year-old Ssaru remains unbothered.
“The thing is, these people criticize yet the things we sang on Kaskie Vibaya have been happening in the society for a long time. Is it not true that men of his age are moving around dating young girls enough to be their daughters? Yes, the song might have dirty lyrics but it reflects what’s happening in the society. We didn’t want to sugar-coat these issues in the song if anything until we came up with this idea no one had ever thought about it,” she adds.