Ghanaian singer and actor Adomaa, born Joy Onyinyechukwu Adomaa Serwaa Adjeman, has released her new project titled ‘Becoming Adomaa’.
The extended play (EP) has seven songs that tell her story; from stumbling on fame to drowning in despair, picking herself up and resolving to purposefully design her future.
‘In the Clouds’, ‘Circus’, ‘Crash’ and ‘Beginning Again’ provide all the insight one needs to grasp the point of the 26 minute journey on the tape.
On Track 1 ‘You Used to Love Me (Intro)’, the singer and songwriter alludes to her notable songs from yesteryears setting the stage and providing the premise for the story ahead.
On Track 2 ‘In the Clouds’, she recalls how she stumbled on fame covering Stonebwoy’s ‘Baafira’.
“One hit cover, life changed forever.”
On Track 4 ‘Circus’, the trained journalist bemoans the tasking pressures of being an entertainer, dancing to the tunes of music executives and performing for an ever-demanding audience at the detriment of her own soul and mental health.
“The melody is so out of tune, but still I try to pull in the crowd.”
On Track 5 ‘Crash’ she is spent and bounces between healthy self-introspection and dangerous self-flagellation. In the lyric video posted to her YouTube, she looks haunted with a shattered glass behind her.
“Sick and tired. I’m not wired for this kind of life. I will not deny it; some days I’m flying, some days I crash to the ground, the earth gives way and I sink deep underneath.”
Portraying that the depressive times were but a nightmare, she wakes up on Track 6 ‘Utopia’, bathed in sunlight and surprised by bloom and spring as can be seen in the corresponding lyric video.
This is the path to the final piece ‘Beginning Again’, Track 10, on which a triumphal anthem proceeds. The artiste brims over with so much joy, anticipation, and optimism, as she escapes her cocoon and breaks into a foreign tongue.
When she finally sings in English, she notes: “I've been to different places. Took a while to find my home. I've battled different voices. Drowned them out till I finally found my own. Now I dance to the pounding of my own drum. This is now who I have become, and after different phases, I can finally say, I’m beginning again o.”
The singer and TV star has disclosed she and her team had been “working on this [EP] for 2 years.”
Leading up to the release, Adomaa announced there is a movie experience to accompany the project which has minimal instrumentation, giving priority to her enchanting voice, story, journey, and the production team.
Overall, it would appear the artiste is presenting her trauma and triumph in hopes to lead the listener out of their personal tunnel into the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.
'Becoming Adomaa', a cocktail of Gospel, Jazz, Soul, Blues and R&B served in a calabash of Afro-Fusion versatility was released in partnership with Ugandan music company Nyege Nyege, and has been streaming on all digital platforms since Wednesday, November 16, 2022, .
Meanwhile, Adomaa plays the naive rural girl Dede in the Akwaaba Magic telenovela showing on Showmax.