VGMA Highlights : Performance ratings , Ups And Downs etc .

Accra was en-fete on May 6th 2023 , as the country’s capital once again hosted the 24th edition of the Vodafone Ghana music awards .

Ghana’s biggest music night , a night where music industry people are being recognized and acknowledged for their hardwork throughout the year .

The night gave us moments that wooed us and dissapointing moments as well .

Let’s take a brief look at what transpired on the night .

Performance ratings ⭐

Performance made in heaven (Piesie Esther)
The night capped off with a performance from Gospel artiste and legend , Piesie Esther . She gave fulfilling performance by all standards where she collaborated with gospel power houses such as Ohemaa Mercy , Celestine Donkor , MOG Music , Ceci Twum , Perez music , just to name a few , to perform a splendid rendition of her viral hit song , “Way3 me yie” .
It was almost a pitch perfect performance .
The all-white theme really worked . I believe this is her first time on the main stage yet it didn’t look like it .
She owned the stage with her colleagues and they did their thing .
8/10⭐

The comeback of sugar Daddy (Kidi).

Kidi has been the talk of town for several weeks on social media with lots of speculations about an alleged illness . After weeks of anticipation , Sugar Daddy finally served his fans with his presence after teasing fans on social media with his new song .
He came out with cover me , followed by his new single and closed the curtain with champagne .
As usual Kidi came through with his superstar aura accompanied by his vocals but he failed to live up to the top tier Kidi performance we’re used to .
5/10
👍

Richie Mensah’s new seed (DSL)

Zigi , eazi , Asem , MzVee , Kidi , Kuami Eugene and now , DSL .
DSL won the unsung category this year and the winner of mentor X really impressed .
However , in the middle of his performance he did a mini raga freestyle which I felt was totally unnecessary . Aside from that , he had a good day at the office .
7/10⭐

Epixode’s tribute performance (Epixode)

One of the best live performers in Ghana came to life and didn’t fail to live up to his name .
Epixode on the night dedicated his performance to his late dance-hall colleague , Rudebwoy Ranking .
In summary , Epixode gave us Epixode .
7/10⭐

Lasmid’s nervy performance (Lasmid)

Lasmid’s props work on stage was solid and promised a good show .
However , things took a sudden left turn when he tried to grab his leather jacket . The background soundtrack started playing before he could get his jacket on . He proceeded to fumble to his own background soundtrack and couldn’t settle throughout his performance . He couldn’t get his jacket on throughout his performance either and it was quite frustrating to watch .
It felt like a high school entertainment night performance . Sorry to our best new artist but his performance was very underwhelming .
3/10 👎

King of the new era (Black Sheriff)

Blacko started off by sending love to his rasta . There isn’t much to say about this performance because it was just that good . To have an entire room of people from different class levels put their ego’s aside to stand through an entire performance in Ghana ? Only a hand-full of A-list artists can pull this off and Blacko did that effortlessly .
Top-notch by all standards . Artiste of the year ?? well deserved !
10/10 🌟🔥🔥

Jackie’s growth (Jackie)

From “never like this” to “scar” , it’s been quite a journey for the young Ghanaian songstress .
Now a household name in the industry , she graced the stage with what I’ll call a good performance . It only lacked the crowds energy . The crowd let her down .
6/10 👍

A different side of the 5-star General (King Promise)

King Promise is known for his vocals but not his performance . He’s had good songs but his performances have let him down .
This year , we bear witness to a “performing” King Promise . He turned it into a concert at some point which was great for him . He toned the performance down and did a medley of some of his songs and showed off his vocal prowess which the crowed loved .
The crowd control was excellent and Promise definitely delivered on his promise this time .
Ghana’s afro-pop artiste of the year seems to have found his performing niche . Kudos King .
7/10 ⭐

Smooth and classy (Kwabena Kwabena)

One of the highlights on the night was Kwabena Kwabena’s breathtaking performance . To sum him up in a word , “Genius”! .
The High-life legend amused the crowed with his craft . Selling quality High-life with his sex appeal which was simply brilliant .
The great one indeed . What a showman!.
10/10 🌟

Ye inspired MDK look (Medikal)

The president of the stubborn academy pulled up in style in a Yango sponsored black vehicle with a Kanye West inspired outfit . TV host , AJ Sarpong’s acting stunt prior to his set was superb .
The stunt was well sold . Not going to lie , at first I bought it and thought it was some politician only for me to later realize it was Medikal .
The transition from his backstage set to the main stage was smooth .
From his touching solid freestyle till he signed off with Accra , MDK was in his element and did his thing .
7/10⭐

All for real (Ofori Amponsah)

Another High-life legend took to the stage and gave us a blast from the past . Even though Ofori Amponsah wasn’t at his absolute best vocally , he surely did his best to thrill guests .
The soft and slow tempo performing Ofori Amponsah actually moved people and got everyone dancing from start to finish .
Mr . All for real came to the party with his A game , he didn’t come to play and he delivered . The atmosphere proved that indeed Ghanaians still love High-life music .
8/10⭐

The Highest (Sarkodie)

I don’t really have much to say about this performance . Sarkodie has always given us a show on the VGMA stage every time and this year wasn’t any different .
The Highest blessed it .
10/10 🌟

Below average finesse (Pheelz)

Pheelz had a bad start due to tech hitches .
Regardless I feel his performance was just average .
5/10 👍

UPS

Seems the heavy-weights are finally showing up again to grace the occasion .
Previous years have seen the awards dip in star power but this year’s was different .
This year saw some top guns in the building which was a big win .

The introduction of Pheelz . On the night , I feel that’s the only cool thing James Gardener did on the night .

The band was good on the night . They were clean and spotless on the night . Big ups .

DOWNS

Crowd :

VGMA needs to work on how they position guests . I think the egotistical guests who feel too big to get hyped should be moved to the back and get the hyped real fans in front row . It’ll really help boost some artiste performances .

Don’t bring James Gardener back please! :

I think whoever told James Gardener he was funny clearly goofed . The repetition of “Amazing” is not funny . He wasn’t funny last year , he wasn’t funny this year either .
His comedy sense is very dry and I suggest he sticks to his on screen acting .

Worst Outfit of the Night :

Chief One’s designer totally ripped him off . You’ll think DJ azonto but nope you should’ve have seen Chief One’s outfit . Bro you need to work on your style . It was awful for any event .

Technical hitches :

The usual technical hitches . When are we actually going to have a solid award show without technical problems throughout ? It almost looks like we might never get a smooth VGMA . C’mon guys it’s been 24 years now . We ought to up our game . These things ought to be sorted out prior to the main event .

Predictable Hosts :

The hosts are becoming too predictable and boring .
No disrespect to Naa Ashorkor and Berla Mundi but we need fresh faces . It’s as simple as that . Please switch it up .

Bad booking of international artist :

Whoever booked Pheelz did a bad job . Whomever thought about it ? It was just a bad move . VGMA could’ve done better . His music has lost momentum and he’s faded out in the Ghanaian market .

Likely award controversy :

High-life artiste of the year , Kofi Kinaata??
Kofi has been irrelevant for a while and I don’t know how he won it . I am a huge Kinaata fan but Akwaboah deserved it in my opinion . It was a strict voting scheme so I guess team move voted .

Apart from the above , I think almost every award recipient deserved it on the night .

Overall Judgement :

After the stern head to head obvious rivalry on the night between Piesie Esther and Black Sheriff , the boy from Konongo Zongo emerged victorious and swooped the most prestigious prize in Ghana music .

Congratulations to all winners on the night .

I honestly feel VGMA could’ve done much better in terms of putting things in order for an award show of its caliber . It makes me miss 3music .

It solely depended on star power to drive it . It wasn’t bad , neither was it good . It was okay to be fair .

My overall rating of VGMA this year without being harsh ?

7/10 ⭐

Hope charterhouse gives us a better show next year .