Ahead Of Culture Cafe, Revisit OkayAfrica’s Gyakie Coverage
Gyakie is one of Africa’s most important cultural voices who has been in OkayAfrica’s pages for years now. Check out her journey in four features and interviews.
Nelson C.J.NelsonC.J.Lagos-Based West Africa Correspondent
Gyakie headlines the second edition of OkayAfrica’s Culture Cafe.OkayAfrica.
Gyakie occupies an important space in African music. The Ghanaian singer earned her first hit in 2020 but had been surrounded by and immersed in music long before then. The descendant of a musical legend aiming for legendary status herself, Gyakie has developed a strong language for understanding contemporary matters of love and affection, all while infusing her music with expansive influences. Last year, she released her debut album After Midnight, a thrilling, genre-bending feast that swam through themes of love, desire, nostalgia and self-perception. Before then, Gyakie released two EPs, Seed (2020) and My Diary (2022), both of which ushered her into the limelight as an important modern voice in African music.
This month, OkayAfrica will host Gyakie for a live listening session and fireside chat at our monthly event series, Culture Cafe hosted in partnership with Jambo Spaces and supported by Hennessy. In one evening, Gyakie will walk us through eight of her songs and how she made them. Afterwards, the room will be open to audience Q&A and a meet-and-greet session. Moderated by renowned Ghanaian pop-culture journalist Olele Salvador, the award-winning artist will talk through each song, opening up about the process of making them, her creative process, her philosophy on music and what else she has coming up. Afterwards, there will be a performance by Kaesa, an emerging voice in Ghana handpicked by Gyakie to take the stage.
Gyakie, who is the second artist gracing the Culture Cafe stage after Stonebwoy, represents the best of African culture and what it means for someone to shape culture in real time. Below, we have put together a list of the stories we have published about Gyakie, stories that will allow you to learn more about her, understand her journey and get some insight into her creative process. If you’re in Accra this Saturday, September 26, come by to learn more about her and see culture in the room.
Gyakie, who is the second artist gracing the Culture Cafe stage after Stonebwoy, represents the best of African culture.OkayAfrica.
A Brand New EP, A Budding Career
In 2020, OkayAfrica caught up with Gyakie, who at the time was still an International Business student at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. It was the same month she released her debut EP Seed, which, according to Gyakie, was “ a journey that explores diverse genres as a reflection of her musical quest of finding and staying true to herself, while leaving lingering thoughts of what to expect from her in subsequent projects”
The interview covered Gyakie’s rise in the music scene, the unlikely path that led her to music as a career (one she never intended to embark on despite having a legendary musician as a father), and her very early beginnings. This interview offers a fascinating look into an artist coming into their own yet firmly grounded in their sense of self.
“For one evening, Gyakie will walk us through 8 of her songs and how she made them.”Alexander Piper | Courtesy of Gyakie.
Building Her Legacy
In 2021, OkayAfrica caught up with Gyakie as her song “Forever” was blowing up, earning her immense acclaim and a collaboration with Nigeria’s Omah Lay. In this feature, Gyakie talks about the shock of watching her song grow bigger than her expectations and building her own legacy outside the shadow of her background. More interestingly, Gyakie shared her belief in her work as a female artist and the importance of existing in an industry largely run by men. “ I feel what I'm doing right now is meant to motivate any young girl out there and the major challenge is being one of a few women in the industry,” she told OkayAfrica. “Because you're part of the few, everyone expects you to keep getting to the top. You can't ever slack!”
Gyakie, In Bloom
2022 was a defining year for Gyakie. It was the year she released her second EP, My Diary, described by Wilfred Okiche as “a more personal record, one that has the 23-year-old vocalist born Jackline Acheampong ruminating on the ups and downs of romantic entanglements.” It was also the first time she launched a U.S tour to promote her second project. In this piece, Gyakie talks about arriving fully to herself, making deeply personal work, and juggling schoolwork with a career that was growing in scale. While talking about her growing listener base, she told Okiche: “It has been amazing. When I look back at how everything started out for me from my first single, I have come to realize that every single project I have released has had the good fortune of introducing me to a new market or bigger audience. My fan base keeps getting bigger with each project, and I am very proud of this and excited about the future.”
In 2025, Gyakie released her debut album, a musically mature and thematically grounded project titled After Midnight. Gyakie made the project from a place of complete self-awareness and inner peace. The project leans on nostalgia while borrowing references from a wide selection of genres, confirming her status as one of this era’s most ambitious genre blenders. “If someone is listening to the album and their heart's broken, I want them to have a shift,” she said in this feature published in OkayAfrica last year. “Whether it made them bring out the pain more to reduce it from within.”
