From Secular to Gospel Music.

There has been a rise in artists who have switched from making secular music to gospel music in these past few years, its actually a cool move to do right now, releasing a gospel track also seems to be the in thing as we are seeing artists from various genres doing so. Why is that?? do artists think Gospel music is easy to make, are they taking advantage of the lack of criticism in the genre (everyone praises and worships in their own way after all so you cant judge my way) or they have truly found the light as some say.!!?? Today have decided to dive deeper on this and try to understand the reasons and also assess the impacts such a move has for the artists. Over the past 5 years we have seen artists such as Alexio Kawara, Baba Harare and Bryan K publicly stating they have now moved to gospel music. These three will provide a perfect case study as they are all different artists all at different stages in their careers and all have experienced different levels of popularity and success. 

The first high profile artist who made such a switch was Zexie Manatsa, a hugely popular and iconic figure from the late 70's and early 90's. Once he switched it was downhill from that time career wise, he never again gained the level of success he had before till his passing in August 2022 and since then the trend has been more or less the same the same in the industry. Other who have done so include, Susan Chenjerai, Noel Zembe, Culture T, Mr Bulk, Jordan Chataika, Tembalami...etc. None among all these managed to be successful in both sides. Noel Zembe and Culture T were part of  successful groups Frontline Kidz and Transit Crew respectively but we did not know of them before they went solo and switched to gospel but even then they never managed to stay for long, one good album each and they vanished. Tembalami failed to make his mark in the secular music and found his stride once he switched. Mr Bulk, Susan Chenjerai & Zexie all fell away once they made the switch and what remains are their secular tracks. Its such a hard switch to pull of and I think one the major reasons why it is that tough are the reasons for the switch.

Music is a business, artists have to understand that first. Yes there is a passion that drive many to start singing, some are talented and their talent pushes them in that direction, no matter your reason once you start singing and you expect something out of it its now a business. Yeah there are some who say it's just a passion and hobby nothing more, yeah, but if you are continually investing in that hobby and expect some type of return then its a business. Now just like any business environment there are many trades one can get into; grocery, electronics, healthcare, refuse collection, fast food, solar...etc that's the same with music genres, you pick one that appeals to you the most and one you feel you can make a killing at, you can experiment around trying to find you preferred sound, sometimes you can create a new genre just like how certain companies create a new trade in business. Once you find your sound you now focus on growing and people/fans start to become invested in you because of your choice of music, you now mean something to them. Maintaining a successful business is very hard, there is a lot of learning and un-learning that is required for one to be in the correct mindset to succeed in the face of countless challenges. Same with an artist when they want to remain successful, the moves and strategies they take must not be purely emotional but should be calculated otherwise disaster follows. 

Having understood that we can see the danger many artists face when they decide to completely change their music after encountering tough life scenarios that show them how fragile life is such as near death experiences or death of a loved one or sickness. Now they are ever grateful to the Creator and dedicate to only sing about his Glory and goodness, its a noble idea but in most cases such a revelation only happens to the artist/band leader and not to the band members, management, fans, promoters so from the onset there will be a clash. Imagine after the death of the CEO's child of your your favourite pizza/fast food place from a heart attack caused by obesity he then wakes up and says we no longer make pizza its bad for your health so from now on we are serving sadza rezviyo, black jack and goat meat as they are healthier options!! Would you as customer just substitute your pizza with sadza and continue supporting you favourite restaurant and empathize with the owner or you just move on to you second best pizza option and reminisce about that one you used to love more here and there.

That's the challenge artists don't fully take into consideration when they listen to their emotion or suddenly deciding to follow their true calling. One used to perform at bars and secular events which paid well now they are given platforms to perform in churches which are terrible paying customers, many many many churches hide behind the if you do it for the Lord whole heartedly he will reward you tip whilst they pay you as little as possible. Those band members the artists took searching for need to be paid, every member has their set fee per performance, they have families to feed and are not part of your revelation, for them you're their boss and performing with you is their 9-5 job. Churches will pay you less because all they know about you is your secular music, you're actually a newcomer into gospel and have no paying fans willing to come to your standalone shows so you get the pity slots to perform, that means you will lose you band members and that will in-turn affect the quality of your performances and all this happens whilst your are still finding a way to fulfil the enlightenment you are experiencing. The same will happen to your management and sponsors, you now have fewer shows so sponsors wont get that much exposure from aligning with your brand and they move to the next artist. 

On the fans side a few will definitely give you benefit of doubt and wait to hear what you have cooking. Problem now is you will be judged differently. For example with Baba Harare, when he was still doing Jit I would rate him judging by how crazy people in the club/party get when his tracks are played, the impulse alcohol purchases that get to be made when his songs are playing and now I now judge him by how much his tracks make me feel closer to praying. Before I would compare him with Enzo Ishall, now I compare him to Minister Michael Mahendere and it seems unfair as Min Mahendere has had over 13 years years of practice as a solo artist (not even counting the Mahendere Brothers days) to be as amazing as he is now but that's how fans are. Once you switch from having a successful career in secular music we expect you to pick up from that level into Gospel music and that's nearly impossible. This means an artist may witness a serious drop in fan engagement, online views, show attendances and if they are not strong that will break them.

How one switches also has impact on their future success. Alexio Kawara made a low profile announcement of his switch, true to his brand nothing is ever too loud with Alexio, I'm very sure some fans of his music don't even know he made such a declaration. After the announcement he kept his band intact and continued his Thursday (kuChina Na Alexio) shows which are quite lovely, this ensures money continues to come for the upkeep of the band. A low key announcement also ensures one can quietly reverse and few questions will be asked. Alexio's music has always been positive and uplifting, had he just released a Gospel album without saying anything it would have felt right at home and no-one would have questioned him. So you can feel nothing much has to change sound wise for him, such a switch will be a smoother. Since his switch he has released two tracks Pamuchinjikwa which is okay and Miracle which is meh, still waiting for a full project though so we can get a clearer picture of this new path he has chosen. Alexio is one of best songwriters and vocalists we have seen in Zimbabwe, his albums Pfimbi Yangu, Oyi, Kana and my best project from him Tose (a no-skip album) all showcase the immense talent Alexio and that talent and organization he has shown over the years which gives me some hope that he will be okay. I however doubt he will be able reach the levels of Shaina, Karwiyo Aka, Se, Chihwandehwande, Chipo Changu again I highly doubt that but maybe I am wrong, time will tell.

Bryan K did not make much of a splash with his switch, it was quite a moderate announcement. Bibo loves to experiment with his sound and one may wonder if such a switch is part of that experimenting??!, we shall see in time. The young man is one talented fella but he has never quite achieved prolonged success in secular music outside the success of few singles such as Heavy Machine, Tamba, Noditasei, Ndopenga...etc. His album Nyaya Dzerudo/Forever is a beauty, my favourite project from him. Looking at his discography you can see he was dropping some gospel tracks here and there before so such a switch was not entirely surprising. Since he switched around 2 years back he has released quite a lot of tracks, 3 albums As I Am, God Over All Things and Mufaro Uchauya, his most successful track being Hakuna which is also the most viewed on his entire YouTube catalogue. Among the three artists on my case study today Bryan K has had the least success on the secular side of music so has a relatively easier route to navigate in this new space. He actually has the better chance to become bigger after the switch than before as compared to the other two. What is needed is for him to deliver the goods that shows he is a force to reckon with in the industry. His latest album Mufaro Uchauya is respectable offering but its not the kind of album that will make him a big name in the genre.  

Baba Harare or King David as he rebranded to has the hardest job on switching. Guy had the whole country dancing to his songs, since leaving Jah Prayzah's band he went on to revive Jiti music which was quiet for some time. Jiti by nature is a explosive genre, high energy, comical and heavy with explicit sexually suggestive lyrics, its a genre that is meant to have people dancing till they drop. Baba Harare over years perfected the genre and copycats were now sprawling from all over as some wanted a piece of this pie. In his case a low key announcement was impossible so he just went in full force. Some feel he went too overboard as he sort of ridiculed even those that loved his lyrics, which instantly created haters but maybe that's what he wanted as he was starting over. He even disbanded his band to create a new one, he cut ties with his past life except his past work and social media handles. The expectations were obviously high for Baba Harare, he made his switch when he was on a roll so fireworks were expected. He knew the stakes at hand and did not waste time and went on to release the first project Repentance which was okay, Sukai the leading track racked some good views. Without giving people time to analyze and talk much he released the EP My Testimony and not long after dropped the Revived and Restored Album. He is continuing with his strategy of flooding the market with tracks, hoping some can catch on and become hits. Releasing more also keeps people talking about him which lead to good views whilst hoping one of his tracks catch on. Hype around his switch is now low, he is now at a point where he needs to speak more with his music, he should not rush to release now, he should take his time, do it properly because with each average album his stock is falling, he now needs to show that he is actually a good gospel artist.

To end this I have to say will be very much following these guys and see how they proceed, the impact and success they will have in their new directions. A complete shift is hard for any organization, countless companies have actually collapsed as they tried to completely switch their business model so the road will definitely be hard for these artists. However we also know change is required for growth, so maybe for these artists this switch is a matter of adapting, maybe they see something we don't see about gospel music, maybe its spiritual for sure and they have found meaning and purpose without the need for material success which we judge success by, who knows. For us on the outside we will be eagerly following them to see if whether our assumptions about the various artists will come true and then we'll brag about it to our friends saying I called it, I said it wani paye. That's the downside of being a popular figure, your life and choices get to be our business when we are bored. 

Proud_Zimbo