Don’t pay attention to us when we nag about award schemes; we speak out of emotions — Nacee

Ghanaian gospel artist Nacee has advised the public to take musicians' complaints about award schemes with a pinch of salt, attributing their criticisms to emotional reactions which are not objective.

Speaking in an interview with TV3 on May 3, 2024, Nacee shared his perspective on the role of music award schemes in Ghana, particularly as the Telecel Ghana Music Awards (TGMA) marked its 25th anniversary.

While acknowledging that musicians often criticise award schemes, especially when they feel overlooked, Nacee emphasized that artists only get emotional and suggested that their criticisms should not be taken too seriously.

"As musicians, we are very emotional beings. Every time the nominee list comes out, we criticize it and make the scheme feel as if it has done nothing in our circles.

“But when we go outside Ghana, we go on interviews and we are asked if we, as musicians, have won any awards, we feel proud to say, ‘Yes, I have won so, so, and so awards,'" he explained.

Nacee highlighted that artistes often burst out in public with complaints and yet privately they pride in their accolades, urging the public not to pay too much attention to their complaints.

"We are very emotional. As an artist, you can be nominated, but if you see some categories in which you were expecting to be nominated and you are not in there, you will still complain. So, they shouldn’t listen to us," he emphasized.

Despite the criticisms, Nacee commended the TGMA for its contributions to the music industry over the past 25 years and called on corporate institutions to support such award schemes.

"I think the scheme has done very, very well. We just have to encourage them, and the corporate world should support them because it’s not easy to organize a program.

“For them to go through this kind of coaching and directing for 25 years, we applaud them," he stated.