Tuesday, 13 May

King Promise on surprises performing as Afrobeats' torchbearer in Asia

Entertainment
Ghanaian music superstars King Promise

Telecel Ghana Music Awards (TGMAs) 2025 Artiste of the Year King Promise (KP) has revealed the songs he was shocked were known and loved in Asia from his catalogue.

Asia has been a virgin continent for Afrobeats shows but in 2024, KP toured the continent, demonstrating it had an unsung admiration for the West African genre which has become a global sensation.

“I was the first African to do a show in Singapore. I sold-out Singapore, I sold-out Bali, I sold-out Jakarta. Still in Asia, I’ve done Kuala Lumpur – before going to Japan,” the Paris hitmaker said.

“I went to the Middle East, also, playing [shows] in Bahrain, Dubai…”

For him, the feat was significant not just for his career but for his country, too.

He said he took so much pride in representing Ghana “in those sides of the world” where the shows were not attended by Ghanaians but by “people who are different with a different cultural background, and everything”.

Notwithstanding the unfamiliar culture, he delighted in selling out the venues with “people going crazy”.

“It’s such a beautiful thing, and I’m happy Ghanaians can also shout that, ‘This is ours, we did it!’ It’s beautiful. I’m thankful,” he emphasised.

Promise clarified these Asian shows were his own King Promise Live shows, “for which people paid, and came out to watch me”.

He said he had help “from people on the ground” in each country he visited who collaborated with his team to make the shows successes.

He recalled surprises on the tour.

“I didn’t know what to expect, first of all, because I hadn’t been there before. I said, ‘This is weird. It’s different’. But also when you check on the backend you see vividly that they really listen to your music out there. So it was only right we had to go there and amplify the work. We did it and the rest is history,” he said.

“They sang my songs word for word. When I got there, I thought it was [only] Paris, Terminator… Bro, they were singing CCTV, Sisa, Abena…”

He reasoned it was either the audiences out there were already familiar with his music or his latest album, True to Self, had led them deep into his catalogue.

“It was truly beautiful,” Promise exclaimed, happily.

He said audiences on his tour told him, “We’ve been waiting for you for so long. We’ve long your music from time [past]. It’s just beautiful that you’re here now.”

Source: classfmonline.com/Prince Benjamin