“You see what I had to deal with… Smh (shaking my head) SpotTheGuyWithTheYellowShirtTakingASSelfie,” she said. PHOTO| COURTESY
That sex sells is not in question. It therefore comes as no surprise that sensual dressing, suggestive lyrics and raunchy dancing are some of the things that come with being a female musician today.
One might argue that this “package” submits them to the whims of adrenaline and testosterone-charged male fans, and the question then becomes, just how much attention from fans is too much?
Avril, one of Kenya’s celebrated female artistes, was recently on the receiving end of aroused fans’ attention at the Maasai Mara University where they not only fondled her behind, but also took selfies with it.
The star took to her Instagram page to react;
“You see what I had to deal with… Smh (shaking my head)
SpotTheGuyWithTheYellowShirtTakingASSelfie,” she said.
“Gosh, Masaai Mara University students showed me things,” she captioned another picture.
Avril, Size 8 and Suzanna Owiyo have all been on the receiving end of wayward fans’ attention. PHOTOS| FILE| NATION MEDIA GROUP
Speaking to Zuqka later, Avril admitted that that was not an isolated incident.
“You see what I had to deal with… Smh (shaking my head) SpotTheGuyWithTheYellowShirtTakingASSelfie,” she said. PHOTO| COURTESY
“The occasional drunk fan has jumped on stage but that’s a simple situation to contain. It can actually help make your show a little bit more interesting if handled well,” she said.
“Excitement is expected; how you deal with it is what is important. As a female performer, you have to be wise and learn how to work with your audience because the way you react to how a male or female fan behaves will generate different reactions.
Some reactions can get out of control because of, perhaps, how you said something or did something. Male and female fans alike will surprise you when you are on stage so it’s important to have security with you on stage if the stage has not been properly secured from the crowd,” she added.
L-Jay Maasai once had to wrestle his rungu away from a fan. PHOTO | FILE
In response to the question as to whether fans are justified to react in such a manner, Avril said,
“Mob psychology is a tough thing to understand. No one has the right to touch someone without their consent but you’ll find that it’ll happen many times because people are different and what is wrong to some people might not be wrong to others. When one person does something, there always seems to have something like a domino effect.”
The singer, who is engaged to be married, added that her fiancée gets aggravated when some fans choose to take advantage of her, or of the situation but “he’s very mature about it” as well.
To protect herself while on stage, she has developed some key survival tactics like learning how to talk to people in order not to make the situation worse.
If there is one thing that the Avril incident at Maasai Mara brought to the fore, it is how vulnerable female artistes are while performing on stage.
Size 8
This former secular artiste turned gospel musician readily admits that such is the life of a female artiste when performing before an adrenaline-charged crowd.
“Remember, you are their fantasy come to life. You are a beautiful young singer. Of course, they will want to touch you,” she says.
Size 8 adds that whether performing as a secular artiste or as the gospel artiste she is now, she takes every possible precaution to ensure her safety.
“First, I never walk alone. I always have a PA with me, two cops and a bouncer (in all the major towns I visit). If performing for a rowdy crowd (mostly at universities), I would never wear a dress but would prefer shorts or trousers.”
In 2011, she recalls, she had to abandon a show mid-way after the crowd she was set to perform for got out of control and stormed the stage forcing the policemen accompanying her to shoot in the air. The event organisers understood her reasons for not performing.
“They were relieved that no harm had come to me, as it was their duty to protect me,” she says.
“Whenever I go for a show, my PA goes ahead to survey the situation first, before I even step out of the car. She will then advise me how to take care of myself on stage. For instance, she will tell me not to go too close to the edge, and whether the stage has barriers or not.”
The “Mateke” hitmaker says that despite taking all these precautions, the incidents still occur.
She was once invited to a show which turned out to be fake. The purported organisers had even sent her a flier and told her that she was due to perform in a club only to be taken to a VIP lounge upon her arrival and be asked to “wait”.
She was with her PA and smelling a rat, they managed to escape and find their way to Nairobi.
Suzanna Owiyo
Suzanna Owiyo, famous for hit songs like “Kisumu 100″ and her most recent release, “Wamiel”, acknowledges that as a female artiste, when she’s on stage, she has no control over what fans decide to do.
“I get embarrassed sometimes when playing the guitar and a fan walks up to me and insert money in my bra as a sign of their appreciation of my music. You can’t stop them at that time. It might seem embarrassing now, but that is entertainment. It is just showbiz.”
When she was an industry newbie, Suzanna, while being interviewed on a radio station, gave out her number, which led to her being stalked, and taught her a life lesson.
The man called her and they had what she deemed were harmless conversations “talking business”, which culminated into a meeting at a local hotel where the man revealed his true colours.
After exchanging pleasantries, he produced a book where he had painstakingly documented every bit of information he could find about her life. She bolted and has since learnt to be more discerning.
Suzanna Owiyo, famous for hit songs like “Kisumu 100″ and her most recent release,“Wamiel”, acknowledges that as a female artiste, when she’s on stage, she has no control over what fans decide to do. PHOTO| FILE| NATION MEDIA GROUP
“Fans will sometimes jump onto the stage when you are performing and even touch your butt, but they never really want to harm you. It is just that they are very excited. Yes, it is embarrassing for me as a performer and to my family as well, that is why they must be willing to understand the situation. You have to be up to the task. This is showbiz.”
At the end of the day, she says, fans will be fans.
“How fans behave towards you is part of the show. For me, I just think of my next performance.”
Beyoncé
While performing her hit single, “Irreplaceable”, in Denmark, Beyoncé had to ward off the advances of a fan who took the opportunity to slap her butt as she was singing while mingling with fans. Her response? She told the offending fan? “I will have you escorted out right now, alright?”
Beyonce poses with her three Grammys in the press room during the 57th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California on February 8, 2015.PHOTO | AFP
Rapper Iggy Azalea, during a radio interview, said she would no longer crowd surf (crowd surfing, also known as body surfing, is the process in which a person is passed overhead from person to person (often during a concert), transferring the person from one part of the venue to another.) because fans touch her inappropriately whenever she does so.
Meanwhile, while performing her hit song, We Found Love during a concert in the UK, Rihanna reportedly smacked a fan with the microphone after the fan refused to let go of her arm.
Female artistes, regardless of where they are or what they are performing, will at one point or another have to deal with adrenalin-charged fans who consider them objects of their desires. But how prepared are they to deal with such (often unwanted) attention?
The artistes we spoke to seemed to agree on one point: That fans will always try to get a little more than what the ticket they paid for promises. For the artistes, the wayward fans are a necessary evil.
How male performers handle attention from fans
Colonel Mustafa
Colonel Mustafa recalls an incident at the 2004 Beach Party when fans threw their bras and panties at him while he was performing.
“I am used to this, and this is how my fans show their appreciation for my music. I also lose clothing items while on stage. For example, I always lose my cap while performing. I would not call that theft, it is just fan appreciation…sometimes I will even give a way my T-Shirt. I own a clothing line, Loboko, so it is also a way of promoting the brand.”
He recalls one incident where, during a Diamond show, he lost his phone while taking a picture with his fans.
“But, this was an isolated incident, and I learnt not to bring my phone to performances. Fans make us, they are our people.”
On jealousy from partners or spouses, Mustafa says he would never take his girlfriend or wife to his shows. Unless, of course, it was a corporate or VIP show which is generally ‘PG’ rated.
Colonel Mustafa. Photo/COURTESY
“If my wife or girlfriend worked in the bank, for example, we would not sit down to discuss the number of men that flirted with her, so I would not want her in my performances nor would I discuss the performance.”
Sauti Sol
“Nishike” hit-makers Sauti Sol has also had their fair share of unwarranted attention from female fans.
For example, the band members were forced to move houses when fans started showing up un-announced at their door-step.
Bien, one of the band members, says privacy invasion comes with the territory of being a performer;
“People will send you crazy, crazy messages- which sometimes you ignore because obviously you cannot answer each and every message. That is when they get abusive and call you unprintable names, also call you arrogant. Right now I have a fan who calls me fifty times in one hour. When you block them, they get a new number.”
At the Storymoja Hay Festival last year, their fans (mostly primary and high school kids) went into a frenzy, mobbed the band and relieved them of their valuables like watches, caps and shirts.
“It was as if they wanted a part of the band, whatever it was. They took what they could, celebrated at the “wins” and left,” said Anyiko, their publicist.
Kenya’s top boy band Sauti Sol have had their fair share of fans behaving badly. PHOTO | FILE
While at a show in Mwanza in 2014 , a fan jumped onto the stage and launched herself into the arms of one of the band members.
During the same show, a female fan got into a fight with the bouncers because she wanted backstage access to the musicians.
The band members allowed her in , as they did not want the bouncer roughing her up, but she started touching and petting them suggestively, forcing them to have her escorted out by security.
“Let fans enjoy themselves. Before I became a musician, I was also a stalker. I loved to stalk artistes, I wanted to meet them and be like them.
When a fan comes to my doorstep, that is privacy invasion but when a fan comes up to me on stage, then let us party! When they rip my shirt off, that is what the music is doing to them. I do not really care what fans do when I am on stage,” added Bien.
LJay Maasai
Gospel artiste LJay Maasai once had fans throw their underpants at him. He refuses to say where but offers that he was performing at a secular event.
“If you are performing to teenager and young people in general, then you can expect anything,” he says.
L-Jay Maasai once had to wrestle his rungu away from a fan. PHOTO | FILE
During a performance at the Coke Studio launch in 2014 at KICC, a fan grabbed LJay’s rungu- a trademark of his performance and image as an artistes. His reaction?
“I held on tight to the rungu,” he says laughingly.
The singer has also had fans pull him into the crowd and his feet grabbed as he performed.
He takes all this attention positively and says that fans behaving like this means that they appreciate his music.
“I appreciate my fans the way they are. The main thing is that if they go to such extents, it means that they appreciate my music and that my message is getting home.”
Bahati
Two-time Groove Award winner Bahati calls himself a man of the people and says he constantly gets into arguments with event organisers because of how closely he interacts with his fans.
He has also crowd-surfed before without incident.
Groove award male artist of the year Bahati Kevin at Nation Centre on June 10, 2014. PHOTO/CHARLES KAMAU
“During the Groove tour in Eldoret last year, I almost caused a stampede because I had gone to interact with my fans.”
He admits that he has been stalked on phone and on his social networks but says that even this is something to glorify God for.
“If you really believe you are a man of the people, and I believe I am, then stalking is something you glorify God for. I want my fans to feel free with me.” -Nation
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