Nigerian singer Paul Okoye, popularly known as Rudeboy and formerly one half of the defunct P-Square duo, has argued that social media has reduced the prestige musicians once enjoyed among their fans.
Speaking in a recent interview with Lun Lifestyle TV, Rudeboy said artistes were previously regarded as mysterious figures, with fans eager to catch a glimpse of them because they rarely had access to their personal lives.
According to him, social media has eroded that mystique by making musicians more accessible and visible to the public.
Rudeboy consequently described spending money on music videos as a waste, linking the development to the loss of the mystery that once surrounded musicians.
“The reason you don’t see people faint for artistes anymore is because they see them on TikTok every day dancing and promoting your music. If Michael Jackson was alive now and doing promotional content on social media, nobody would see him and faint.
Unfortunately, it’s too late for us to bring back the era of artistes being mystiques. How can you advise an artiste to post every day? How? Post what? You don’t need to.
“Social media brought positive change to the industry but it also led to ‘see-finish.’ Artistes are now too exposed. Fans see how they eat, cry. Before when artistes go to club, they stay in restricted VIP areas, but now when they are clubbing, everyone is filming.”