Ghana Showbiz News: Stonebwoy Could Win ‘Artiste of the Year’ at next year's VGMA

With just a couple of weeks to close the year, which would also mean, the closure of the calendar year for the 2015 music releases for the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards 2016; music lovers, experts and connoisseurs of the industry have been opining on which artist has/had the most profound season.
Ghanaian artists have really worked this year; from gospel to dancehall to especially highlife – they have really put in so much effort to put their music and personalities out there.
However, of all the artists who have really impacted highly on the music scene this year, one artist seems to stand out and stands tall amongst his peers in terms of how loud, effective and popular his music and brand has been.
That artist is Stonebwoy Burniton, razzonline.com strongly believes.
You doubt? Well, wait until you read the next paragraphs and decipher the documented reasons that validates the paper’s strong assertion of his dominance and possible annexation of the ultimate prize, VGMA ‘Artiste of the Year’ honour for a record second straight time.
Thus far, in this year 2015, Stonebwoy has virtually won all the major awards held this season; winning over his contemporaries who stood tall in the subsequent years.
Earlier this year, he became just the second dancehall act in 15 years of the Ghana Music Awards to win the topmost prize, ‘Artist of the Year’ after Shatta Wale.
In the same Awards Scheme, he also won two other awards, ‘Reggae/Dancehall Artist of the Year’ and ‘Reggae/Dancehall Song of the Year’.
The much-talked about BET Awards came calling and going into the ‘Best International Act – Africa’ category with the likes of Sarkodie, AKA, Yemi Alade and WizKid, the lad from Ashaiman was an unmentioned underdog.
In fact, critics did not even consider him as one of the top three acts who were likely to win the award but he defied the odds and grabbed the award, the second time for Ghana.
But wait, there’s more! Stonebwoy, as the sole representative from Ghana at the annual African Muzik Magazine Awards (AFRIMMA) held in Texas, won the ‘Best Dancehall Artist’.
Another award, the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) was bagged recently for the ‘Reggae/Dancehall Artist of the Year.
Back home in Ghana, Stonebwoy again, took control of another influential Awards Scheme, 4Syte Music Video Awards, where he won the ultimate prize, ‘The Most Influential Artist of the Year’.
He also picked two other awards on the night; “Best Directed Video’ and ‘Best Reggae/Dancehall’ – making him the highest award winner on the night.
Put all the awards aside for a minute and let’s discuss the level of activity.
Stonebwoy has been extremely vibrant in the year – with music releases and top-notch performances throughout the year.
‘Come Over’ with MzVee was well-received, ‘Zongo Girl’ with Pono Biom was average, ‘Run Go’ was big within the Reggae fold and of course, ‘Go Higher’ is one of the biggest joints released in the year.
The criteria for the ultimate award at the VGMAs, ; ‘Artist of the Year’ states: “Artist of the Year is the topmost award at the Ghana Music Awards, given to the artist(s) adjudged by the Academy, Board and the general public as having the highest audience appeal and popularity. The artist(s) must have released a hit single/album during the year under review.’
Sarkodie, the other contender for that prize, has been very active in the year but, unlike previous years – he does not command that big banger of a song to make him win. ‘New Guy’ was disappointingly short-lived and ‘Mewu’ was not resounding.
Another top contender, Bisa KDei, has what it takes to rule the VGMA 2016. He has a very popular song in ‘Mansa’ but his appeal and popularity, albeit strong, is slightly below that of Stonebwoy – arguably.
Now, the other top contender is E.L. Good songs, strong personality, and good shows but, within the year under review, his appeal and influence were quite less compared to Stonebwoy’s.
So, there you have it! After 16 years of VGMAs, where no artist has been able to win the topmost award, ‘Artist of Year’ back to back; Stonebwoy stands a good chance of breaking that jinx, but that is only an assessment of razzonline.com. Anything is possible!

Source: razzonline.com