by Curlan Campbell
- Olusola considering award ceremony recognising local artistes
- Grenadian singers, songwriters and producers engaged Olusola
- Son of Nigerian physicist and Grenadian nurse
After a fruitful engagement session with Grenadian artistes from all genres, Grammy award-winning Beatboxer and a cappella singer Kevin Olusola of Pentatonix, is considering developing an award ceremony named after him in recognition of local artistes on the island.
This was among the ideas put forward during the engagement session where Olusola listened to local artistes to understand better their needs and how best he could assist.
Pentatonix comprises 5 members: Mitch Grassi, Kirstin Maldonado, Scott Hoying, Matt Sallee, and Kevin Olusola. Following their “Around the World for the Holidays,” a collaboration between Pentatonix and Disney +, Olusola, son of a Nigerian physicist and a Grenadian nurse, decided to forge an even deeper connection with the island. Despite being raised in Owensboro, Kentucky, he described Grenada as his second home and is now looking at ways to use his platform to give back further.
“I hope to come back and continue to grow my relationship with the local artistes and the local community, really so that I may know how to be of service and represent Grenada even better,” Olusola said.
Thamara Songbird St Bernard, Sabrina Francis, Sonika Keturah Jermina Mckie, Jonathan Francis, Zorina Andrews-Andall and gospel singer Kareen Morain Alexander were among Grenadian singers, songwriters and producers who engaged Olusola. His advice varied and included how local artistes can leverage their brand and followers to increase their revenue and reach, how to stay relevant but authentic to their artistic expression, and how to network to grow the local music industry.
Olusola informed local artistes that they are their company’s and brand’s CEO and must leverage social media platforms to increase brand identity and awareness.
“Short form video, less than 60 seconds, I think is a big way to do that, and the most beautiful thing is that it doesn’t have to b this big production. I think that the thing that makes a lot of artists very scared and nervous about making that jump, is the economics of it can feel daunting but you can sit there, 60 seconds and less, and just sing your heart out or play your heart out. I still do that today and it’s amazing to see how that connects to people,” he said.
He also reminded them of the need to stay true to themselves and their craft and should not compromise their integrity to achieve fan and notoriety in the music business.
“What’s the brand that you are trying to bring out to the world where people can connect to you, so I will focus on that whether you want to give people McDonald’s or you want to give them soul food. If you are trying to give people soul food, then make your brand about soul food from not just what you are singing about, but to the way you look, to the visuals. Make it about that then build a beautiful brand about that… let that be the thing that you celebrate and then figure how to make that digestible to TikTok and other places,” Olusola said.
Most importantly, Olusola urged artists to pay attention to the other side of the industry, the business.
Olusola is also an accomplished cello player who was inspired to infuse his love for the cello and his skill of beatboxing to create a new way to express his musical ability. This happened during his sophomore year living in China and studying Mandarin when his language teacher put forward the idea to combine the 2 skill sets. Around that time, he made a video where he played the cello while beatboxing. This was his catapult to fame after the video went viral and got him the opportunity to join Season 3 of “The Sing-Off.”
Olusola was instrumental in getting Grenada featured on “Disney + around the World for the Holidays” which featured Grenadian singer Sabrina Francis. Now streaming Disney +, the programme was released on 2 December 2022. The a cappella group is planning to head to Australia on a 2023 world tour.
