In Conversation With: Twitch 4EVA

Photo by Lelewan
He only started taking music seriously a year or two ago and the romantic gangster is making waves with his ‘coastal music’. With a current collective following of 146.5k across Instagram and Twitter, Twitch 4EVA’s new sound certainly isn’t going unnoticed. Shortly after the release of his 4-track EP ‘LOST’ I hopped onto a zoom call to speak to him about his journey into music, inspirations, and how it feels to share his heartbreak experience with the world. First thing’s first I had to ask about the name, f.k.a ‘Twitch’, he added the 4EVA part in order to differentiate from the video streaming platform twitch when you search for him online. “ I needed a nickname before starting secondary [school] so the seniors would think I’m a cool kid...my cousin heard the name in a movie and gave me the name ”. I did try to find out the name of the movie but unfortunately, the title escapes him. His family has clearly had an impact on his music journey in many other ways as he revealed that he has been singing since childhood: “ we didn’t have electricity but my mum didn’t want me to leave the compound to watch TV so she sang to me and my younger sister ”. Although his younger sister didn’t quite take to the musical side of things, it stayed with him and Twitch 4EVA became the choir director at school. He explained that the backing vocals and layering we hear in some of his tracks is thanks to his choir training. Photo by Lelewan Interestingly, Twitch 4EVA only started making music fairly recently. In 2016 he met Ground Up Chale, a ‘creative house for up and coming talent in Ghana ’. There he learned how to “ make music the professional way ” and developed his writing and singing abilities. He’s dabbled in production but confessed “ I don’t think it’s my thing [other] people have talent in that ”, so we’re probably not going to hear the freestyle he wrote and produced for now. What we can hear, however, is his latest EP ‘LOST’ . The EP was produced by his “ friends/brothers/workmates ” (including Ground Up Chale in-house producer Young D3mz) and it sounds so seamless you’d expect them to have assembled it together, but the tracks were put together across Ghana, America, and London. The project runs for just under 10 minutes and concurrently explores the idea of being lost from two different perspectives - LOST in Love and LOST in Life. “ I was in this relationship...and she was just having fun but didn’t let me know at the beginning; I took it on a serious level while she was having fun which I realised later and I felt heartbroken ” He also drew inspiration from his parents’ relationship and their situation which led to his dad leaving while he was 6years old. Twitch 4EVA explained “ I learned that love can be harsh to us sometimes...If you really love someone you feel some type of way for the person ”. In essence, the aim of the project was to capture these sentiments and share them in song-form - listening to Chaskele you can definitely feel the love, pain and frustration. On the other side of the coin, he continues, “ everyone in life is trying to be successful; there is no formula .” Photo by Beniigh Photography I was curious to know Twitch 4EVA’s favourite song on the project, although all tracks are from the heart, there’s always one that an artist has a special relationship with - for him it’s ‘Baby’. The self-proclaimed ‘romantic gangster’ told me “ It comes from a true place, a very deep part of my heart...I’m not the type to compliment people and all that but what I would do is put my emotions in a song and send it to my girl instead ”.  I get it...kinda...but also wondered if doing interviews and other bits of promo opens up the wound again or whether it makes things like the heartbreak that fueled the project and other feelings easier to talk about. He shared “ it gets tiring sometimes but I want to share this, my story, with the world, I’m ready to talk about it with whoever wants to know or listen ”. The EP artwork features Twitch 4EVA with a traditional African hairstyle called Adonko in his native tounge; other African countries give it various names. It was something different and although the style is quite striking I think the cover was well-balanced. Having grown up with his grandmother, mother, and younger sister he regularly saw styles such as this and not only wanted to “ portray Africa ”, but also his mother. I’ve seen Twitch 4EVA’s music referred to as ‘Coastal Music’ online so wanted to hear the definition from it’s founder. “ [It is] music that has been influenced mainly from the motherland, that’s where I’m from in Ghana. And then has been fused with other African sounds like Afrobeats, Amapiano vibes, a lot of that. It’s like the type of songs you can listen to at the beach with your partner, when you’re down or when you’re happy…Really trying to build on that sound, I want to create like a new genre; I’m just experimenting with stuff. ” When he started making music after high school, the artist confesses one of his biggest influences was (and still is) Nigerian artist & entrepreneur Mr. Eazi. “ He was an inspiration because I felt like I could do what he was doing ... I feel proud that’s my role model, and he’s going far ”. Aside from Mr. Eazi he points out that the dream collaboration would be with Nigeria’s Burna Boy, “ If I get a collab with Burna Boy I’ll be like: yeah, I’ve achieved something, set a goal and achieved something ”. However, when it comes to features and remixes he wants everything to happen organically, “ I want them to be a fan of me too. I won’t rush for a feature but I’ll work hard so my music is up there and they notice...slow process but we’ll get there ”. Clearly Twitch 4EVA is fond of Nigerian sounds and says he’s keen to visit. Ghanaian superstars Sarkodie, R2bees, and Stonebwoy all received shout outs when I asked about artists he’s interested in more locally in Ghana, “ there are new artists every week ” but most recently he’s been listening to the emerging sound of Kumasi Drill .  Our chat came to an end as I could spot Twitch’s producer and a few others setting up for their session. I briefly asked about what’s next on his list, long and short term. A long term goal/dream he’s working towards is to perform where/whenever he can and eventually headline the Staples Centre, Los Angeles. Short term, he’ll be putting the work in and getting more music to us when he can. As for the LOST EP, his team is considering releasing the video for another track so he suggests we run up the streams to help them decide! LOST by Twitch 4EVA is available on all streaming platforms now.