The debate on what constitutes good music is a never ending one with no authoritative fiat whatsoever.
Most music professionals agreed that good music must have certain elements which include the melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, structure, expression or more. But Nigerian singer, producer and songwriter known as EnergyBank (Anene JulianPaul) has said that nobody has the right to decide whether a certain music is bad or good.
He reasons thus: “To me good music is good music as long as it’s connected to the audience. I feel nobody has the right to determine which music is good or bad really. A lot of music that blew out of Nigeria were songs Nigerian industry didn’t accept at first until outsiders started buying them. You know like every other industry it’s always a set of people in every industry that think they have the right to choose but you cannot play with music, it’s not something to play with. Music is an old spirit that can either heal or drive you crazy.”
EnergyBank has been doing his stuff alone and appears to be doing a good job of it. But as a singer he has his own secret fears and yet is determined to roll out his sails and chart his own course in the never-forgiving music space with his craft.
“My fears and challenges are partnerships. I’ve learned and achieved so much just by doing this by myself and I never asked for help. I’d rather work for it than beg for it. That’s how I was raised. So my challenges are doing everything by myself. I don’t have any fears or doubts about my music because I make music people need to grow up to, so it would be hard to outgrew my music. If people don’t get it now I would understand,” he stated.
For an artist that has come a long way, through the thick and thin all by himself, EnergyBank savours every moment, knowing it could only get better.
“I celebrate every win no matter how small it looks because I know how much work I put in. So I’d be insane not to celebrate. But my lowest moments like I said before is when I’m not recording. It would drive me crazy if I’m not recording, I would probably be on my IG status typing shit because I need to communicate and if I’m not talking on the mic I need to find other means to speak my mind. The voices in my head won’t stop,” he declared.
EnergyBank is from Anambra State and grew up among five siblings. His mother stirred his passion for music at a tender stage. He was mostly influenced at the adolescent stage by the likes of Craig David, Usher, 50 Cent, Tupac Shakur and other gangster rappers. But it was Jay Z that changed his world view of what music should be all about.
“As a young stunner I was influenced by rappers and RnB singers like Usher and Craig David and 50 Cent. I used to freestyle to the beats with my friends to get girls and would embrace the lifestyle of crime because we were listening to Tupac and other gangster rappers. Until one day my older brother brought back a CD from Jay Z Videography album “Street is Watching”. It changed everything for me. I didn’t only want to become an artist then I also wanted to be rich too. The way he illustrated the rich lifestyle in his songs was illustrious and it got me addicted to wanting to become successful,” he recounted.
