The relationship pool in Accra is one extreme sport to navigate. To lovers and couples who find themselves in different fields, it is even harder to make time when work and Accra traffic takes all your time and energy.
For Both Bryan The Mensah and Titi Owusu, it was important to highlight this particular aspect of a relationship that few talk about. In creating the song, they both dug deep into their love life to make the content of the song relatable to their listeners.
In the lyrics Bryan the Mensah sings “But it ain’t easy for me either girl believe me, Cos when I’m at the shows, Or in the studio, I can’t think straight, I make mistakes, Cos you on my mind the whole time.”
The song also depicts a guy doing all his best to be there for his girlfriend, from thinking about her all day at work to watching cooking tutorials just to cook for her.
This relatable content worked because the song has some quotables which have become viral trends. Some social media users especially on Twitter took to the bird app to tweet “Anopa Tutu ” which translates to English as “Early in the morning.”
Known for carving out a unique space for himself in the music scene, Bryan The Mensah is undoubtedly one of the leaders of the new school pack of artists doing things differently. The melodic rap/pop artist didn’t hold back on this single, which is off his debut album “Road To Hastafari”.
Bryan The Mensah and Titi Owusu shared with us the production and writing creative process as well as achievements in this interview with 49th Street.
Enjoy the interview below:
49th Street: Congratulations on your latest album, you kept your 5-year promise?
Bryan The Mensah: Thank you, yes, I did. I announced this album in 2016 around the time I was just starting out with the idea of eventually becoming a matured artist by the time the album was due.
49th Street: Your “Road To Hastafari” album explores different themes from your music journey to family to love. To you what does love mean?
Bryan The Mensah: Love to me is time, attention, care and concern. I feel like if you love someone you’d freely give these four things involuntarily.
Titi Owusu: Love is completely giving yourself to someone or something unconditionally. Love makes the world go round, love is what inspires me, love is what keeps me going, the love I have for music and the people who believe in me is the reason I’ve gotten this far.
49th Street: In creating “Until I See You,” Tell us about the creative process?
Bryan The Mensah: So I usually write before producing because I pretty much put together the entire idea of the song from songwriting to production before I even put it down on the boards. That’s not always the case though cause I’m not always the one who produces every song I drop but “Until I See You” is one of those songs where I had everything figured out in my head before even putting on the laptop lol. At that time I had a lot of pop and trap influences and so the beat ended up having guitars and strings from my pop influences and then heavy 808s and drums from my trap influences
49th Street: What was the most challenging thing about making the record for you?
Titi Owusu: Making this record was no challenge because Bryan the Mensah and I already had a working relationship. We work great together so this is pretty easy.
49th Street: Have you been in a relationship with anyone outside your field of work and did that fuel the writing process of “Until I See You” ? Was it a personal experience or based on a story you heard?
Bryan The Mensah: Yes, I’m currently in a relationship with someone outside my field of work. It definitely contributed heavily to the writing of the song because it gave me access to both perspectives of two people in a relationship who have conflicting work schedules such that they don’t get to see each other even though they live in the same house. It was a mixture of both a personal experience and a story from my close circle.
Titi Owusu: Yes, I have. Being in a relationship with a partner who isn’t in your field of work can be so difficult, that definitely had a part to play in the emotions I expressed in “Until I See You”
49th Street: Did you create “Until I See You” with Titi Owusu in Mind to feature?
Bryan The Mensah: At first no, I actually just knew that I needed a female artist to tell the story from the girl’s perspective, but I hadn’t hand picked anyone just yet. However, Titi and I already had a working relationship because we had already done collaborations in the past so she was very early on my list of go-to’s and so we made it happen.
49th Street: What was your reaction when you first heard Titi Owusu’s verse?
Bryan The Mensah: I was really impressed because it added a different and dynamic feels to the song and I also loved how much of her emotions she was able to express in her vocals. Amazing artist.
49th Street: Tell us your reaction to the reception of “Until I See You” and how people could relate to the song?
Bryan The Mensah: I think I was not really surprised when I saw it picking up because before the album came out, I had listened to that song over a 100 times and just kept admitting to myself how amazing, realistic and mature the song was.
Titi Owusu: Seeing people react so positively to the song has been the best feeling, it’s encouraging and it makes me want to work harder.
49th Street: Should we look forward to more collaborations between Bryan the Mensah and Titi Owusu?
Bryan The Mensah: Definitely.
Titi Owusu: Most Definitely!
49th Street: What has been some of your achievements since releasing your debut album “Road To Hastafari”.
Bryan The Mensah:
• We have a number 1 radio song in the country.
• We had the number 1 hip-hop album on apple music in the country.
• The album did over 1 million streams in the first week of release and has currently done 1 million streams on Boomplay alone.
49th Street: Career-wise, has there been any impact after “Until I See You” was released?
Titi Owusu: Oh yes, after the release of “Until I See You” a lot of people have discovered my old music, and I’ve been nominated for “emerging woman of the year” at the upcoming 3 music awards, this is my very first award nomination.
Words by Jesse Ababio
