Rie Osei Reveals She Puts Personal Experiences Into Her Music

Ghanaian singer and songwriter Rie Osei has said that her music draws heavily from her personal experiences, describing songwriting as a process through which she puts her emotions and life experiences into her work.

She said she began writing music several years ago after growing up with a strong interest in music, noting that she started writing before fully deciding that she wanted to become an artiste.

Rie who was speaking on the Big Convo segment of the Culture Daily morning show on 3Music TV and Pluzz 89.9FM, explained that her creative process usually begins with a beat or an idea, after which she experiments with melodies, rhythms and cadences until an idea develops naturally.

“If I have a beat or I have an idea, I’ll just attack with the melodies or a rhythm, a cadence,” she said.

She said she avoids forcing lyrics when an idea is not developing naturally because doing so can affect the authenticity of the final work.

According to Rie, her lyrics often contain personal experiences and emotions, which makes her selective about writing songs for other artistes.

“If you listen to my music, if you listen to Marince's music, you know that we actually put our soul into the track,” she said.

Rie said she has previously worked with artistes on their projects but remains protective of her own songwriting because of the personal experiences behind her lyrics.

She also discussed her musical identity, saying she initially found it difficult to describe herself as a singer because her style developed from melodic rap.

Her apperance comes at when the group is promoting Adwuma Wura, the lead single from Abrantie Simms and Ess Thee Legend’s collaborative project, Finding My Rhythm EP 1, a body of work that explores growth, purpose, self-discovery and the pursuit of creative excellence through a distinctly Ghanaian lens.

She said the project gave the three artistes an opportunity to bring different perspectives to the same concept.

The song focuses on work, ambition and pursuing financial stability, with each artiste contributing to the shared theme from their own perspective.

Rie said the collaboration forms part of her continued development as an artiste and songwriter as she works on establishing her own sound and identity.