The music streaming platform Spotify is without a doubt one of the best sites to find new music, but also to create recognition for a lot of new artists that are fighting to climb those rankings. Especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, where there is fierce competition to leave the continent and travel to Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Since there’s a great chance to land a great contract as they take off from Africa, a lot of artists take these rankings very seriously, and getting to the top is a great concern to many of them.

That said, there’s always great anticipation when Spotify releases the “Fresh Finds Africa” ranking. This time it was Phiona Okumu, the head of music for Sub-Saharan Africa for the music streaming platform, who is in charge of announcing the list. It was revealed that Ghana’s own Kofee Bean has emerged as second in that ranking, which is very good news for one of the hardest working African music artists with an “emerging” career, since she only became a full-time musician in 2021.

Patience Naa Oyo Titus-Glover, known by her artist name Kofee Bean, started her career with a quite interesting EP called “Breathing”, which became a great hit in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, France, and Great Britain. This impressive take off got her to the second place in the ranking, putting her side by side with great artists like Sarkodie, Becca and R2Bees amongst many others, with nothing but open road for a very humble and charming artist.

It’s one of those “underdog” stories that always begins with a sacrifice and hard work story, as she started singing two years ago in a band called “Made Africa”, in every pub, bar, and micro concert she could find. It was only in 2021 when she decided to part from that band and start her own, pledging to make the most of this opportunity. She got an astonishing start, climbing to the second position in the Fresh Finds Africa ranking in only one year of work.

Standing out in style

Even when there are hundreds of thousands of artists that dedicate their lives to creating a catchy song in the vast world of African Neo Soul music. Armed only with a sincere heart, pen and paper and a voice that speaks quite beyond her young age, Kofee Bean has been working in her style for years, grabbing musical concepts from soul and R&B to create what is called one of the best examples of African soul music.

Heavily influenced by artists like Sade, Asa, Castro, Jill Scott, and Erykah Badu, she began writing songs and poetry at the age of seven, never imagining that she would be a recognized artist not only in her native Ghana, but in a good portion of the world. But even in this bit of an explosion in her career, she has never shown herself other than with that beautiful humble aura that she has always had and that very gentle voice that she has always had as a presentation card.

She was always able to create beautiful stories in her songs, sometimes telling heartwarming stories and others just opening the door for people to know her upbringing and correlate with a sometimes harsh and challenging childhood, as sometimes happens in her beloved Ghana. Her songs are without a doubt a great journey through her soul, sometimes honest, others vulnerable, but always with a sense of freedom that has everything to do with her African music influence.

As mentioned before, this outstanding recognition can only bring good fortune to this emerging star, particularly when she´s having a promising 10.000 listeners in Spotify, only to grow in the coming months. Her vigor and passion for music is much alike some of Ghana´s famous artists like the great Edem, MzVee and D-Black amongst many others.

The jump from Spotify to other big platforms

Many young African artists are looking for other ways to escape the one-way ticket of the streaming platform to other popular social media platforms, like TikTok, where many teenagers are using African Soul Music to give a “chill vibe” to their videos. And, of course, they are using both famous artists and emerging royalty free music to avoid the copyright restrictions that often burden not only users but also young artists trying to establish themselves.

But of course, the integration with Spotify allows many artists to have the recognition that only Instagram or other social media associated with the streaming platform can give them. Since millions of people use social media on a daily basis, it’s only a matter of time before Kofee Bean rises to be heard by hundreds of thousands, giving her career the propulsion to reach the stars.

This remarks the importance of Spotify’s programs like Fresh Finds, which give artists a great opportunity to reach a “well-known” status in terms of months or even weeks. According to the streaming platform’s statistics, millions of people listen to new EPs, albums and upcoming artists in this ranking, opening a great door for thousands to go to fame.