Jody comes out of her music shell

MORE people join the music industry every other day to claim a fair share of the fame, power and money within the industry. One of the latest entrants is Phoebe Muyaboke, otherwise known by her stage name as Jody. She is a second-year student, pursuing a degree in social sciences at Mount Kenya University. The 22-year-old is steadily rising within the industry barely two years since she hit the music scene. Her songs are being played on Rwandan airwaves even as far as Uganda and Kenya. Jody is the star behind songs like Njye nawe, intera, Tenderness, Ndacyashikanya, and her latest single better than them; among many others. Her genre of music is Afropop that she at times fuses with soft reggae, RnB and dancehall. She has performed and worked with some of the big names in the industry and across the region; which she attributes to her character as a “go-getter” and this has enabled her make cryptic connections with stars she never could imagine working with. Being a new entrant in the industry; she exudes a lot of potential that has seen her have opening acts at several different functions such as the Kigali Up festival, Jungle party in Gisenyi where she sang alongside Keko and Cindy of Uganda, and Museto East Africa in Kenya in which the big names in the industry across the region participated. Locally, she has featured alongside other musicians such as True-D in Ntawukundutira and The Brothers (now disbanded) in intera, which have earned her a fairly sizeable fan base across Rwanda. It is because of her proactive nature that Shadrack, one of Uganda’s renowned producers scouted and signed her under the platinum entertainment record label which is behind her two latest singles; tenderness and better than them. The two singles have managed to enlist interest from other regional artistes proposing to work with her. But as they say, success is defined by ambition and milestone; and so is Jody. Jody is inspired by dreams to work with Tewa Savage of Nigeria and legendary Cecile Kayirebwa currently in Belgium. “I believe it is time for Rwandan music to expand across Africa and rival industries like Nigeria,” she added. Asked as to what she thinks of the Rwandan music industry; Jody said “basing on the fact that the industry is still growing, I think it gives me a better platform to be one of the people to champion its growth and it will go down in history that I took part in establishing the industry across the region and perhaps Africa as a whole.” Although she is still on her rise to stardom, it hasn’t been all rosy for her. She faces a challenge of balancing school and her music career. Equally, she has not garnered as much financial support and advice from sponsors, and some business partners that instead make sexual advances to her in exchange for favours. The piece of advice she gives anyone pursuing a talent is to resiliently work hard, look out for already established partners for guidance, and beware of the challenges ahead but above all, think positively and stay focused.

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Jody comes out of her music shell