Veteran Ghanaian musician Mzbel has blamed persistent media coverage of her appearance and stage performances for creating a controversial public image that she says followed her throughout her music career.
The songstress said some media personalities repeatedly portrayed her in a manner that went beyond her music, with the descriptions eventually influencing how sections of the public perceived her.
Mzbel recalled an incident involving a female journalist who allegedly described her dressing and stage performances as pornography.
According to the musician, she did not consider her outfit inappropriate, insisting that her choice of clothing was simply part of her stage appearance.
“I was targeted. Not that I felt it. I saw it was face to face,” Mzbel said in an interview with Kafui Dey.
She added: “All I did was wear short skirt.”
Mzbel said the media’s role in shaping public perception was particularly significant because journalists and broadcasters served as the main channels through which celebrities were presented to audiences.
“They are the gatekeepers,” she said.
The musician explained that the constant criticism also made her uncomfortable in public, as she became uncertain about how people viewed her based on the negative commentary surrounding her career.
“It made me uncomfortable because then when I go out into public and people I’m not sure who is nice and who is not nice because I always get attacked on radio,” she said.
Mzbel further argued that repeated media descriptions eventually became attached to her name, making it difficult for the public to separate her identity as a musician from the controversial image created around her.
“Once people’s brain are programmed that this is who Mzbel is, the moment you say Mzbel, it has to be pornography. It’s something that is associated with pornography,” she said.
Her comments highlight her view that media narratives can have a lasting influence on the public image of entertainers, particularly when coverage repeatedly focuses on their appearance and controversies rather than their artistic work.
