Jorgen Geleplay, popularly known by his musical stage name, “Starmelod” is a Philadelphia based musician and songwriter, who shook the growing Liberian entertainment industry with his 2016, hit song titled “RUDE RUDE THINGS“. The song became an instant hit after the release of the audio, followed by the official music video. Starmelod song became one of the hottest song (still) a Liberian artiste ever released. Liberians and non-Liberians around the world showed tremendous love and support. The song became huge that it even went beyond the Liberian community. The success of the song earned him the titled “Mr. RUDE RUDE THINGS”.
However, I believe that the song itself even became more popular than the actual inventor. I also believe that due to his lack of knowledge on the business aspect of music, the demand for the song slowly died down. With success, there comes a huge responsibility, and that is using your popularity to make money. Unfortunately for Starmelod he did not have the right mindset nor right management team to help him excel to higher heights. This has happened to several artists within our entertainment industry.
Recently, when the hitmaker brand new manager reached out to me, I was a little curious about why he stopped making music. So, we handle some business traction and then I asked for his permission to speak with Starmelod. He then gave me the go-ahead to slide in his DM. I didn’t hesitate, I immediately, slide in his DM as if I was a lady who had a major crush on a celebrity. lol.
I asked him about why he’d taken a break from the industry? It took him time for him to respond but then he eventually responded.
He replied, “Oh, we have started? Okay, let me explain then.”
I responded, “Lol… yes!”
He writes:
“Having no clue on proper branding and promotion the song blew and left me behind. Every single Liberian know the Song “Rude RudeThings” but how many Liberians know the name Starmelod? Not even third of the people who sing and dance to the song. To make matters worst I got involved with the wrong people who I thought had my best interest, they held me down for good seven months of my time before I finally got my wake up call. Now, this is where things got really interesting. So with all this going on I had received a computer update/upgrade message on my Mac. It was to upgrade to the latest software (High Sierra) my dumb ass accepted the update and it was magical… my computer felt new and had new features too. Little did I know High Sierra could not recognize my audio interface for some reason getting in the way of recording so I decided to uninstall Mrs. High Sierra. Biggest mistake of my life. Little did I know that I was wiping my entire computer clean. So clean that when you turn it on all you see is a white screen and just the apple logo. Any artist that’s been to my house will tell you that I had tons of songs on my computer because I recorded almost every day and that’s the perks of having a home studio. That situation drove me right off the cliff, and NO I didn’t have any of my songs backed up on anything. I had too much faith in my MAC. At one point I even said “fuck it I quit” my boy Skoolboy Wizzy, and BigZ and other people can testify to this. This, of course, took time for me to get over. Then I met my current Manager Thomas who you will hear me refer to as Uncle Tom or Tom Kakao. Through him, I met my investor who names I will not disclose. Together we decided to we are gonna hit Africa heavy. With them being Ivorian and me being a Liberian we are gonna use all of our resources, advantages, and knowledge to make proper moves. Music for me has never been a problem and the problems that I had are no longer a problem.”
Starmelod recently released two brand new work: One of which he features Skoolboy Wizzy titled “Chemical” (video) and “Pakana”, (audio) which he did by himself.
Chemical feat Skoolboy Wizzy
Starmelod is scheduled to visit Ivory coast and Liberia alongside his manager, Uncle Tom.
Starmelod has the “star” quality and one of my favorite thing about him is that his images are always on point. So, I’ll like to say to you, welcome back and DO NOT give up on your dream. You were born for this. Liberia’s entertainment industry need your contribution to survive. Keep reaching for the stars!!
In addition to this article, whenever I speak to entertainers about structuring the entertainment industry, people think am less-busy or speaking on a “Personal interest” level. But it is important for us as the “movers” and shakers” to start implementing rules and regulations. We cannot continue to invest in an industry that is not bringing us revenues. We need to set up the industry in a way, each of its investors can at least start getting back what they put into it. Even if we don’t get back everything, at least let’s do something to change the current state.
Follow Starmelod here:
Facebook: Starmelod
Instagram: Starmelod
Twitter: Starmelod
Spotify: Starmelod
Youtube: Starmelod
Website: www.starmelod.com
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