By Dennis Asiimwe

My Song My Way is a collaborative effort that, while stacked with talented, somehow is less than the sum of its parts. You feel a little let down as you listen through the track, because it simply never really takes off or peaks. 

It opens with Ruyonga, whose delivery is as sleek as usual, but who then mars thing by doing that sing-as-if-you-are-rapping thing that really almost makes you simply loathe hip hop, something that we thought was dying out. The fact that he really doesn’t even need to (he is a fantastic rapper) makes it even more infuriating.  

Ruyonga is followed by Neash, who seems to have been set up to do the song’s hook. Except that impression is wrong, because she doesn’t return with the hook – it turns out that is not the hook, but a sort of cameo for her, which is somewhat disorienting. Neash carries her lines with English and Swahili. The main reason she’s probably here is because she is a fresh face, but vocally, she is not much to write home about, especially considering her ‘not-hook’ cameo. She’s obscure for a good reason. By this point in the song, you are beginning to get a vague idea what the song is about – picking up the pieces after the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant lockdown.

The song supposedly is inspirational in this regard, but does a horrible job of getting its message across. Singer, songwriter Ambasa Mandela picks up the baton from Neash, supposedly added to the song’s lineup to lend it a pan-African signature. He sings something along the lines of ‘coming out strong’ in English and Swahili without sounding very convincing before handing over the vocal baton to the awkwardly named Frannie El, another singer, songwriter and producer, whose alleged purpose is to lend the song an R & B vibe. His efforts are decent, truth be told, but look decent because of the mediocre fare that we have had preceding him. This is an opportunity to give the song a pick-me-up and truth be told, he comes close. The song finally gets some life with the cameo from Zoe Melodies. The track finally gets some actual enthusiasm, while there is some actual vocal purity to what Zoe Melodies puts out.  My Song My Way appears to be stacked with pedigree and talent, but falls dramatically short.