Premiere: Y’akoto Celebrates A New Love And Reconnects With Her Ghanaian Ro
Written by SOURCE on October 23, 2020
Having spent much of her life between Germany, France and Ghana (as well as Togo, Chad and Cameroon), singer-songwriter Y’akoto (real name Jennifer Yaa Akoto Kieck) recently made her home in the Ghanaian capital of Accra, which also happens to be her father’s birthplace. The decision to move there came after a particularly painful heartbreak which spurred her decision to relocate, hoping to “re-learn to love herself radically”, in her words.
The result of this experience ended up becoming her new EP, OBAA YAA, her first substantial project since 2017’s Mermaid Blues. The new EP officially dropped today and with it comes the visual for key extract “Undercover Lover”. Splashed with eye-popping colour, references to ’80s Miami and countless wardrobe changes, the visuals from director Akwadaa Nyame perfectly fits her upbeat, funk-tinged soul number. As she explains in greater detail below, the video wasn’t just inspired by the boundless optimism that hits you at the start of a new relationship, but also by the process of reconnecting with her Ghanaian roots.
“Following on from the ‘I Agree” video and the ideas and inspiration surrounding colour,” Y’akoto explains, “I wanted to create a more vivid coloured atmosphere for my next video for ‘Undercover Lover’. I’ve always been drawn to and indulged in colour from my early years and it’s something that attracted me to move back to Ghana. “‘Undercover Lover’ encapsulates the excitement of a new romance and the video sets the same playful, teasing and flirtatious tone. Shot across multiple scenes in a studio in Accra and put together from it’s conception in less than one week. I worked with Akwadaa Nyame, a young up and coming video director from Ghana. One thing is for sure — nothing is undercover about this video.
