Kuami Eugene Vs. King Promise: Who is better? – Pulse Ghana Analysis

While we all enjoy the hot banter, Pulse.com.gh’s David Mawuli has done a short analysis on who is better, using a simple metric; artistry, streaming and charts, branding, international appeal and awards.

Artistry

The Lynx Entertainment and Legacy Life Entertainment imprints signees are both vocalists, however, there are some factors which separate the two. Kuami Eugene, for instance, is an exciting vocalist and aside from that, he produces some of his music. On his songwriting and arrangements skills, he has had a lot of copyright infringement issues – which doesn’t make him a strong contender in this regard. For King Promise, his vocals seem euphonious,

mellowed and smoother than Kuami Eugene. Kuami’s vocals is a bit dry and piercing whenever he tries to hit the high note, but King Promise easily hit the high note without necessarily yelling. While King Promise doesn’t produce his music, he has unique songwriting and arrangement skills. Unlike Kuami Eugene, you hardly find copyright and plagiarism issues with his lyrics. If not for King Promise’s zero sound engineering skills, he would have been placed above Kuami Eugene on the artistry debate.

Streaming and charts

Both artistes have equally dominated iTunes, Spotify, Boomplay and other online music store charts with their singles and albums. They’ve also enjoyed similar dominance on local charts. But, on YouTube, there’s a big difference. King Promise has garnered over 49 million streams on YouTube with his music videos, with his best music video being “CCTV” which has over 10 million views.

Kuami Eugene, on the other hand, has garnered over 84 million streams, twice King Promise’s total views. His best video is “Angela”, which has over 17 million views.

So, if we are to split their local and music stores charts' performance and compare the two on the grounds of YouTube streaming, then Kuami Eugene is doing better than King Promise.

Branding

Branding is one factor we cannot overlook, considering its role in modern showbiz. In terms of branding, King Promise has placed himself in a position where fashionistas and fashion critics find it difficult to criticise him. He always appears in funky looks – and that has been the pillar behind his brand. Aside from that, he is a bit camera shy, which many media houses and personnel have come to terms with. Also, his sounds are tied between highlife and afrobeats – which is why you won't find him working with other genres. He has been able to stick to this for years and it’s been working for him.

But, for Kuami Eugene, he always gets people confused. His fashion sense has been criticised for years. He is funky today and the next day, you will see him going traditional or looking like a local street boy. Apart from that, though he does quite good with highlife, he seems a bit confused with his dominant genre. He has tried different genres, from dancehall to gospel. We can’t criticise that, because it shows he is versatile, but for how long is he going to confuse his loyal fans about what particular genre he is into. That said, he is media-friendly – an attribute which has propelled his brand.

But when we put both on one scale – in terms of branding – the Legacy Life Entertainment signee is way ahead.

International appeal

On the international market, the two are doing good. However, individually, King Promise has enjoyed more international appeal than Kuami Eugene. King Promise has done chart-topping collaborations with the likes of Wizkid, Mr Eazi, Eugy and P Montana, and has shared the same stage with Meek Mill, Tory Lanez, and other international stars. He also has more international hit singles and doing better than Kuami Eugene on the Nigerian market. If not for COVID-19, King Promise would have been the busiest local artiste on the international front. So, in case of the international appeal, King Promise is ahead of Kuami Eugene.

Awards

Kuami Eugene has won 17 out of 32 local and international awards, including “Artiste of the Year” at the just concluded Vodafone Ghana Music Awards. For King Promise, he has had numerous nominations, especially in VGMAs, but has only won a few awards – not even up to five prestigious awards. So, without stressing, Kuami Eugene is a 'big boy' here.

Overall, if all the factors are put together, it’s clear that Kuami Eugene is better than King Promise (at this point).

In your analysis, who do you think is better? Share your candid opinions below.

Pulse Editor's Opinion is the opinion of an editor of Pulse. It does not represent the opinion of the organisation Pulse.