How Ghanaian Artist Moliy Played the Long Game

It all began with a dance. Its movements are simple: an uncomplicated rotation of one's waist repeated as one jumps back and forth whileMoliy andSilent Addy's "Shake It To The Max (Fly)," a dancehall-meets-house fusion, plays in the background.

Nowadays, it's common for artists to blow up on social media apps like TikTok from just a snippet of their song. The "Shake It To The Max (Fly)" effect was tickling, and the song and accompanying dance instantly went viral. For Ghanaian artist Moliy (real name Molly Ama Montgomery), all of this was a pleasant surprise, mainly because she released the snippet of the song, her biggest solo work yet, in a year in which she'd decided to take a hiatus from music.

On TikTok, more than235,000 videos have been made under the sound with over a million streams on Spotify, a top 20 placement on the UK Afrobeats Chart, anda remix featuring dancehall stars Shensea and Skillibeng released last Friday, Feb. 21.

As internet lore goes, artists who drag out their snippets, taking their time to release the song, often miss the train and waste the opportunity to capture their audience. Moliy, however, refused to subscribe to the craze. It was nearly three months between when she teased the song and finally released it in December.

"I've been very chill throughout the process because I'm enjoying the moment. People are feeling the pressure for me," Moliy says. "So many people were saying, 'My god, you're you're missing the moment.' I was just like, 'Do you guys even know what three months is?' I get the music industry these days [where] something pops up, and it fizzles out twice as fast. But that's not how I felt like this was going to be. I never planned to drop music that year. I was just teasing music," she adds.

When the song was finally released in December, Moliy didn't relent in its promotion. A tactic that led to the remixes, including one that might be coming from Stefflon Don.

"The goal was never just about going viral overnight. We focused on building a real connection with listeners over time, making sure the song lived beyond just the initial hype," Therese Oheema Jones, Moliy's manager, says, adding that the plan was to let the song breathe and take a life of its own. "And then once it was out, we kept finding ways to keep it fresh, whether through dance or just engaging with the fans who organically loved it and eventually the remixes."

"The last [solo] project I dropped was in 2022, and I've been doing features for the whole of last year. So, that gave me enough time to figure out what I wanted," Moliy says of the journey to exploring this new, more upbeat sound.

"Previously, based on my releases, people are like, 'Moliy's music is kind of chill; you can kick back, you can chill in your room, or you can take a drive and listen to this, and that's the energy,' but that's not how I perceive myself. I knew that I had something else to offer. I can make something that makes people want to dance, move, and have a good time. I can play in those environments where people are having amazing nights."

Moliy's experiences in the industry haven't always been smooth sailing. In 2022, Moliymade the news for the limited visibility and credit she was receiving for her work onAmaarae's"Sad Gurlz Luv Money." For anyone else at that stage of her career, publicly fighting for recognition may have been daunting, but Moliy has a grounded sense of self and says the experience has shaped her so far. "I think there was a lot I didn't understand about the industry and people in the industry," she says of the situation. "It definitely played a great factor in where I am and who I am now. So, I can only give thanks."

As Moliy explains, the biggest win from the smashing success of "Shake It" is the increased visibility it has given her as an artist. "I've already been on an extremely successful song, but I don't think people put my face to it. And what this [song] has done is put my face [out] there so people can recognize me now."

Moliy plans to explore this new sound and redefine her artistry; the mission is to keep playing the long game at her own pace.