The idea that showing a woman’s naked body on music videos could increase the number of views is still a mystery to many. The question still remains, are Zimbabwean viewers consuming these content, but still condemn at the same time?
The phrase, “sex sells” is one of the most controversial ever used in the world’s entertainment industry. It is like a slogan that is thrown around by Promoters, Marketers and other stakeholders in the music industry to foster the narrative that products, materials or content sell faster only when there are explicit or connotations of sex attached to them.
What took my interest in writing this article was the recently released “Walletically” music video by Jah Prayzah. The Zimbabwean musician obviously has a vast understanding of how the industry works. A lof of half naked woman and erotic scenes were displayed in the music video, which has set social media ablaze with many people debating on how it is wrong to display scenes like that in their music videos, some applauding Jah Prayzah claiming the music video is “international material”.
From 2020 up till now, there has been a surge of nudity in Zimbabwean music video. There are two major factors responsible for this surge, the first being continuous, conscious denial of the simple fact that there is an existence of demand for these products or content. I believe there should be a regulated market for it because the more regulatory bodies try to ban and censor such videos, the greater problem it becomes. The second is the sudden emergence of social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. These platforms have helped propagate the agenda and have birthed a new wave of creatives who are daringly exploring their innovative side through the use of nudity.
Some instances of this nudity portrayal is done under the pretext of embracing body positivity. When some of these nude dancers and models receive backlashes, they will then say they are being bullied and body shamed by malicious trolls. Nowadays, many music video stations are heavily bombarded with more than enough sexually stimulating music videos than they bargained for. These stations have now been compelled to not play these videos at all or hit the censor button on a lot of them first, before approving them as playable on air. Despite efforts to curb this spread of nude videos, a large number of these censored videos are still gaining massive distribution through uncensored channels.
The word “sexy” has taken on a new meaning entirely and has become more prominent than ever in the music industry. The word is now being used to describe the ability of a person, usually a woman to cause sexual provocation. Surprisingly, a large number of people today crave this tag, music video producers are now buying into this new trend and it seems to be selling fast. Have Zimbabwean artistes and content creators begun to follow the media culture of the west, where in relative contrast to the African culture, body portrayal is the norm?
