CELEB BUZZ: Otile Brown was smart to date Vera Sidika

Vera Sidika and Otile Brown. PHOTO | FILE

What you need to know:

  • Otile Brown chose to do one thing that suddenly catapulted him into the mainstream – dating a famous and controversial woman.
  • The relationship with Vera Sidika didn’t just happen because of blind, incontrollable feelings.

Becoming a superstar is not easy. Sometimes you need a little help.

There are thousands of underground rappers and singers in Kenya. All of them dream of doing interviews and having hundreds of thousands of followers on social media. They dream of performing in front of huge crowds every week, with fans screaming their names.

Nearly all of them are ready to do anything to make these dreams come true, but there’s a conundrum. What’s the definition of ‘anything’? It’s a word that creates endless possibilities.

You can choose to do anything and succeed. You can also choose to do anything and fail.

Otile Brown chose to do one thing that suddenly catapulted him into the mainstream – dating a famous and controversial woman.

The fashion-savvy singer has had one of the fastest rises in the history of Kenyan music.

The oldest song on his YouTube channel was posted less than two years ago. That’s quite recent.

RISE TO FAME

There are artistes who have released music for more than a decade without even tasting crumbs of popularity. Good artistes for that matter. Not the ones that force you to listen to their latest single that is just a pretentious snore-fest masquerading as a tuneful masterpiece.

The fact that Otile rose so fast meant he had a little bit of luck mixed with talent. He constantly released songs laced with fitting lovey-dovey rhymes – the flow was tight, the production was textured and the hooks evoked intense desire for courtship.

Nevertheless, he was still a semi-celebrity. A good number of my friends have told me that until recently, they didn’t know he existed.

Otile was putting out solid musical compositions, but they didn’t have that much of an x-factor to stand out from other similar tracks at the time.

Then, like a chess grandmaster, he made one smart move and boom: checkmate. That move was getting into a relationship with Vera Sidika.

All of a sudden, everyone wanted to know who Otile Brown was. All of a sudden, everyone was checking out his music. Blogs were rich with Otile headlines whereas every TV and radio presenter wanted a sit-down with him.    

I strongly believe that Otile Brown knew the kind of boost he would get by dating Vera. The relationship didn’t just happen because of blind, incontrollable feelings.

Vera is siren after all. According to the book The Art Of Seduction, a siren is a beautiful woman that men admire but also fear. They appreciate her from afar but refrain from coming close to her because they aren’t sure they can handle her.

Otile had to muster up plenty of courage to date Vera. He knew the kind of negative rumours there are about her. The grapevine has always been packed with rumours about the kind of things she does while abroad.

He also knew she was more popular and richer than him but he dated her anyway.

FOCUS

The coast-based singer knew the globe-trotter’s fans would become his fans too. He knew he would get a lot of hate too but on the weighing scale, the benefits would outweigh the drawbacks.

Not everyone is a fun of Vera and Otile’s relationship. We can unanimously agree that their ODA (Online Display of Affection) is too much. They post too many pictures together. They also post videos of themselves doing things that would make Ezekiel Mutua choke on his morning tea.

A section of fans is concerned. They feel Otile has become plagued by unhealthy love. He talks about Vera in such glowing terms.

More so, they don’t understand why anyone would pick Vera as their partner. Vera Sidika? Really? Those are the two questions they keep repeating.

They can’t help but conclude the boy has lost it. They say he’s acting like a high school kid who has fallen in love for the first time.

I honestly think people are focusing on irrelevancies. It doesn’t matter whether he is too obsessed with Vera or not. The key thing we should focus on is what this relationship has done to his career and how he has ascended to great heights.      

Right now there is no stopping Otile. Negative opinions about him don’t matter. If you think his love life is absurd, you might have a point but it doesn’t matter. He is winning.

Ever since he hooked up with Vera, he has pushed himself further and further into the limelight, making songs that are airy, joyous, silvery and irrepressibly fun.

Legendary Italian philosopher Nichollo Machiavelli once put it well with the phrase Accusata Scusata (The action is accused but the outcome excuses it). You killed the king? Yes, he was a tyrant. You dated Vera? Yes, and I am now one of the most popular singers in Kenya.

Go Otile!