Afro-fusion

MOLIY was working at a Victoria’s Secret in Orlando, Fla. after dropping out of college at 19 when her back started hurting from all the restocking. One day, “they were calling me in for work. I just muted my phone and never went back,” she tells Billboard with a chuckle.
She moved back home to Accra, Ghana soon after and decided to pursue music full time after her friends connected her to local creatives, and she constantly found herself in the studio. MOLIY grew up around all kinds of music: Her mother owned a restaurant/bar called The Gomeries right next to their house that played Céline Dion, Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston all night long. Meanwhile at the crib, MOLIY listened to Rihanna, Beyoncé, Missy Elliott and Keri Hilson as well as Ghanaian acts like Eazzy, Itz Tiffany, Sister Deborah and MzBel. Her eclectic music taste, paired with the rise of Nigeria’s subcultural alté scene that has also influenced some Ghanaian artists, “opened my mind to thinking even though I may not sound like the ideal Ghanaian artist, I could create a space for myself,” she says. “That just kept me going.”

Months after dropping her introspective, Afro-fusion debut EP Wondergirl, MOLIY garnered buzz in 2020 when she appeared on fellow Ghanaian artist Amaarae’s Afropop bop “Sad Girlz Luv Money.” The remix, featuring Kali Uchis, reached No. 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 the following year, and it hit No. 28 on Rhythmic Airplay.

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Then at the end of last year – after months of teasing it with a now-viral dance of her whining her waist while covering her face with her hands – MOLIY released “Shake It To The Max (FLY),” an Afro-dancehall club banger that’s bound to make any listener “bend your back,” “bend your knees” and buss it down once the bass-bumping production and scratching hits. Jamaican stars Shenseea and Skillibeng – the latter of whom assisted another African darling, Tyla, on last year’s “Jump” – enhanced the dancehall vibes when they hopped on the remix. And Davido, Victoria Monét, Ciara, J-Hope, Spice and many more have been shaking it to the max all over the internet.

With the help of the remix, “Shake It To The Max” has spent six weeks (and counting) at No. 1 on U.S. Afrobeats Songs and is in the top 10 of the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. US. Four years after her feature on “Sad Girlz Luv Money,” MOLIY has returned to the Hot 100, as “Shake It to the Max” has reached No. 55 (chart dated June 21), and she’s back at radio with the song reaching No. 18 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay. “Shake It to the Max” has registered 47 million official on-demand U.S. streams and 289.3 million official on-demand global streams (through June 12), according to Luminate.

Billboard spoke with June’s African Rookie of the Month about reflecting on the success of “Sad Girlz Luv Money,” creating a more “upbeat and energetic” vibe with “Shake It to the Max,” officially meeting Vybz Kartel after performing with him at his first U.S. show in 20 years, and anticipating the remix with him and Stefflon Don.

How did your upbringing impact the music you listen to and the music you make?

Although we have our own local music heavy on rotation, we’re also very in touch with worldwide music. There’s a lot of music that tends to cross over especially from major acts, like Céline Dion, MJ, Whitney Houston, Chris Brown. I went to an international high school, so [I was] around students from different cultures who would play stuff. I was lucky enough to have heard lots of different styles that I was drawn to, like hip-hop, R&B, dancehall, Afrobeats, highlife, hiplife.

And what kind of music do you listen to now?

I’m listening to Brazilian funk, Caribbean music, soca, EDM-infused Caribbean music as well like Major Lazer. I’m trying to create a sound that’s in that realm, so that’s all I listen to right now.

While you were in Florida, you started studying business administration in college but eventually dropped out. What made you decide to move back to Ghana?

My brother and sister were able to figure out [work and school] a lot better. I don’t know why I didn’t feel like it was working. I don’t think I was making friends that much, and the whole job thing was not what I expected when I was moving to the U.S. There’s a certain fantasy of how people assume leaving Ghana and going to live outside is. For more fortunate people with heavy bank accounts, it’s probably easier to adjust. But when you’re trying to hustle and figure it out by yourself, and you’re young, it’s difficult. I gave up. I wasn’t down for that, so I went back to my mom. I’m like, “Mom, I’m home!” [Laughs.]

How did you transition into making music full time in Ghana?

It started with me listening to YouTube beats and trying to write music. I would pour myself a glass of wine in the middle of the night and just be vibing, freestyling melodies and writing. I was also observing the music industry in Ghana and Africa, especially in Nigeria, because Nigeria has this whole scene of alternative music, and people were coming out with some crazy sounds — sounds you wouldn’t expect to hear from an African. It opened my mind to thinking even though I may not sound like the ideal Ghanaian artist, I could create a space for myself. That just kept me going.  

What kind of sounds and styles does your music encompass? How would you describe your music in your own words?

It’s very worldwide. I sing in English even though I could try to tap into some of the Ghanaian dialects like Twi. Sometimes people ask me, “Why don’t you make music in this language?” That’s because I feel English is the most universal language. My sound is worldwide, but it’s Afro-fusion because you can hear it in my accent, in my wordplay and even in some of things I speak about. It’s very influenced by hip-hop, dancehall and a lot of the music I grew up listening to.

I remember early stages of being obsessed with music. The first stage was pop, which is Michael. And then the second stage was hip-hop. Oh my God, did I love Eminem! I would just listen to an entire song, especially “Mockingbird,” and write down all the lyrics and try to sing it in the same way. Then after hip-hop, I graduated to dancehall. From dancehall is when I started listening to Afrobeats because at that stage, the sound was growing globally. I was being introduced to Wizkid, Davido and Burna Boy. I went through all these stages of loving these genres so much that now [my music] is a combination.

Prior to the success of “Shake It to the Max (FLY),” you debuted on the Hot 100 in 2021 with the Kali Uchis remix of Amaarae’s “Sad Girlz Luv Money.” Four years later, what does the success of that song mean to you and your career?

When that happened, it made me a big believer in what I was doing. You can have success at home, but once it’s crossing over to the U.S. and the rest of the world, it grew my faith a lot more. It’s a reassuring feeling because I’m living in my purpose when I’m making my music. When something like that happens, it’s a big pat on the shoulder like, “OK, babes, you’re on the right track. Keep going.”

Outside of “Sad Girlz Luv Money,” you appear on another song on Amaarae’s THE ANGEL YOU DON’T KNOW album: “Feel a Way,” alongside your sister Mellissa. You and Mellissa are also both featured on Boj’s “In a Loop” in 2022. Were those merely coincidences, or did you two purposefully hop on those songs together?

Most of the time, we’re together. When I’m going into a session, I need her moral support. At the time, I felt like I would be more comfortable if she was there. She’s also super creative and talented, so if I needed help, she could tap in. Boj requested the both of us to pull up. But with Amaarae, she came with me to support me, but while she was there, she’s like, “Wait, I have this idea.” And then Amaarae is like, “Well, do it.” [Laughs.] That’s how that happened.

At the 2025 Telecel Ghana Music Awards, Stonebwoy shouted you out during his acceptance speech when he won best reggae/dancehall song of the year, saying that he “respected” how you’ve been “taking [dancehall] where nobody expected it to go within a very short while.” Why have you gravitated toward dancehall so much?

I wouldn’t say my initial decision was to just make dancehall music. I knew I wanted to make something that was upbeat and energetic, something people could dance to. Most of my previous music people would say is chill, sexy and vibey. I would hear comments like, “I love to hear your music when I’m taking a drive” or “I love to hear your music when I’m in my room chilling with my girl.” But I want to be heard in different places. I want to be heard in the club. I want to be heard at the festivals. When I met [producers Silent Addy and Disco Neil], it was a combination of me knowing I wanted to create a certain vibe and knowing that these guys make dancehall, we merged these two ideas and went from there.  

Prior to “Shake It to the Max,” “Shake It” was featured on your 2022 EP Mahogany St. Is there any relationship between the two songs?

No, not at all. [Laughs.] It’s so funny because when I was teasing “Shake It to the Max” and it wasn’t out yet, I could see the streaming numbers for that song going up because people thought they were searching for it and they were gonna find it there.

Take me back through the making of “Shake It to the Max.”

I was in Orlando and I was speaking to this producer Tejiri, he worked with Tems on “Wait For U.” I found him on Instagram and I’m like, “Hey, let’s work.” We were trying to find ways to make it happen. I went to LA specifically to work with him, and then the second time, he was like, “I’m coming to Miami and I’m going to be working with a whole bunch of different people. You should pull up.” So we linked up. I met a couple different producers: Mr. NaisGai (he works with Rauw Alejandro), Silent Addy and Disco Neil. Tejiri was trying to work on something with them for their artists’ projects. At the time, we were thinking, “OK, MOLIY is here, maybe we can create something for her to collab on the projects, or we could just make some records.” Some of the work we did was a collaboration between Tejiri and Silent Addy and Disco Neil.

A year later, we had had three separate sessions together. The last session was in August, and we created three or four songs. The last one was “Shake It to the Max.” Earlier in 2024, I hadn’t dropped any music by myself. [My manager Therese Jones and I] were trying to figure out how we can take things to the next level for me. She was like, “You know what, MOLIY? Why don’t you tease some music?” I teased about three or four songs in one Instagram post. When I added “Shake It to the Max,” I was like, “Hmm, this song is actually a vibe.” After that post, I wouldn’t say anyone particularly screamed out, “Oh my God, we love that one!” I just kept doing videos to this one song on TikTok and that’s when I started trying to be creative with what I do and how I’m posting it.

Why were Shenseea and Skillibeng the right artists for the remix?

In my opinion, they’re the top of the top of the top, top, top of the top in Jamaica. I genuinely love each of their music, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I would not change anything with how that remix happened. They loved the song. The original song was No. 1 in Jamaica, and it was great leverage to make them feel like it was a good idea. I didn’t make it happen, however. It was Silent Addy and Disco Neil. The producers made the conversations happen.  

Since that remix has blown up, you’ve released more with other artists like Major Lazer, Gladdest and Kalash and Maureen. What inspired that strategy?

With the Kalash and Maureen one, that was also the producers. They’re very hands-on with how these remixes came about. Even with Major Lazer, it was them as well. They have relationships with these people already [because of] the dancehall industry. The first time I came across Gladdest was [when] she was doing the dance challenge in the middle of NYC. The next time I came across her, she did a freestyle to it on her TikTok. It was [getting] a lot of positive reactions. The same way I was posting practically every day to promote the “Shake It to the Max” remix, she was posting every day to promote her freestyle. She was super passionate about it, and there was no way we were not going to put out the record with her as well. What I love most about all of this is the people that we’ve worked with genuinely wanted to be part of the moment. They’re supported it, they’ve promoted it, and it feels so organic and amazing.

When can fans expect the Stefflon Don and Vybz Kartel remix?

I honestly don’t know. I want it to come out. She wants it to come out. Vybz is also excited for it to come out. We’re working on it with our teams. There were some [Vybz] verses going around TikTok. I remember people asking me, “Why are you not putting out the Vybz version?” I’m like, “Guys, it’s not official.” Some DJ probably put one of his old verses on the song and it was making rounds on TikTok. And then Steff comes along and was like, “Babe, I got Vybz.” [Laughs.] It’s really dope, and I’m excited for it to come out.

Vybz brought you out as one of his special guests during his one of his two historic sold-out shows at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in April. How did the opportunity come about? Considering dancehall is a crucial element in your music’s DNA, what was it like to share the stage with the King of Dancehall himself?

It’s insane. Everything happens so fast, you don’t get a moment to soak it all in. But every moment of that was super exciting. Prior to being on stage, I actually hadn’t met him yet. So afterwards, I got to meet him, and he was just so nice and so cool. The aura was there. Gamma made that happen. They spoke to him about it, and they also got Skilli and Shen to pull up.

Would you say that’s the biggest “pinch me” moment of your career so far, or does another moment come to mind?

It’s definitely one of the first “pinch me” moments during this entire process. No, the first one would be hearing Shen and Skilli on the song officially. People were dropping freestyles, and they posted their verses as freestyles. But me knowing that the song is actually coming out with them was the first “pinch me” moment because I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else for the first remix.

The second would be this Billboard Hot 100 second moment. When you’re an artist and people see you doing something great, it’s like, “Wow, amazing! But can you do it again?” Throughout this process, there are so many highs and lows and so many moments I’ve had to remind myself to be positive and be hopeful. It’s crazy to see when something amazing does happen. It’s not all for nothing.   

Who would you love to collaborate with this year?

Me and Drake would be fire. Me and Wizkid would be fire. Doja Cat would be amazing. I also really like Ice Spice. That would be so, so, so cute. Cash Cobain would be dope.

What’s next for MOLIY in 2025?

There should be a project, I wouldn’t say an album, but there should be a project coming out. I would hope it would be more like I’m dropping singles and then at the end of it, there ends up being a project. I’m also on the road right now. We’re doing MOLIY on the road and I have so many shows lined up, just trying to spread the gospel of “Shake It to the Max.”