Ghanaian highlife and Afrobeats have been a major influence on King Promise’s music since the start of his career in 2016. Along with never shying away from his heritage, the Accra native hasn’t strayed from those who have been in his corner since his debut album, As Promised. For example, Ghanaian music producer KillBeatz was behind both the singer’s 2017 breakout single, “Oh Yeah,” and his successful “Terminator” in 2023. The latter is his biggest and most streamed hit to date. What’s more, it was the most streamed song in Ghana that year on Spotify. The track’s viral dance challenge played a significant role in its rise to popularity, as the song has been used in over 1 million videos on TikTok alone.

During an exclusive interview with REVOLT, King Promise described his creative process. The renowned talent explained that he creates music based on how he feels but also considers his mission of connecting people around the world. The sentiment was no different when he recorded “Terminator,” which went on to blow up with over 200 million global streams, according to the artist.

“It's just beautiful to see how everyone has embraced it, how far it's going and continuing to go, and the aftermath of that,” the Legacy Life Entertainment signee told REVOLT. “Like I said in my [previous Instagram] post, it's the first time I've had that much [streams] on one record… So it's just beautiful to see that the levels keep upping. I'm just thankful for that.”

Before making history with “Terminator,” King Promise grew his loyal fan base through consistency and releasing unique bangers. Beyond solo records, his distinctive approach to music remained the same when working with other artists. While he has collaborations with Wizkid, Sarkodie, Mr. Eazi, Shatta Wale, R2Bees and more under his belt, the talent also triumphed in carving his own lane among fellow African music powerhouses.

King Promise credits his evolution in the industry to his and his team’s shared ambition for incessantly striving toward new heights.

“With every year, we try to up the levels with regard to the sound, branding, fashion, traveling with the music,” he explained. “I feel like with time comes growth. How you sing, how you write — experiences make you better. So, over the years, I’ve just tried to be the best version of myself. It’s never no pressure. Everything comes along as it should in time.”

The critical acclaim and accolades that King Promise has garnered for nearly a decade have transformed into more career firsts, such as his first-ever Asian tour. In April and May, he made stops in Singapore, Bali and Jakarta. Within the three-stop trek, King reportedly became the first Afrobeats artist to perform in Singapore and sell out his show in Asia.

“Asia was a movie. I’ve never experienced anything of that sort,” he recalled. “The cultures are so different, so far apart, but we’re connected through music, through sound. It's just a beautiful thing having people singing something — they may not even understand the words they're saying, but they're feeling it and they're excited for it. It's just beautiful how music works. It was just an exciting experience to literally experience where they are from as well, their culture and just see the similarities we have as humans through music, regardless of how different our backgrounds are.”

King Promise continues to evolve as a global music star, and his third studio album, True To Self, could not have come at a better time than during this era of his artistry. The project followed his sophomore album, 5 Star, which was more experimental than his debut. However, the singer-songwriter shared with REVOLT that he has taken things back to the foundation of his signature sound. He even declared True To Self his “best body of work to date” and “most precious baby.”

“Just going back to basics, my main influence is being highlife and just being Ghanaian in general,” King Promise explained. “And then, making music for the whole world as well. Just [metamorphosing] all of that into a beautiful body of work.”

Amid the recent discourse led by African artists who have rejected categorizing their music as Afrobeats, King shared his own view.

“I feel as Africans, our identity is Afrobeats,” he said. “I feel like at the end of the day, everyone can choose to say what they want or classify themselves in ways they deem is good for them, but we all know that when you say, ‘Afrobeats,’ the immediate thing that comes to mind is African music. So maybe someone would call it, ‘Afro this,’ ‘Afro that’... For me, it's Afrobeats over everything.”

He continued, “It's not bad to evolve. I feel like a lot of sounds have come out of Afrobeats, which people have chosen to categorize differently. Afropop, ‘Afro this,’ ‘Afro that,’ at the end of the day, they’re all Afrobeats. That's how I see it.”

True To Self marked another project by King Promise that fused highlife and Afrobeats, and included features by Sarkodie, Gabzy and Olivetheboy. Following several successful singles — “Terminator,” “Perfect Combi,” “Paris” and “Favourite Story” — the hitmaker detailed that the rest of the tracklist ranges between “uptempo, calm, love music, life music and hustle music.” His ultimate desire for the album is to give listeners a view into his most authentic self.

“True To Self, I’m just laying it all out,” King Promise said. “Just being as vulnerable as I am and just speaking my truth.”

True To Self dropped on June 14. Tune in below.