Female musician Mzbel has said her bad girl image arose from bad management by her handlers in her early days as a musician.

Mzbel’s arrival on the Ghanaian showbiz scene met with controversy, the singer appearing on stage in skimpy outfits to perform songs laden with risqué lyrics, most notably hit track Awoso Me. Photos have also emerged of the artiste posing nude in the past, developments that have entrenched the perception.

But setting the record straight on the Class Drive on Class91.3FM on Thursday 23 March, the 16 Years composer explained the reason the bad girl perception around her does not go away.

She told show host Prince Benjamin: “From the beginning I was launched into the industry wrongly. It was these people I was working with. They had no idea how it worked. They owned a studio, they had all the equipment, they had money, I was pushed into the studio to do a freestyle and by the time I realised I had an album, so they just put me out there. We were just trying with Awoso Me and it was a hit instantly and everybody wanted to see who was behind the song, so they (the handlers) convinced me to do it because people loved me and before I realised I was performing everywhere, granting interviews. So we didn’t plan it.

“I can just get up and wear anything and act anyhow on stage. I was young, I was having fun, I loved it, people loved it, so I didn’t really care about my makeups, costumes, I just wanted to be free… And then there were other girls in the industry who would go on stage in their baggy jeans and big chains and they didn’t reveal so much [skin]. They were very careful about the words they used, but the people behind me, that is Hush Hush Studios, didn’t care either. They had just come from America where everybody is allowed to do what they want to. It was just like that.

“So people started criticising me, calling me bad names and we didn’t care because anytime there was a show and I was on, it was hot and I was making money travelling the world, so nobody cared. …There was no social media where people would go and insult you and post bad pictures of you and all that. It was just radio and TV and how often will they have time to go and sit down and talk about one person, so it wasn’t a big deal. So my name started going on and on and by the time social media became popular, I had a bad name and no matter how hard I try to rebrand, it’s not working”.

Mzbel advised her fans not to judge her based on what they read about her in the media. According to her, she is a nice person who just wants to live a normal life.

“Don’t judge me based on what you read in newspapers or what you read on websites and blogs. If you don’t hear it from me, then it’s not true. They should understand that celebrities are also human beings. We like to do silly stuffs like they like to do. We like to take our phones and pull our tongues out and take pictures and be carefree, so sometimes they shouldn’t take these things too seriously otherwise it would not be fun anymore – we would be like robots, always faking.