Comparing Two Songs That Shouldn't Be Compared: My Way vs Comme Ça
This analytical piece examines Stanley's 'My Way' and Salatiel's 'Comme Ça' (featuring Daphne), rejecting the premise that one overshadows the other. The writer argues they serve fundamentally different purposes and deserve separate evaluation on their own merits.
Salatiel recently released an audio and lyric video for his song Comme Ça in which he features Daphne. I’ll save us the trouble and not do one of those “Straight Hit” or “Club Banger” reviews that we are accustomed to seeing even where they have no business being. What prompted me to write something about the two songs was a post I came across on Facebook in which someone was asking if “Comme Ça” can overshadow Stanley’s “My Way.” I do not think that is the right discussion to be having about both songs. Bref, these two songs do not fall in the same what I like to call occasion. That said, had these songs come in a different time, a time when our socioeconomic climate was more vibrant, they would have gone down in history as turning points in Cameroonian music. I love both songs for different reasons so let’s go ahead and deconstruct them.
MY WAY
By now, I don’t think Softouch’ skill is up for debate. He has proven overtime his versatility as a music producer even though I am still looking forward to seeing him work beyond Stanley. Moments of musical magic like is happening on ‘My Way’ rarely come around. Softouch samples a classical piece by Pachelbel. The piece in question is titled “Canon in D,” a piece of music that was written sometime between 1680 to 1706 - Imagine that. What he actually does is some kind of variation of it. Now he uses that and crosses many genres of western music to merge that piece with and Afrobeat rhythm and instrumentation. The result is pure magic. There isn’t much talk of sampling when it comes to afrobeat but I think that is going to change with time. We all know Hip Hop which has had the highest influence on pop culture is built almost entirely on the art of sampling. The beat of My Way is like an innovation to me; at least that aspect of what I can call cross sampling between genres that far apart.
Softouch basically carried this whole song on his back. But for Locko, who managed only slightly to distinguish himself with more play on his vocals, the rest of the song is as lazy as can be. Not that it is a bad thing, perhaps the simplicity is what actually made the song come out nice. Who knows what could have happened if they tried to make it even more complicated. Stanley and Tzy basically sing almost the same thing with each having just like four lines different. However the take away is the formula for make a hit pop song - Say the same thing over and over again over a nice beat. You get a hit but also a song with a short lifespan.
COMME ÇA
The beat for Comme Ça is definitely on a diplomatic passport. That song plays in Ethiopia, in Eritrea, in Turkey, in Morocco, in Lebanon, in Bahrain, in Saudi Arabia, in India, in Uzbekistan, in Russia - you get the drift. The instrumental is basically middle eastern instrument licks on afrobeat drumming. The vocal composition is really fitting. We hear both Salatiel and Daphne operating deep in timbres that we have only heard them scratch in the past. This is the kind of song that you play to someone if you want to convince them Daphne is a singer that is worth her salt. Comme Ça is straight money. When you hear artists talking of trying to own their masters and their publishing, it is usually for songs like this. The lifetime value of this song is huge. It is so culturally diverse and occasion friendly that I won’t be surprised to hear it in a movie sometime in the future.
I’m happy that this song has no video out yet and I hope Salatiel plans to shoot one. I also hope that he hasn’t already because with such a song, it is very easy to mess it up just like how Awu messed up two of his songs and punctured his brand with the videos for Sidomina and Sidomina Remix. If I had that song, and I wanted to shoot a video, Nkeng Stephens or Ada Akenji might handle the Camera but the man that will give you the right concept, a concept with as much lifetime Value as the song itself is Geraldrico Guevara.
- Tino Foy
The post emerges from a moment of debate within Cameroon's music discourse, where online audiences were positioned two recent releases in direct competition. Both songs represent different approaches to contemporary Cameroonian music production and appeal, reflecting broader conversations about artistic direction and commercial viability within the local industry.
The piece models thoughtful music criticism that resists reductive rankings, instead offering close attention to production craft—Softouch's genre-bridging sampling technique and the cross-cultural accessibility of Comme Ça's instrumental palette. It speaks to a moment when Cameroonian music was navigating global circulation, and it remains relevant for its insistence on occasion-specific evaluation and its sustained attention to how songs achieve different kinds of value over time.