It takes a certain kind of resilience to keep showing up when everything around you is falling apart. Ugandan recording artist John Blaq knows that feeling all too well. The singer has pulled back the curtain on the chaotic, emotionally draining production of his ‘Romantic’ music video, a shoot that collapsed not once, not twice, but three separate times before the team finally captured the content they were after.
When the Beach Turned Against Him
The first attempt at shooting the ‘Romantic’ video was set against what should have been a picture-perfect backdrop: a beach. The kind of location that makes a romantic visual practically shoot itself. But nature had other plans. Mid-shoot, rain moved in without warning, shutting down the entire production before the crew could finish. Equipment was packed away, schedules were scrambled, and the team walked away with nothing usable.
A frustrating start, yes. But in the music business, weather delays happen. Artists chalk them up to bad timing, reschedule, and move on. John Blaq did exactly that, returning for a second attempt with fresh energy and presumably better weather forecasts.
Fake Footage and Growing Frustration
The second shoot, however, turned out to be a different kind of disaster. This time, it wasn’t the weather that derailed things. The footage captured during the session was deemed fake, so far removed from what the vision required that the entire batch had to be deleted. All that time, all that effort, gone with a few clicks.
At this point, the mood on set had shifted considerably. Frustration had settled in like an uninvited guest, and the team was running low on patience. For any artist, watching hours of work get wiped out twice in a row is demoralising. For John Blaq, it was about to get even more uncomfortable.
Witchcraft Rumours Enter the Room
As John Blaq revealed in a candid interview, the repeated failures started to get inside people’s heads. Some members of his circle began suggesting that he might be carrying bad luck, or worse, that he had been bewitched. It’s the kind of whisper that travels fast in East African creative circles, where superstition and spirituality often intersect with everyday professional life.
Being told that you might be cursed is not exactly the pep talk any artist needs before attempting a third video shoot. Yet that is precisely the pressure John Blaq was operating under when the team gathered for one final attempt.
Third Time’s the Charm
Thankfully, the third shoot delivered what the previous two could not. The team finally captured the footage they had been chasing, and ‘Romantic’ could move forward toward release. But the road to get there had clearly left a mark on the artist, enough that he felt compelled to share the story publicly rather than let the polished final product tell the only version of events.
That kind of transparency is rare in the music industry, where the machinery of image management usually keeps production nightmares well hidden from public view. Artists release slick videos, fans press play, and nobody thinks about the rain-soaked beach or the deleted hard drives that came before.
What This Tells Us About Creative Persistence
John Blaq’s ‘Romantic’ video saga is ultimately a story about not quitting when the circumstances stack up against you. Three shoots is an extraordinary commitment, particularly when the second failure came loaded with uncomfortable personal accusations from the very people he was working with.
It also says something about the production culture around music in Uganda and the broader East African creative economy, where artists often operate with leaner resources and fewer safety nets than their counterparts in larger global markets. When a shoot fails, the costs, financial and psychological, land closer to home.
The finished ‘Romantic’ video exists now. Fans watching it have no idea about the beach that got rained out, the footage that had to be erased, or the conversations that questioned whether John Blaq himself was the problem. That gap between what audiences consume and what artists endure is worth thinking about the next time you press play on a music video that looks effortless.
Have you ever had to start something completely over after multiple failed attempts? What kept you going when it felt like the universe was pushing back? Drop your thoughts below.