Seventeen-year-old Malian musician Seydou Chee says he often has to stay home when his friends and family go out because of the amount of attention he gets.
“They can go out and have fun when they like, but I can’t do that, I have to control myself, I can’t just go anywhere because of the crowds of people. You have lots of privileges being a star but there are inconveniences too,” he tells the BBC.
Chee, who acknowledges that his looks got him far in the music industry, became popular on the back of hit songs like Celibataire.
“It’s true that some girls like me for my looks, and I am fine with that. Everything that is Seydou plays its part in my career.”
Being a teenager, he is still at school, and says he manages to balance his music career and his studies quite well.
“If I have an essay to do and I have something to do during the night, I do what I can in a certain period of time then I go and sleep so I can do my school essay.”
However, he can’t get through a school day like any other regular student, he says.
“When I’m at school, everyone’s eyes are on me. At the beginning there were those who made a fuss, kids were rude and stuff. But anyway, now I like it. It’s not something everyone has – it’s sweet to be a star.”