THE slay queen phenomenon seems to have to come to stay. Fuelled by social media, it has become a common sight to see young ladies flaunting their “expensive lifestyles” especially on Instagram.

In fact, there seems to be an unspoken competition among slay queens as to who can show off the more. According to urbandictionary.com, Slay Queens are young girls who apparently do not date broke men. They spend hours on Snapchat and Instagram showing off things they don't even own.

This slay queen trend has been mostly condemned for breeding fake lifestyles and blame is often levelled against actresses who people say inspired this trend.

But Naglad, a struggling young actress who is yet to make any headway in her career believes the blame should rather be put at the doorstep of movie producers when she spoke with Graphic Showbiz in an interview.

“I will blame movie producers for the rise of slay queens because it is not easy out there. As a new actor, you have to prove beyond every means that you are good for the job and it really gets frustrating sometimes when your talent isn’t recognised," she said.

Naglad, real name Gladys Akosua Norvor, goes on to explain that it was difficult to get roles as a new actress because the movie producers had their favourites, so being a slay queen helps to push one’s brand.

“Producers would always choose their favourites over new actors even if they could interpret roles better. Hence, flaunting their “goods” on social media was the only means they could also sell themselves and brands to movie producers who needed their services but didn’t know them.

“Most times, you are even paid peanuts for your services when you know you deserve better, so if there are other means to advertise yourself, why not take advantage of it.

"Besides, everyone is using social media to market their products so what is wrong if actresses also use the same medium to market themselves?” she asked.

For Naglad, she doesn’t see anything wrong with actresses taking their destinies into their hands to get jobs.

“Now, it is survival of the fittest and you must do anything to survive and since the movie producers don’t want to treat everyone fairly, then you have no choice than to take drastic measures to remain relevant on the scene,” she said.

But while strongly making a case for slay queens, Naglad, an old student of Kings College in Kumasi was rather evasive when asked if she was a slay queen.

“As I said earlier, I don’t see anything wrong with being a slay queen but in our part of the world, when you are a slay queen, you are perceived to be one who sleeps with men to fund your lifestyle, and that is not what I’m into. I’m a very hardworking lady and I don’t indulge in such behaviours,” the Boys Abre actress said.