Lady Zamar takes dance music reins
JOBURG – We caught up with the songstress to talk about her SAMA wins, latest album, Monarch and her musical growth that sees her take listeners on an auditory adventure.
Fresh off the success of her debut and platinum selling album, King Zamar, Lady Zamar has morphed herself into an exceptional musical act churning out chart-topping and infectious dance hits. The dance music wunderkind recently bagged two awards at the South African Music Awards (SAMAs) 25th edition. We caught up with the songstress to talk about her SAMA wins, latest album, Monarch and her musical growth that sees her take listeners on an auditory adventure.
Q Let’s pick up from the SAMAs, you walked off with two trophies for Sampra Highest Airplay of the Year Award and Samro/Capasso Highest Airplay Composer Award for Collide. How did it feel raking in the awards?
A I wouldn’t have imagined that it would become one of the biggest songs of 2018. That was an amazing feeling.
Q You’ve been hard at work with your second album, Monarch, and your first single off the album, This is Love, has been doing well and continues to rake up the views. Why did you decide to lead the album with the single?
A I needed a break, King Zamar was a really big project and it was an overwhelming project in terms of the music and I needed a song that would distinguish a new era. It couldn’t have been just any song, it had to be one that was intensely unique and different. This is love was just that choice in terms of what sounds the most different and what symbolizes the coming of something new.
Q What influenced the project’s title?
A Well, Monarch has its real meaning for me on the album. First, monarch is a sovereign head of state – a king of kings, so when you’re a monarch you’re a ruler of the rulers. Having come from King Zamar I needed something higher than king and monarchs don’t have to be male. The second thing, a monarch is an orange and black butterfly, the biggest butterfly, the king of the butterflies. Having the duality of such a gentle and beautiful creature and such a powerful force was such an important element in what I was trying to portray on the album.
READ: Lady Zamar to take listeners on auditory adventure in new album
Q What sound does Monarch bring out and how does it show your growth as an artist?
A Sonically, the one phrase I’ve been using the most amongst the people I work with is to push the boundaries. We have expanded on dance music in such a way that we have incorporated a lot of music. King Zamar was a great album but it was not really diverse and in this particular body of work we have all types of music that we’ve put together – we’ve played around with a lot of dance music.
Q You have two strong features on the album, let’s touch on how you got to collaborate with Raspody with her being a rapper and you being known for churning out dance hits?
A I come from hip-hop, I grew up listening to hip-hop and wanting to be a rapper myself. It just felt right to have somebody like Rapsody to feature on a dance album. The whole interaction was easy because I reached out to her and told her I loved her work and I told her I’d like to have her on a song – working with her was an honour.
Q With 20 tracks and only two features, this is clearly a solo project. Was it intentional to keep the features at a minimum?
A Yes, I do not believe in a vocalist collaborating with too many people on a project. I have to tell the stories my way and it can’t be anyone else’s voice telling the story – features are there to accentuate certain elements. It was actually on purpose.
