When we first listened to Karen Zoid’s new album, Zoid Afrika, we knew that this was something different. It is still unmistakably Karen Zoid – but with a lot more to offer.

Karen took some time – while waiting in the car to pick up her son from school – to chat to Zalebs about it.

Tell us about the album’s name.

On the one hand it’s a play on T-shirts that my fans made a few years ago that said “Proudly Zoid African” as a kind of a joke. And on the other hand it’s because the album is about my country that I live in and the way I see it.

It’s your first full-length Afrikaans album, is there a special reason?

The album is a kind of thank you to my Afrikaans fans for giving me my first platform. I realised that without the Afrikaans community – that I kind of have a love-hate relationship with – I wouldn’t have the voice I do today. I also sing in Afrikaans because I’m reaching out to my people with a very strong message specifically for them that we can’t simply sit around and complain and not do anything to change the country. We need transformation and there is hope – but we need to create it.

I tried to keep it short and small on the album, so it’s only three songs, because I don’t want to scare people away. It’s not a preachy album; I still did quite a few ballads and a lot of fun stuff – joke songs.

The sound is quite different to your previous work. What changed?

I moved to Stellenbosch two years ago. And because the only radio station I can pick up here is Radio Sonder Grense, I realised there’s so much Afrikaans music out there, but a lot of it just feels like the people aren’t connecting with what they’re singing. The emotion isn’t there.

So I wanted to do a very emotional album – musically and thematically with the writing and everything. I wanted to use the music, the words, my voice, the arrangement and the instrumentation to bring the messages and emotions across as powerfully as possible.

The CD doesn’t only appeal to Afrikaans people though?

I never would have dreamed 10 years ago that I would have black fans and English fans coming to my shows and even buying an Afrikaans album. But that’s why I say there’s so much good news and so much transformation out there. It’s just amazing that through music people can relate to each other and actually connect.

Last year I started working with Vusi Mahlasela and he’s a mentor and absolute role model to me. His whole life is about bringing people together. And the Westerners still enjoy his music, because we know there’s meaning behind it. But for the message to truly come through you have to hear it in your own language – and that’s why this album is Afrikaans.

And you can expect so much more from Karen’s new album – a song to her son about childhood innocence and finding joy in the hard times, a lullaby for adults (because we need them more), and an amazing documentary DVD that adds even more meaning to the music.