Kelly Khumalo On Going Black Face

She has taken on an interesting look

By  | Sep 05, 2020, 05:33 PM  | Kelly Khumalo  | Drama

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Kelly Khumalo is gearing up to release her new album The Voice of Africa and for the album's cover art, the star took quite the risky approach.

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The singer has already dropped some music from the highly anticipated album. Her fans are loving the music and are looking forward to what the album will offer. 

For the album cover, Kelly went for a very different look, a controversial one, where she was covered in all black mud, a move she wasn't exactly sure of but upon her team's advice went for the daring look.
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On her reality show, Life with Kelly Khumalo, the award-winning singer explained more about why she decided to take on the look especially since she was afraid people on social media would come for her. 

During the photoshoot with well-known photographer Xavier Saer, Kelly explained the concept behind the images.

Kelly shared that the album's leading single is Empini and she made the historical reference to Shaka and his army of Zulu men, who when they went to war would smear themselves in mud as to not be visible to their enemies. 

In an Instagram post, Kelly shared two pictures one of herself and the other Bastet the Egyptian Black Cat Goddess. 

"This Goddess was not only known as the Protector but the Goddess of War (EMPINI)," shared Kelly.
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Some fans are still deciding how they feel about Kelly’s images, but some are completely okay with it as they understand the concept.


The use of blackface is something that has usually landed many people under fire due to its links to racism and its often quite a conversation starter.

South African legendary filmmaker Leon Schuster has said that he wouldn't make a sequel to his famous movie Mama Jack. The popular movie sees the actor wear a costume and prosthetics of a black woman. 

Speaking to Sunday Times, Leon explained why he can no longer make the films he has become famous for.  

"I'm so sorry that I can't make Mama Jack 2. If I had a dream come true, my next movie would be Mama Jack 2. But especially on Twitter they said stay away from the blackface, it's not on. It was black people talking to me and you've got to listen. I can't do it because I'll be heavily criticised. In the olden days, it troubled nobody. But I won't go blackface now, I can't do it. There's not one actor in the world that will. It's just racist," explained Schuster. 
 
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Image credit: Instagram @kellykhumaloza
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