Langa Mavuso has taken the music world by storm with his soothing sounds. The talented singer and songwriter has spent almost his whole life honing his craft. In this exclusive interview, he opens up about his love for music, managing depression and turning heartbreak into an album.
Langa has always known that he wanted to be singer. He shares:
Langa has always known that he wanted to be singer. He shares:
“I’ve always been the kid they ask to sing, from Primary School. I went to the National School of the Arts (NSA) where I did drama for three years, then music for two years.”
Though Langa knew that music was his calling, during his last year in high school, he lost a close person and that made him want to give up on everything.
“I was distraught about losing someone that close to me that it made me fall out of love with music. The following year I went to Rhodes to study Politics. And three months in I knew I was not meant to be there. I called my mom and told her I had made the wrong decision and I wanted to go back to study music again. I wanted to go to UCT [University of Cape Town] to study music.”
Transferring to UCT to study music was a dream come true, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing.
“The last two years of UCT were the worst. I was very depressed, I’ve always struggled with depression but that was the worst I had gone through. Partially because of the environment and lack of support system. In my final year, I applied for a leave of absence and got my psychologist to write a letter and one of my lecturers that I was close to also wrote a letter, and they granted me a leave of absence for a year.”
During his leave of absence, Langa worked towards to save for his music.
“I did little jobs here and then but I soon realised that I was doing everything but music, so I saved a bit of money to get studio time, and started hustling for gigs. I also worked with Red Bull so I asked them for studio time which meant I had to go to Cape Town. I went there and while I was there, I worked with my friends on a show called UCT Live Room. I asked her to please record a behind the scenes of me recording so I could use it as content for building up to the song for the 1500 subscribers that I had and she agreed. We recorded the behind the scenes and I released a promo for the show and it went viral, that’s when Black Coffee saw it and asked me to sign to him. The rest is history.”
The singer has been doing well in the industry and he admits that he does face a few challenges, including having to deal with depression.
“I have a good support system that not only keeps me motivated but correct me when I step out of line. I had to find a reason to live and wake up every morning. I keep very centered, I pray a lot, I try to be as healthy I can. I try not to be around people or things that could set me back. I had to learn this mentality because I realised that before this I had been masking a lot. So, instead of pretending, how about I work towards a life I can fall in love with.”
Most people still feel ashamed to talk openly about depression but Langa says he feel like he needs to be open because there’s nothing to be ashamed about. The singer tells ZAlebs:
“I’m open about my depression because it nearly killed me. I’ve tried taking my own life and it’s not something I think we should be ashamed of. You didn’t ask for it. It’s a challenge in life you have to get through. Sometimes I wake up and I’m really happy and sometimes I wake up and I’m not okay, and I’ve found that it’s better when I’m open about it. Then the people around me know how to maneuver around me.”
The singer will be releasing his highly anticipated album soon.
“I’ve been working on this album for some time now. It’s a three part to a story. It’s a story of heart break, the mess after a heart break and finding love within yourself. Right now, I feel like I’m resonating a lot with the mess part.” Langa says jokingly. “The album is still untitled as with some of the songs. I have the first single out now called Imvula which is part of the heartbreak phase, here I personify love as rain and how it can drown you but it can also be cleansing thing. I’m excited to be sharing more music.”
Main image credit: Instagram/@langamav/@fhatuwanimukheli
“I’ve been working on this album for some time now. It’s a three part to a story. It’s a story of heart break, the mess after a heart break and finding love within yourself. Right now, I feel like I’m resonating a lot with the mess part.” Langa says jokingly. “The album is still untitled as with some of the songs. I have the first single out now called Imvula which is part of the heartbreak phase, here I personify love as rain and how it can drown you but it can also be cleansing thing. I’m excited to be sharing more music.”
Main image credit: Instagram/@langamav/@fhatuwanimukheli
