The much-anticipated 20 track album, Monarch, which releases today, has a fusion of Kwaito, Rap, Pop and House, a perfect soundtrack for every moment. She shares the meaning behind some of her songs
Singer and songwriter, Lady Zamar took time from her busy schedule to share the inspiration behind some of the songs in her latest album, Monarch. This is what she says:
Dangerous Love: For me, this is a piece of art. We came up with this concept Of creating an epic song. The producers really wanted to create a cinematic feel to this song and that is exactly what they did. I cannot thank them enough for thinking that far beyond what I had initially thought for the song. What we decided to do was introduce it to people as another side of me.
ICU: The people who know me from my Mamelodi and the Cotton Candy days will gravitate toward this song. I needed people to know that my “day ones” are still my “day ones”. They are the people that got me to where I am today and are the people that supported me during my Pretoria days when no one knew who I was. I would not want to reject that part of my identity. Collide took my music to a whole other level and it is very easy to lose your fans when you’ve gone that far. This song is me telling those that have travelled this journey with me that I haven’t forgotten them.
Delaware: One of the beautiful things about this country is that it has a rich history and one of the songs that came out from that was De La Rey. A lot of black people see it as a very offensive song to sing but from what I know (maybe my Google search lied to me), the song De La Rey was symbolic of a time when people came back from war. Over time it has morphed into something hateful. What I found very intriguing about the song is that it is a bit of a taboo. I am politically correct in public most times but I think that as long as it is part of our history, we are supposed to speak about it. I chose the title Delaware (a small state in the US) because it sounds like De La Rey. I decided to give what I would consider De la Rey’s attributes to a woman named Delaware. So hopefully that changes the narrative of the song so that people can understand that there is no story that is one-sided.
Addiction: Addiction is just a fun song about being addicted to someone (chuckles) that’s it. When I’m sad I don’t listen to sad music. There is already so much sad music, so no matter how dark the story, I’m going to put a fun beat to it so we can dance to it. We process better when we are happy.
Mary Jane: A lot of people are going to think this is about weed… that is cool. Who is to say I am not the master of interpretation? Mary Jane is actually about my favourite series, Being Mary Jane. I have this thing where I rely on series to get through difficult stages in my life. Being Mary Jane was such a beautiful reflection of black women. We go through so much weirdness and get into so much weirdness that I wanted to write a song about the show and what it did for me.
Sharpshooter: Sharpshooter is one of my favourite songs! This is another reference to Greek mythology. Imagine Cupid was not cute and innocent. What if he was an actual sniper, going around demolishing people with their arrows of love. The person in the song is saying “Yeah I get that I’m supposed to be in love with this person because Cupid said so but Cupid is a mercenary and I ain’t about that life.”
Say Yes: As you can hear, Say Yes is an Afro-tech song and I was a fan of the genre for the longest time. I then decided to create my own. This is actually a gospel song. It’s really about God and I found it humorous to mix gospel lyrics with Afro-tech beats.
Low Low ft Tellaman: It is such a boppy 80s sound and I felt like Tellaman has this fresh view of music right now. Having someone that dynamic, in terms of how he appeals to a more African audience, made him the right fit for this song. This song is about work. It’s stressful working a 9-5 and so many people want to just get home and relax. So I put this song here because as you come to the end of the album, you realize that you have gone through so many emotions. Low Low is some comic relief.
Fat Girl: Fat is one of those uncomfortable words. Who likes hearing it? Fat. Once I walked into the house and my mom hadn’t seen me for like 2-3 years and she went ‘Hayi Yami! You’re so fat!”. It seems like people have a problem with having a little bit more… than the human beings that are only seen in magazines. Anyway, because it is such an uncomfortable word, putting it in the title of the song felt like more. I won’t take credit for the idea completely. One of my favourite writers, Muzi Khuzwayo, challenged me to write a song that makes me uncomfortable because that is only when you can really test the limits of who you are. I want women who are big to take back their power… to take back that word. Stop making it a tool that people can use to break you down. Stop being shy about who you are in that time. Embrace who you are, work at it if you want to but don’t shy away from it.
Freedom ft Rapsody: I picked this one as the last song because I wanted to make sure people get to the end of the album. If you listen to Freedom on its own, you kind of lose everything else.
Get the album at leading stores or through the link below:
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