Was ‘I’m So Sad’ also a lockdown, feel bad inside-type song?
I wrote that song a day before I dropped it, actually that day. I was really sad, I got some really bad news about a family member not being well and for awhile I jumped into practical mode. I’m always like the hero where everything’s fine, I’m not going to cry about this right now cause I got to hold everybody down, and so for a week I was just like it finally hit me and I was like nah I’m actually sad about this. I went and sang it out and once I did it I was like, “I’m glad I did that”, but for me to truly release it I need to let it go. So I just made a makeshift cover photo and was like, “here, out”, and I felt really good.
I’m surprised to hear that you only wrote it in one day. I love ‘Tuesday’ but out of the two I think ‘I’m So Sad’ is my favourite cause it’s so simple but so catchy.
Oh wow!
Did you expect that?
I didn’t, I didn’t cause when I released it I liked it but you know when you’re not…I was in a space where I didn’t care if anyone else liked it either, so I didn’t expect anyone else to like it to be honest. I was like this is just me and my shit [laughs].
Have you thought about any collaborations you might want to do in the future?
Not really. I think for me collaborations are a very organic thing. I think, not that I’m opposed to a set up collaboration, but I think for me how it usually comes about and what’s been most comfortable for me is that I connect with that other artist and we genuinely want to make a song together. So yeah, I don’t really have anyone specific, I get really excited being like, “hey, I like that what’s that, you’re voice is nice, alright wassup”.
You’re about to release an EP Dinka Girl, I was just wondering what exactly Dinka irl means to you or what the story behind the title is?
So I think it’s like me self-actualising who I am to myself or who I’ve been from birth till now, and I think for a long time that’s been something I was sure about, but really was I sure about it? I don’t know. So now I think I’ve been through enough to know who I am and be solid in that and I think Dinka girls is just my arrival. I think Dinka girl is also just me breaking out of a lot of restrictions that are put on me as a black woman, but not only as a black woman, but as a South Sudanese woman. I think Dinka girl is just me being like, “you know what I’m actually human, I fall in love as well, I have fights with people and then we make up or sometimes we don’t, I’m a human person”. So this is what a Dinka girl is and I’m sure you guys are gonna relate, you don’t have to be Dinka to understand what I’m saying. So I wanna be free in my music career so I just want to lay it out now.
When can we expect that EP?
Before the end of the year. Before 2020 is over we’ll have Dinka Girl.