From the outside, it looked as if Unathi (39) had a life-changing 2017. Having famously walked out of Metro FM after 10 years at the helm of one of radio’s biggest and most profitable shows, she launched a new album, Brave, True and Strong, full of incredible singles. She wrapped up yet another bumper year as the “good-guy” judge on SA and recently, more controversially, was in the spotlight for leaving her husband of many years, Thomas Msengana.
But she says 2017 was the year she took time out to follow her real passions. “It was the year I stopped doing everything, except Idols and working on my album. After leaving Metro, I was working at about 30% of my normal capacity,” she says. Yet it gave her the time to focus on mastering what she believes is the best album she’s made.
“It’s the first time I haven’t had to treat music like a hobby, in between radio, cooking dinner, MCing and all that other work. I didn’t realise how not having so much clarity had affected my previous albums. It was so much more fulfilling and so much more of a quality product this way. I got to live the life of a selfish artist, obsessing over rhythmic progressions and melodies.
“I was present spiritually and intellectually and I’m proud to say that I now regard myself as a true vocalist. I’ve never sounded the way I sound on that album. I was, like, ‘Girl, is that you!?’” she laughs.
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