Cape Town – UWC 1996 and against my better judgement, I have developed feelings for a very good friend. All signals indicate he feels the same way. Shy me can’t make the first move, and he’s not saying anything either. The tension builds.
“What’s it gonna be cause I can’t pretend/Don’t you want to be more than friends/ Hold me tight and don’t let go/Don’t let go/ You have the right to lose control/Don’t let go”
And so En Vogue’s Don’t Let Go becomes my anthem for that summer of love (kind of) and confusion (absolutely), which eventually ends in heartbreak (mine) and a resolution to be bolder in love and life.
undefinedWhen speaking to En Vogue’s Cindy Herron-Braggs ahead of their performance at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival this weekend, it seems I’m not the only one that the song resonated with.
Herron-Braggs said: “The song was part of the soundtrack Set It Off. We just loved it. We loved the feel of it, the lyrics and the message of the song. Even today, when we hear it, we still love it. It’s like an anthem. When we sing that song, it just lights the place up.”
Herron-Braggs, along with fellow original member Terry Ellis and Rhona Bennett, will be appearing at the official festival on Friday night, and are headlining the Free Community Concert at Greenmarket Square tonight.
She said they were super excited to come to Cape Town. “We had no idea we were this popular in South Africa. This is our first time visiting South Africa. So this is really thrilling for us. And we really hope that everyone will have a good time at our show.”
She says fans can expect to hear all of the hits from the award-winning R&B trio. “And we are going to do a little old-school medley of what inspired us, before we became En Vogue.”
The “real funky divas” are not only music icons but style icons. Herron-Braggs said: “We paid attention to a lot of girl groups that came before us, especially of the sixties. We didn’t know we were going to set any trends in terms of dress sense or hair, but we did.”
The band have released a new song, Deja Vu, as a free download or free streaming. Herron-Braggs says it was a thank you to their fans and a preview of what’s to come: “The upcoming album is going to be a mix and blend of many different feels and rhythm and messages. And we feel now is a perfect time. Our fans have been waiting and we didn’t want to let them down.”
I’m one fan who has been waiting and will be singing along to MY anthem tonight.