She has gone from princess to queen, from single to married and now she is even a mother. Something I never thought she was or would be was a retiree. However the queen of South African house music, Bucie, recently dropped a bombshell that she was retiring from music. After 10 years in the industry, the mother said she plans on focussing on her family after she releases her last album later this year. When I call her up for our interview, she answers with a whisper, “hey, sorry I could not answer when you called a few minutes ago, I am just trying to put the baby to sleep, the nanny isn't here so my hands are full”, she said. To which I respond, “drop me a text when he is asleep and we will chat”.
The next time she answers her phone she is as bubbly as ever and is ready to chat.
“It’s time for me to focus on my family and take care of my kids, it's been awhile coming. I mean I didn’t just get up one day and decide that it was over, I have been praying about this for a long time and God finally put this in my spirit”, she said.
“This life (fame) is very stressful, when I was younger I loved all the attention and I loved being around my fans and being out and about, but now I am not so young and although I have insane love for my fans, my family has grown over the years and they have to be my priority”, she said.
Bucie, whose real name is Bisisiwe Nqwiliso, said that although she will not be making her own music, she will be producing and mentoring others. “You know for the longest time I have wanted to mentor young female musicians, but I simply could not because I had to focus on my career. It took me 10 years to get to where I am and it was not easy. As with many things in life I had to sacrifice a lot, and now I really want to take a back seat and produce music”, she said.
The singer and songwriter became a household name in 2007 when she released her first single, Ngicelindoda. She went on to have a successful career, releasing four albums, winning multiple awards and even being listed as a songwriter on American rapper, Drake’s reworked version of her hit single, Superman. “This journey has been everything I have wanted it to be and more. There have ups and downs, I have learnt so much through my hardships. I remember when I started out I had no car and there was no Uber back then so I would have to take a public taxi and people would be saying that I have such a huge song but I am in a taxi. I really have grown over the years, mentally and emotionally”, she said.
One of the biggest lessons she said she learnt is one of humility. “Fame actually taught me how humble I am, sounds weird but it's true. I don't think I ever allowed the celebrity lifestyle to change who I am. I always reminded myself that God gave me this talent and he can take it away so I always remained true to that”, she said.
With a string of hits off her albums and multiple collaborations with some of the biggest dj’s in the industry, her CV is enviable. “Everyone I have worked with holds a special place in my heart. I loved working with Heavy K on Easy to Love, he was younger than I was and he really put a different twist on things and we created such a great working relationship that he asked me to feature on his upcoming album. Working with Louie Vega was also huge for me, I got into house music because of him so to be in studio with him at some stage was incredible”, she said.
When asked if she was retiring because of the royalties she will receive from her Drake collaboration, she laughed and said “What Drake money….I am so confused right now. Look on a serious note though, people expected me to be excited about Drake reworking my song or even bitter because I was not featured singing on it, I was excited, but not on the level they expected. I also was not bitter at all. It is a great rework and they really respected me and the song but I think my original version is much better. It is also a great stamp of approval for South African music overall”.
On her new album she is currently working on, Bucie said it will be titled, Queen of House - Rebirth. “I am very excited about my upcoming album because it’s going to have a lot of tracks and it's going to be very different to my previous work. It's going to have a different sound but still have my signature style to it. I am also working with new producers so it's going to be fresh. I think it will really show the evolution of my music over the years and what is even more exciting is that it will be coming out of my very own stable”, the songstress said.
Before we end our chat, I say, “So Bucie, this isn’t some sort of prank, you aren’t coming back”, to which she replied singing the lyrics of her hit song Get Over it, “Get over it, get over it. And that’s only for you”.