After being nominated for Best Kwaito Single for his 2016 hit, Good Times, at last year’s Metro FM Music Awards, kwaito star Sosha has just released his latest album. Titled Breakthrough, he describes this album as his best yet.
“I started working on this album immediately after the Metro FM Music Awards last year. The response I’d gotten from Good Times kept me on this high and, as soon as I was done with that single, I couldn’t wait to get started on new material,” he said.
Born Sbonelo Ngcobo in Umbumbulu, just outside Durban, Sosha worked throughout last year producing this album: “I literally worked on this album throughout 2017, right up until the week before it was released, in February. I’ve been very nervous about putting it out there. This album means so much to me; it’s by far my best work and I personally feel it has been a time of such good growth for me,” he said.
The kwaito star – who started his music career almost two decades ago – said that he wanted Breakthrough to be the best of Sosha.
“I started my music almost two decades ago after forming Guz Trio and that is what launched me into the industry and particularly in kwaito. But over the years, I just feel like, with each album, I still needed to do more – more to put me on every radio station out there, more to see my music sell out in stores, more to see my videos and hear my name all over TV, more for my fans, because they’ve been so loyal. So, my thinking throughout the creative process of this album was to do better, to go back to where I started and give my fans more of the original Sosha whose music they fell in love with,” he added.
"When it came to naming this album, he said he relied on his faith.
“The title really is an investment of my faith in God and in the material that I created for this album. I had faith that this album and all the work I put in it would give me the big break back into the industry again. And thank God so far, it has been a huge success,” he said.
He said the sound of this album is guz, which he describes as classic Motown, mixed with South African kwaito rhythms and dance. Although the latest single off the album is Phakamisa, he said his favourite songs include Injabulo and Good Times, which he had added to this album.
“I enjoyed creating these two. The instruments to create the sounds are fantastic. I love the violin string and bassline combination on both songs. Especially because it was my first time getting to create music with these instruments,” he said.
He said the album is about enjoying life and he hopes people do this while listening to his music: “Life is a great journey of self-discovery, embrace yourself, love life, make the best of all its offerings and enjoy it to the fullest.”