The “Kings of The Weekend”, SPHEctacula & DJ Naves are celebrating 10 years in the industry with a new album, “SPHEctacula and DJ Naves – 10 Years and Counting”.
We caught up with the duo who reflected on their 10-year journey and spoke about their latest offering.
First off, how have you been?
Sphe - Incredible hey, positive Energy the whole way.
We spent so much of 2020 trying to cope with the endless barrage of bad news that one can only be about bouncing back and giving life and all it’s about the best possible chance.
Ten years in the industry, that's big, how does that feel?
Naves - Such a blessing for us and it literally seems like yesterday when we 1st started getting things going and at the same time, Sphe and I are surprised that we are at 10 already because we still approach every day like that 1st day we were given a chance and went at it at 150%
When you look back at your career together, did you expect to experience the success you have?
Sphe - We have been honoured to have lived through the many amazing moments that we have thus far but Naves and I are such go-getters that we rarely take the time to try and look at the accomplishments list, it’s always about what next we can add to what we do but we feel like the success we yearn for where we can possibly even say “Mama We Made It” is still to come
What do you think has been some of the reasons for your success?
Naves - Some of the reasons for the positive trajectory we believe is that we are relentless in the pursuit of our goals, fully believe in the power of our teamwork and understand and exploit the dynamics of our complimentary work ethic.
We always keep it moving in a calculated manner and keep our humility in check always along the way.
Looking back, what was the biggest challenge for the two of you?
Sphe - The biggest challenge would be not being able to get some of the funding we would have liked to get along the way and also having to swallow our pride with some projects and let them go when they didn’t work.
Talk to us about your new album, how did the idea for it come about and when did you start working on it?
Naves - The idea of a follow-up album for us has been there since 2019 when it became a part of the deliverables for our license agreement with Universal Music Group South Africa.
So we have been concentrating on getting the right sounds and collaborations which made sense for us and gave us the best possible way to express ourselves musically in a way that will resonate with our following.
This effort was naturally ramped up once we had decided on when to release it.
How would you describe the sound of this album?
Sphe - I would call it “Classic SPHEctacula And DJ Naves”. Unpredictable but something that gets you going over and over again.
We have gone heavy on our multi-genre approach on the project and even dived deeper into the unknown with some masked and gospel.
How different is it from your previous offerings?
Naves - It is different because our ear is more refined and we are a lot more direct in terms of what we think will work and what we think won’t.
Before we let our collaborators control their direction a bit more but now we have learnt to trust our dopiness and give much better direction.
What do you hope people take away from this album?
Sphe - We hope that the music leaves the listener with a sense of the fun we had putting the project together, a sense of the creative progressions we have made since our last album release, a sense of the messaging we have in some of the more activism minded music and hope that they can also shelve it into that timeless music space.
An evergreen selection that is always a pleasure to live life to.
What are your thoughts on the South African music industry right now?
Naves - We are loving all the new talents coming into the game especially on the amapiano end of things and can’t wait for the new and the old to collaborate even more and blow all our minds away.
We are also looking forward to hearing sounds that are a lot more South Africanesque impacting the global scene in a bigger way than even “Jerusalema” did.
And finally, I would like to see a lot more artists understand the business end of matters better and invest in appreciating assets and thinking as they create the foundation of the industry’s future.