Cape Town - Singer/songwriter Louise Carver said she was in an “abusive relationship” with her former partner.
This as she releases her third single, This Thing Called Love from her sixth album.
Carver was in the city last week on a promotional tour for her Sunset Concert at Stanford Hills Estate in Hermanus on January 3. The concert will also feature Ard Matthews.
Carver is known as one of South Africa’s most popular singer-songwriters with 16 Top 10 radio hits, four international number ones and 11 Sama nominations. She was named most stylish entertainer at the SA Style Awards (2008) and most Glamorous Woman at the 2016 Glamour awards.
The Didn’t Mean To Call hitmaker said her then relationship started off on a wonderful note, but turned abusive.
“It doesn’t start abusive, otherwise you wouldn’t be in it. I write, then I let go I am currently very happy, so those feelings are coming back because of This Thing Called Love, I am feeling those things again. There was a time I didn’t want to listen to the song, but now I am back again,” she said.
The 46664 ambassador didn’t go into much detail about the “abuse”, but is in a happy place and dating someone who she has known for “a very long time”.
“I am with one person, we are dating. I am happy and the song is just again giving me joy. You need to find a person who is incredibly brave to take on a person who has been through a traumatic experience, whether it’s a man or a woman.
“I am not talking about sexes here but, after a person has been through a very bad time with another person, the person that comes into their life next has to be really patient and a good soul, otherwise they will run out of energy to pursue you,” she said.
Her January concert was envisioned due to a “gap in the market” for an adult contemporary music show, where fans are able to see their favourite artist in an exclusive setting while wining and dining. The concert is being organised by her company, Evergreen Events.
Carver lived in Hermanus, with her parents, before moving to Johannesburg to pursue her music career. “I have known the owners for many years now and I suggested the venue as a music venue. They make their own wine, they have a beautiful restaurant called Tasting Room, which has a view of the valley, and they loved the idea.
“This year I wanted to do something different, and I am a huge fan of Ard Matthews, as a human and as a vocalist and songwriter. We have only worked on a corporate show before, so I wanted to get us together, something for the fans; to do all his big hits, to do mine, then coupled together,” she said.
In keeping with the concert’s tradition, The SPCA ambassador continues to urge attendees to bring old blankets which are donated to the Hermanus SPCA.
“I did that last year and we managed to get about 350 old blankets. So everything is about just thinking a bit more than just about yourself,” said the owner of three dogs.
“I had a now ex-boyfriend, that kind of bullied me into getting a pit bull, which I never would have got, but I adore this little girl. He left and left the dog, thank God.”
Last year, Carver reached number one on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs charts, after she was featured on American DJ Joe Bermudez’s Sunrise.
“It was a shock, I did not expect it. I had plans to take over the US market quite a few years ago with Adult Contemporary, and I got to number one with a dance track that hit the clubs.
“That is what I love about
this industry, you can make
these solid plans and this album
that you believe is just gonna change the whole entertainment industry and nothing happens and then you do a dance track with a DJ in Boston and that is the thing that knocks Rihanna off the dance charts.
“The universe is a kind energy, because I was going through the darkest time last year, really struggling, white-knuckling my
way through each day, and then I have a number one in the States,” she said.
He sixth studio album, Hanging In the Void, was released in January. She said the album features some of her best songwriting.
“It is an easy album in terms
of the songwriting, it is some of
the best work I have ever done.
I have been very authentic through the whole process, even the styling of the album is just black and white, simple, no big hair,” she said.
“I had a producer who honoured the songs and didn’t overproduce the essence of what I was saying.”
Carver ventured into the jewellery industry nine years ago and in May, opened a shop in Parkhust, Gauteng.
“I realised the people who come to watch me aren’t T-shirt and cap people, they are just more of the crowd that, if they are going to buy something, it should be special,” she said.
“Not that there is something wrong with T-shirts and caps, but it’s just not my target market. So I needed something to offer them; it was something that was just an idea, and is now a business.”