South African singer Langa Mavuso, real name Nkosinathi Nhlakanipho Mavuso, broke onto the music scene in 2016 with his EP ‘Liminal Sketches’.
Soon after that, he became a favourite for many, even impressing the likes of Black Coffee and Spoek Mathambo.
In 2020, Mavuso worked with the incredibly gifted Aimee George, and the two released the hit, ‘Pretend’ from the album ‘Langa’.
The singer says the album was so well-received that within a month, it had 2-million streams.
The inspiration behind the song
The two singers recently shared their experience of working together and the inspiration behind the song.
Speaking about the collaboration, Aimee told Langa on ‘Pretend conversation with Langa Mavuso exclusive screening‘ that it was probably one of the most effortless songs she has ever been a part of.
The two say the song is about when a relationship has ended, and the two people involved are just playing pretend for the fun of it.
“We all hope and dream for this fairytale ending and sometimes the fairytale stops,” said Aimee.
Langa told DJ Keyez that many people pretend even when they know their relationship is over.
“I think a lot of people do that, where they let relationships and things linger on even when they are really done and there is nothing left there,” says the singer.
Aimee added: “People underestimate the power of just being able to play pretend.”
Making of the video
Mavuso went on to talk about how dear the album is to him.
” The album speaks about heartbreak and in the beginning, I speak quite candidly about the pain of the heartbreak and in the middle, I speak about the distraction,” Mavuso said during the interview.
“Pretend is the moment of shift in the album where I realise that I really can’t continue behaving in this kind of way or treating myself in this kind of way. It is important to deal with the crux of the matter and really let go and so pretend then switches into the moment of healing, the moment of surrender,” says Langa.
He adds that the making of the video was special to him.
“Pretend was such a special video for me,” Langa told DJ Keyez.
Listen to the full interview with DJ Keyez and watch the music video below.
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Langa Mavuso and Aimee George talk inspiration behind ‘Pretend’ Poelano
Image courtesy of Instagram/ @langamav
