LISTEN | Langa Mavuso: Every song I write starts with just six words

Singer-songwriter Langa Mavuso has shared the strategy he uses when it comes to translating a complex emotion into a song.

In an interview with the TshisaPOD, Langa revealed how artists find their creative style with tact and understanding of the music space.

Here is what he had to say:

“I write all of my music ... I collaborate as a composer and an arranger. You can see I am really central in the process of creating all of my work.

“I write retrospectively, I never write about what's happening in the moment because I always feel when you write about an event that's currently happening to you, I find that your perspective is not as wide as it could be ... I think once you're out of a situation, you're able to see what they really are and not what you perceive them to be.”

Langa explained that he writes about his experiences of the people he has fallen in love with and those he's fallen out of love with.

“That's why I write retrospectively, that way I give myself a chance of what really happened. The process is really simple for me ... Once I hear the music, I know what the feel of the song should be, and then I've this six-word story that I work off. So, within the first six words of the song, I must give you what the whole song is all about.”

The Afro-soul singer added that from there, he unpacks the six-word story, which encapsulates everything that he's going to say in the song. “It's quite simple but it's also hard to simplify a complex emotion into six words. But once I establish the six words, unpacking it is easy.” 

Speaking on being in love, Langa hinted that he was dating an “amazing somebody” but couldn't go into further detail about his very private love life.

Langa said he can't wait to hit the stage of MTV's Big Picnic, where viewers can watch him perform with popular rapper Focalistic.