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Cape Town – It’s almost time for Toya Delazy’s much-anticipated second album to drop, and judging by what we’ve heard so far, its going to be a hit!
Her album, titled Ascension, is set to drop on 28 October and she’s already released the first single off the album, a track called Forbidden Fruit.
Listen to it here:
Toya, who is always on the road and actually on her way to New York as we speak, recently made time to chat to us about her new album.
Check it out here:
Channel24:
Your new album Ascension drops on 29 October, what can people expect?
Toya:
What people can expect as usual, is the genre that I do, I call it J.E.H.P. So, it’s a mixture of jazz, electro, hip hop and pop. That’s the acronym J.E.H.P. So they can expect that sort of sound which is quite similar to Due Drop, but it’s more electro, way more electro!
Channel24:
What inspired the songs for this album?
Toya:
The songs for the album were inspired by the name, you know. Working on my debut album Due Drop was where I just found myself and I was developing as an artist. For the second one, basically it’s about growth. I’ve been travelling now, and I’ve been exposed to different cultures. I’ve grown a lot as a person, so this is what I wanted to convey to all my fans and that’s how I chose the name.
And basically what it’s all about and what all the songs reflect, is that wealth means nothing and it’s all about the inner. Inner strength. I believe inner strength helps people grow, and that leads to ascension. So that’s why I called it ascension. In line of all the fun, that’s the underlining message.
Channel24:
What makes this album special?
Toya:
I guess the global culture that’s in the album makes it very special. The fact that I wrote some songs in Bangkok on the streets, I wrote some songs in New York, I wrote some songs in LA. I’ve been travelling quite a bit during the course of this album, so it’s quite multi-cultural. It’s global in a sense, so that makes it different from what I did before with Due Drop. Where now, I’m not just the girl from eMahlabathini. I’m the girl who’s now travelled and have seen a whole lot of different things.
Channel24:
How do you go about writing your sings? Do you have a specific method?
Toya:
To tell you the truth, it honestly just comes to me. I mean if there’s a good beat and it makes me feel like speaking about something, then I will speak about something. But I can’t be like, ‘okay, tomorrow I’m gonna sit down and write’. Like for instance, Forbidden Fruit’s main part of the chorus came to me in the shower! At one point in the streets of Bangkok, I just grabbed my manager’s phone and said ‘I need to sing this!’. You know, it just happens.
Channel24:
If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
Toya:
Yoh, there’s so many people… Do you know Flume? He’s amazing, I went to watch his concert while I was in the US, and that’s the energy that this album also carries you know. If I could collaborate with that guy, that would be amazing!
Channel24:
What’s the one thing that no one knows about you?
Toya:
I don’t know! I think everybody knows everything at this point in my life! You’ve heard it all…
Channel24:
You’ve achieved a lot at only 24 years old. What’s next for you, what do you still want to do?
Toya:
Well, I’m off to the Apollo this week, and it’s finally an opportunity to put my music on a global stage. And that’s what I’ve wanted to achieve. I’ve wanted the world to see where African music is at, you know, there’s different parts of us. So yes, I will be performing on the 10th at the Apollo as part of the Africa Now festival in New York. Yeah, right now what I wanna do is represent!
