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Johannesburg - When singer Kelly Khumalo released her Metro FM award-winning album My Truth last year, she opened a Pandora’s box about the past that she had previously vowed to leave closed.
But her fans loved it.
With her star on the rise again, she told City Press this week that she was ready to release a new single,Thumb.
It is a song about hope and the direction her life is taking.
My Truth featured an emotional track about her slain boyfriend, soccer star Senzo Meyiwa, in which she declared: “No one will replace Senzo.”
Now that the wounds are slowly but surely healing, she has penned a song that “speaks to a lot of issues that women are facing”.
“The focus is to give hope not only to South African women, but also to women across the world because we are all facing the same issues,” she said.
She wrote the song “late one night” while travelling to KwaZulu-Natal to perform in the rural town of Nkandla.
“We were on the road, on the tour bus. Everyone was sleeping except me. I didn’t know what to do with myself.
"So, I looked at my reflection in the window and thought: ‘Kelly, you are still so beautiful and you can still smile. How is it possible that you can do all this after what you’ve been through?’ And the answer to that was hope!”
It was then that she decided to write a song to inspire and encourage women going through tough times – a message made more relevant to South Africans given the recent spate of femicides.
“People need to have their hopes restored and to understand why hope is important – so they can move forward with their lives,” said the singer.
She will release the song in August to coincide with Women’s Month, as part of her ongoing campaign to support women.
Khumalo said the proceeds from a concert she plans to host on 24 August would be donated to causes aimed at uplifting women.
Draped in a golden cloth and an intricately woven crown with lit candles, Khumalo took City Press behind the scenes while filming her music video for the single.
The singer, who has been sober for more than five years, aims to be a beacon of hope for those suffering the effects of drug addiction.
“I want to show drug addicts through my sobriety that they too can recover and have a good life.”
Khumalo is also bringing her star power and talent to her new talk show, Love and Matrimony, through which she hopes to inspire people who have given up on love.
“I am not saying that I am a relationship expert, but I understand love more than anyone else,” she said.
“If it hadn’t been for God’s love for me, I would not be the woman I am today.
"Having to talk about love and matrimony, and putting people together and sharing their good and bad experiences with the public, also gives hope where love is concerned.”
Asked what she was planning for Mandela Day, she said she would hand out food parcels to the needy and spend time with people in her community in Ekurhuleni.
(Photos: Leon Sadiki, City Press)
*Love and Matrimony airs on GauTV, DStv channel 265, on Saturdays at 19:30.
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