SPHECTACULA AND DJ NAVES
CELEBRATE 25 YEARS OF MUSIC
THE Kings of The Weekend, SPHEctacula and DJ Naves are celebrating 10 years in the industry with a new album, SPHEctacula and DJ Naves – 10 Years and Counting.
We caught up with the duo who reflected on their 10-year journey and spoke about their latest offering.
First off, how have you been?
Sphe: Incredible hey, positive energy the whole way. We spent so much of 2020 trying to cope with the endless barrage of bad news that one can only be about bouncing back and giving life and all it’s about the best possible chance.
Ten years in the industry, that’s big, how does that feel?
Naves: Such a blessing for us and it literally seems like yesterday when we started getting things going. Sphe and I still approach every day like that first day we were given a chance and went at it at 150%
Did you expect to experience the success you have?
Sphe: We have been honoured to have lived through the many amazing moments that we have thus far but Naves and I are such go-getters that we rarely take the time to try and look at the accomplishments list … but we feel like the success we yearn for where we can possibly even say “Mama we made it”, is still to come
Why do you think you have been successful?
Naves: Some of the reasons for the positive trajectory is that we are relentless in the pursuit of our goals, fully believe in the power of our teamwork and understand and exploit the dynamics of our complimentary work ethic.
We always keep it moving in a calculated manner and keep our humility along the way.
Looking back, what was the biggest challenge?
Sphe: Not being able to get some of the funding we would have liked and also having to swallow our pride with some projects and let them go when they didn’t work.
Talk to us about your new album, how did the idea for it come about and when did you start working on it?
Naves: The idea of a follow-up album has been there since 2019 when it became a part of the deliverables for our licence agreement with Universal Music Group South Africa.
So we have been concentrating on getting the right sounds and collaborations … This effort was ramped up once we had decided on when to release it.
How would you describe the
sound of this album?
Sphe: I would call it “Classic SPHEctacula And DJ Naves”. Unpredictable but something that gets you going over and over again.
We have gone heavy on our multi-genre approach on the project and dived deeper into the unknown with some maskandi and gospel.
How different is it from your previous offerings?
Naves: It is different because our ear is more refined and we are a lot more direct in terms of what we think will work.
Before we let our collaborators control their direction a bit more but now we have learnt to trust our dopiness.
What do you hope people take away from this album?
Sphe: We hope that the music leaves the listener with a sense of the fun we had putting the project together, of the creative progressions we have made since our last album release, of the messaging we have in some of the more activism-minded music and hope that they can also shelve it into that timeless music space. An evergreen selection that is always a pleasure to live life to.
What are your thoughts on the South African music industry right now?
Naves: We are loving all the new talents coming into the game especially on the amapiano end of things.
We are also looking forward to hearing sounds that are a lot more South Africanesque impacting the global scene in a bigger way than even Jerusalema did.
I would like to see a lot more artists understand the business end of matters better and invest in appreciating assets and thinking as they create the foundation of the industry’s future.