Platinum-certified producer and DJ Soa Mattrix has released a new single with Bassie and Khathapillar.
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Platinum-certified producer and DJ Soa Mattrix has released a new fusion single of amapiano, pop, and RnB featuring award-winning vocalist Bassie and fellow instrumentalist and musician, Khathapillar.
Born Mandla Mashakeni, the artist created the song “Ngikhumbula”, worked on the instrumentals and beat, before Bassie joined with her soulful vocals.
“I was trying to mix the sounds I hear from the pop and R&B genres to see if maybe I can come up with something that's a high tempo, but still has the elements of pop and R&B.
“Then when I got that, it just blended well, and then Bassie joined in,” shared Soa Mattrix with IOL.
Soa Mattrix was honest that the process to blend the genres was challenging.
“RnB is a bit slower, a bit smoother, and all of that. But I then figured out how to make it work, because amapiano sound is not far off from jazz and sometimes R&B.
“It was a bit challenging also, because I didn't know how people were going to react to this one. I think that's the most challenging part, to create something, and then it gets you scared, but also sometimes you fear it will end up becoming successful at one point.”
The release of “Ngikhumbula” is leading up to the release of Soa Mattrix’s new album, which he is currently working on. He teases that fans are going to see a different side from what they are used to.
“I'm also even planning a short film for this body of work that I'm doing now, to make people understand what it was like to create this whole project. The music is going to be quite different from what people know me for.”
For the project, Soa Mattrix has had to tap into a lot of meditation and prayer to help get to the final body of work. “We're still creating it.
“I think by the time it drops, you get to understand why I had to tap into all of those things.”
Born and raised in Diepkloof, Soweto, Soa Mattrix has become recognised as one of the top producers in the country. His triple-platinum hit "Mina Nawe" featuring DJ Emotions and Mashudu has amassed over 29 million YouTube audio plays and 18 million streams across platforms.
He admits that the journey has been overwhelming, going from the producer who’s always indoors to working to being this person who’s meant to be interacting with people.
“As shy as I am, I have to step out, I have to talk to people sometimes, whenever we have some workshops and stuff like that.
“It's been very overwhelming and also nice because I got to meet people that I never thought I'd meet, people that are going to help me grow my career going forward.”
Soa Mattrix puts God at the center of everything in his journey, within the ever-evolving industry.
As an artist, Soa Mattrix understands the impact he has on young people. He shared that young people with everything going on in the world must always remember who they are.
“Believing in yourself, because that's one key point that I see a lot of artists getting wrong.
“A person can be talented, but when it comes to believing in themselves and believing in what they do, it gets difficult.
Beyond music, Soa Mattrix aspires to leave a legacy of reminding people to believe in themselves and that they should not only work hard but also smart.
Soa Mattrix also plans to do more of the plugged sessions for his previous songs for YouTube, with hopes to later progress into concerts, which is something that he hasn’t done.
IOL