FEATURE:
Spotlight
Rowlene
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THERE are not a lot…
of interviews from this year with Rowlene. She has releases some incredible singles this year. Bittersweet is her latest, and it is magnificent. I did want to spotlight this South African queen. I want to start out with an interview from 2022. NOTION chatted with Rowlene around the release of her E.P., Frequency:
“The South African singer-songwriter was born and raised in Cape Town, finding a love for performance in various singing and dancing competitions as a child. Breaking a musical hiatus with singles “Only (feat. WurlD)” and “Would You Like That”, and now heading to LA and Europe, she’s proving an artist to get on your radar. We caught up with Rowlene to discuss her process, a collaboration with WurlD and career rollercoaster so far. Dive in!
Can you talk me through the process of putting together the EP?
It was such a majestic process, I found everything I wasn’t looking for and now I’m in a space where I feel understood and respected more than ever before.
Growing up in Cape Town and later moving to Johannesburg – do you think these have contributed as influences to your music?
Not really, I think it may have inspired me more than influenced. Everyone who I was surrounded by, their grind and hustles has been so inspiring to watch and learn from. Seeing people push the boundaries and showing up as the best versions of themselves and still staying true through the creation process it just gave me hope for my future.
With six platinum records and having performed multiple stages across the continent, do you have a particular venue you love or a favourable memory from a past live show?
Rocking the Daisies was definitely a crazy experience. Something I want to still do is perform at Afro Nation, Coachella, The O2 Arena London and Madison Square Garden”.
Rowlene is gearing up for the release of her new album, Some Strings Attached. I am writing this on 14th August. He album comes out on 21st August. It is a perfect time to connect with Rowlene. There are a couple of recent interviews. I do think that she has a growing fanbase here in the U.K., though she probably has a larger following in South Africa. I do hope that she plays here soon. It is clear that Some Strings Attached is a very personal album. Maybe her most revealing work to date. This Sahiphopmag feature gives us a little insight into Some Strings Attached:
“For Rowlene, the album represents years of emotion, reflection and rebuilding. Taking to Instagram, the Cape Town-born artist gave fans a glimpse into the deeply personal story behind the project, revealing just how much of herself went into creating it.
“I’ve held these songs close for a long time. Every lyric, every late night, every version of me that had to exist for this album to become what it is,” she shared.
The album digs into the complicated emotions that follow loss, particularly the process of finding your footing after relationships come to an end. Rowlene has previously explained that heartbreak does not define all of her music, but this particular body of work required her to confront that part of her story.
Over the past few years, she has focused on learning how to rebuild and rediscover herself, with each song capturing a different point along that emotional road.
Even the album’s title speaks to those unresolved connections. Some Strings Attached explores the invisible ties that can remain long after a relationship or friendship has ended, making the project particularly relatable to anyone who has had to let go while still carrying pieces of what once was.
Fans will also have an opportunity to experience the album live shortly after its release. Rowlene is scheduled to host an album launch show at Hard Rock Café in Sandton, Johannesburg, on 22 August, one day after the album drops”.
The Guardian recently recommended Rowlene. They raved about her music and suggested that people connect with it. I am very new to her music, though I am instantly engrossed. She is such a phenomenal artist that I would love to see play in London. Such a powerful and compelling voice. Her songs might seem personal to her, yet they will be familiar and relatable to so many of her listeners:
“Rowlene Bosman learned to sing in a Cape Town school choir, and the discipline never left her: she is a precision vocalist in a scene that rewards volume. Most South Africans first heard her in 2018, delivering the hook on Nasty C’s SMA – she was the first signing to his Tall Racks label – and the featured artist circuit kept her busy for years. But while South African pop stampeded towards amapiano, Rowlene held her ground as a balladeer, writing slow, confessional R&B in which heartbreak is examined instead of danced away. Her 2020 debut album 11:11, a set of aching, close-quarters soul songs, brought a South African music award nomination for best pop album, and three of her originals – Cupid, Stay and the Nasty C collaboration I Need You – landed on the soundtrack of Netflix’s SA teen crime drama Blood & Water, carrying her voice far beyond home.
Hurts 2b Reminded, from her new album Some Strings Attached, is the best argument yet for that patience. Over spare, unhurried production with a faint Afropop pulse ticking underneath, she sings about the ambush of memory: the places and small details that resurrect someone you thought you had let go. The twist is who she is mourning: not the dead, nor an ex, but friends who are alive and well yet simply elsewhere, people whose lives moved on without her. Losing them, she has said, was the price of finding herself. After 10 years of stealing the show from other artists, she sounds ready to headline her own”.
I am not sure if NME or Rolling Stone UK will chat with Rowlene next week. So I am only going with the interviews that are out there. A look back to Glamour South Africa and their conversation from May. This was when Rowlene was still finishing her album and we did not know what we do not. I am excited to see what is next for her. I feel there will be a lot of international dates. One of the greatest artists of her generation:
“What creative process do you go through when writing your songs?
I basically just sit with my team and get in the zone. Throwing ideas around and getting inspiration from that. Sometimes it doesn't happen and I experience writer’s block, which is okay. We can try again tomorrow. Let’s get to know each other instead, maybe I’ll get inspired by that. I try not to overthink the process and just let it happen. Trust the process. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t and that’s okay.
What moment in your career would you say shaped you and who you are as an artist?
A moment in my career that I would say shaped me and who I am as an artist, I think would be losing friends along the way. In life we outgrow people and we all go our different ways. You make some, you lose some and I’m really grateful for the people I currently have around me.
Your voice is silky and soothing on your latest single, Sweet Escape and we can’t stop listening to it. What was the inspiration behind the song?
A lot of the time as female artists we create music and sing for fun, although that is all good and well, for this song I wanted to create something sexy, witty, and fun. I wanted to make women feel sexy and with doing that I’m also showing a different side of myself.
What advice would you give young women/girls who wish to pursue a career in music?
I’m going to tell them what I wish I was told, which is educate yourself as much as you can about whatever you want to pursue. Don’t rush to get signed. Invest in yourself. Experiment. Download beats if you have to. Get a feel for things, because you may find that you don’t actually like singing or performing, but rather enjoy writing songs. Understand yourself and push yourself to the best of your ability or you’ll just get twisted in other people’s narrative and get pushed around if you don’t stand up for yourself”.
Some Strings Attached is going to be one of this year’s best albums. The brilliant Rowlene should be on your radar. This South African artist is a phenomenal talent that has decades ahead. I have just connected with her music, but I know that she is going to be a major mainstream and world-straddling artist. As I have said before, I do hope that she comes and plays in the U.K...
VERY soon.
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