Ever since ‘Life Without Fantasies’ became a viral hit here in Mzansi, Canadian pop duo Neon Dreams have had an incredible connection with their South African audiences. From a two-month tour earlier this year in cities all around the country, the duo fell in love with South Africa’s story, culture and people and connected with some of the country’s top musicians during their stay.
It was during this time when they wrote their just-released single ‘Say It Out Loud’ and were so inspired by South African culture that they looked to add some local talent to the track and make it the most unique and out-the-box song they’ve released to date.
When the duo peaked at number two on the Spotify South African viral chart, the duo reached out to Mthandazo Gatya, who was sitting at the top of the chart with ‘Senzeni’ – the duo enlisted Gatyato bring his signature South African influence to the track.
Now, ‘Say It Out Loud’ is here and it’s everything the duo hoped it would be. With a music video filmed in and around Johannesburg, Neon Dreams certainly bring the African spirit to life with a song that can identify with everyone listening around the world.
As the song gains momentum around the country, the group’s Frank Kadillac opens up about the song and their special connection to South Africa.
Congrats on the new single. How different is this track from anything else you released so far?
‘Say It Out Loud’ bridges two worlds together. One side is North American and the other is South African. If we had a museum for our songs this would be the big mural piece we put up for the end of the tour because it’s so unique. I don’t know if we can even recreate it because it’s so special and different. When we made the song, it was missing something and we didn’t think we were ever going to release it. Then Mthandazo changed everything about it and brought a whole new life to it. He explained he meditates instead of writing lyrics and when he goes to the mic whatever comes out is what his ancestors wanted him to say.
You were heavily inspired by your trip to South Africa this year. How has this affected you as creatives seeing your work so well received?
It is pretty wild. We’ve had fans tell us that our music has changed their relationships in a positive way, made them love their family more, made them feel less scared of the world and gave them more confidence after having traumatic experiences. All this feedback made us more confident in our ideas. Since we started making new music, we have the profound sense of confidence knowing we have a family of people that love to hear our little stories about life and how to get through it.
The music video for the track is incredible. Talk to us a bit about that.
We got to work with an incredible director from South Africa named Kyle White. He’s one of the top music video directors in the country and we approached him about the music video alongside an idea to shoot a documentary of our first time in South Africa. He had an incredible vision of what we wanted to do and he came and filmed our entire tour, our journey discovering the South African culture and even a safari. The shot of us performing on a rooftop in Johannesburg was shot specifically for the video while the other scenes are cuts from our upcoming documentary of our journey to South Africa.
We noticed you spent quite a bit of time with South African creatives in the studio. Can we assume that more South African collaborations are around the corner?
We might have a few more collaborations up our sleeves. We realize now this is only the start of this journey but we’ve been training for this for so long now and the game has officially started.
Watch the music video for ‘Say It Out Loud’ below and read more music news here.
