The release of Sha Sha’s long-awaited album I’M Alive sees the BET Award winner assert her dominance of Amapiano while also extending her creativity into a bolder, soulful R&B terrain.
The follow-up to her debut offering Blossom, I’M Alive is the sound of an artist who is breaking barriers – as heard on the fantastic four singles that have been a precursor to her second full-length.
The singles “Ungowami” featuring Soa matrix, “Themba Lami” featuring Ami Faku, and “Give Me Something” featuring Rowlene, have together offered a potent and unforgettable reminder of why Sha Sha is such a formidable music force.
I’M Alive is nothing short of a proclamation by Sha Sha on her musical eclecticism and wide-ranging gifts – from songwriting to performing. It is also a statement of her own power. “There had to be certain things within myself that had to happen so I could come alive,” she says. “It’s more like a rebirth, self-reflection and healing.”
I’M Alive features 30 collaborators and “I think every single one of them brought a special contribution to my project,” says Sha Sha. “I am very proud of us as a team and the music we have created.
“I think there are some great and exciting surprises on the album, people will discover the diversity of the music we have created.” The album is executively co-produced, mixed and mastered by long-time collaborator Herc Cut The Lights who had to say “A lot of time and effort was put into this body of work to create a lifelong experience”.
The album sees Sha Sha moving through Amapiano and show her musical strength in other genres, among them Afrobeats and R&B. It’s an intoxicating, genre bending mix that gives expression to her aspiration to reach new audiences across the world while never forsaking the signature Sha Sha sound that has turned her into the Amapiano Queen.
“This album was a healing process for me,” Sha Sha shares. “I don’t want to prescribe too much to people, but I think the healing and love message will come through clearly. The title I’M Alive is not a morbid one.
It is a journey of letting go of a version of me and welcome the new one. It is about low frequencies around me and inside of me that had to come to an end for a new version of me to come alive. I am a very spiritual person so in this journey the relationship with God is central.”
Finally, on what she hopes the audience will take away from ‘I’M Alive’, Sha Sha says: “I want audiences to let themselves go and get lost in the music. To take whatever they want from it and maybe in a way it assists them to tell their stories too.”
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