Online Reporter
Mthabisi Tshuma, Zimpapers Arts and Entertainment Hub
IT has been three years since rising star Andrea The Vocalist caused a stir after being pictured in the studio with South African Amapiano kingpin, DJ Maphorisa.
At the time, the young singer from Victoria Falls had managed to secure a coveted spot in Maphorisa’s busy schedule, and fans were eager to see him land a hit that could propel him to international stardom.
However, three years on, no music from that much-anticipated collaboration has been released.
In an exclusive interview with Zimpapers Arts and Entertainment Hub, Andrea’s Zimbabwe-based manager, Tendai Joe, revealed that the outcome was not what many had hoped for.
“We had an eight-hour recording session back in August 2022. About four song drafts were created during that time, but honestly, none of them met the standard expected for release,” said Joe.
“We didn’t hit the mark, they were lukewarm projects. So, we needed to restart the process.”
Joe said the environment may have been overwhelming for the young artiste.
“Many factors were at play. I think Andrea was a bit overwhelmed, it was his first time in such a professional recording space, surrounded by someone as big as Maphorisa, with other notable names like Tyler ICU and Blaqboy producers and writers in the room.
“One of the main challenges was trying to make spiritual music under intense time pressure. The energy was good at first, but as the session progressed, it just wasn’t right. The songs didn’t carry the ‘spiritual’ weight we were aiming for. Think of the energy in Imithandazo, that’s exactly what we wanted to capture,” he explained.
“We brought in songwriters, but the session ran late into the night and we wrapped around midnight. Andrea was visibly tired, and they had an early morning flight back to Victoria Falls. Fatigue set in and with it, the creative energy dropped. You can’t force great music in those conditions. His father was with him the entire time and saw the challenges first-hand.”
Plans to revisit the project were put in place, but conflicting schedules made it difficult to execute.
“The idea was to either schedule a new session or bring in a full team, maybe an established songwriter or even a church choir, to help shape the sound. We even approached Gwijo groups for possible collaborations. But getting Maphorisa, Andrea and everyone else back in the same room proved nearly impossible, especially given Porri’s schedule and budget constraints,” Joe said.
What was meant to be a career-defining moment, thus, slowly slipped away.
“It ended up being like a missed opportunity. We might revisit it once Andrea is done with school, but for now, it’s not an easy task,” Joe added.
For now, fans will have to wait to see if the Andrea-Maphorisa collaboration will one day be revived. —@mthabisi_mthire
