Elaine gives us a track-by-track rundown of ‘Stone Cold Heart’

Since the release of her debut EP Elements in 2019, Elaine quickly became a famed South African R&B export. Five years later, her career has blossomed, after a sojourn in Los Angeles, during which period she experienced the ups and downs of the US music scene. Riding high on the success of Elements, Elaine has finally released a new album, Stone Cold Heart.

However, her big career moment was clouded by Covid-19, and at times Elaine felt she was “living in an answered prayer”, as if God had put her life on hold. Battling self-doubt and depression, she spent time in the studio working on music she eventually had to shelve after she parted ways with her label, Columbia Records.

“There’s no beef,” she says. “I think it’s just timing and the way things worked out. Being the type of artist I am, there was a lot of disconnect in terms of strategy. I was the first African artist they had in the building who wasn’t doing the most ‘African’ thing.” 

To mark her return to independence and her return home, Stone Cold Heart chronicles her journey of self-discovery, through R&B and forays into Afrobeats, amapiano and rock.

“My world felt as if it was crashing down,” she says. “I felt as if I was in a completely different universe. That’s when I was like, ‘Well, if I’m in my own universe, then it’s going to look, feel and sound exactly how I want it to. It’s going to be a representation of who I am now, after having overcome so many personal and career challenges.’”

BROKENHEARTED-ASS BITCH

This track sums up a lot of what I was going through in those five years. I think the nostalgia of Brandy’s voice we sampled in the beginning [from the singer’s 1995 single Brokenhearted] sets the tone for the album.

Finding love in LA is awful — everyone is so detached and cold. I ended up getting into some terrible relationships with emotionally unavailable people. I was speaking to this guy before I moved to LA, and we were cool. But then he ghosted me, and I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.

That’s when I started to learn the art of detachment and how to people from a distance — but that was also when it started to feel as if I wasn’t being myself. I’ve never been a strategic person when it comes to loving someone. I just want to love the person freely. So you should never bother me if you have nothing to offer.

RELAPSING (FREESTYLE)

Relapsing is about this one relationship I had that was always on and off, as well as the manipulative tactics the guy would use to keep me in his life. He was using his mental health as an excuse for his [shortcomings], saying things like, ‘I cheated on you because I was depressed.’

I tried to end it, but I kept relapsing. It was a terrible cycle, and I had to take a big step forward and just challenge myself to cut him off. It was a learning curve for me just to be able to say to him, ‘Even though you’re hurting, try not to hurt other people.’ I had to move away from that relationship, but it did teach me a lot about being gracious with and attentive to the people around you, as well as learning to accommodate them and their shortcomings.

“So La Vida Loca is on side B of the album. Side A deals with a lot of the experiences and encounters I have had, but side B reflects the period after I came back to South Africa, when I was spending a lot more time at home post-pandemic discovering these new sounds. I was working with Elizée, who had a bunch of R&B-infused amapiano songs.

Then my A&R, Wanda [Wandisa Zwane], was like, ‘How about we just mesh the sound?’ And I was like, ‘OK, how about [we call it] R&P? Rhythm and ’piano?’ There were no more blues. I wasn’t cussing anyone out any more. I had said my piece. So Elizée played the chords, and it was he and his brother, Tony Duardo, on the production. I fell in love with the sound, and I was like, ‘I just came back from the craziest things, but I know that as soon as all of this dies down, we’re going to live the most unimaginable, carefree life. And until then, I’m going to sing about it and manifest it.’” 

RUMOURS

“This is a song about someone very special to me. He really helped me find my wings again, in the sense of my not feeling I had to be hyper-independent. He really stripped that guard of armour from my heart and taught me not to close myself off — to not love or have new experiences — just because I’ve kissed a few frogs.” 

STONE COLD

I got to write this with Baby S.O.N. He was going through a lot during this time, and when people interact with me, they tend to open up. Any time anyone speaks to me or wants to open up to me about anything, I take notes, because it might be a hit song. S.O.N was just like, ‘E, I’ve been running on fumes.’

And this track is so bittersweet because it sounds so good, [and yet] it’s actually such a sad and sombre song, which is what I love about it. Not all ’piano is vibes. There’s also a very spiritual aspect to the genre, and amapiano tracks can get so personal and deep. Creating this song was the first time I rode that wave of emotionally infused R&P, and doing so made me feel very much at home. It made me feel I’m part of the culture, and it was a beautiful experience.

LOVE ME SLOWLY

I was talking with a good friend and co-producer of mine, Zeke [Ezechiel Dalton], and I was like, ‘I want to do something rock-inspired. I want it to be romantic and dangerous and dark femme, but I still want it to be vulnerable.’ So we just started getting as detailed as we could, really delving into our creative process. I got my friend Brittany B. in the studio, and we just turned it into this poetic rock love song. I had this idea that, when you’re in love, maybe if they give it to you in doses it will last forever. If they love you slowly, it might last longer, as opposed to someone love-bombing you in the beginning and then just all of a sudden pulling away. People don’t know how to love you — they can’t know from the start. Love is something we need to teach each other physically and talk about, and this was just me being vocal, in this new era of mine, about how I wanted to be loved.

LOST & FOUND

This is such an emotional song. I was in Paris for Fashion Week when [the producer] Maseko sent me the beat, but I kept putting off listening to it. Later, while I was on the way to the airport, I popped in my AirPods and was like, ‘Wow, this is amazing!’

While I was listening to this music over and over again, I received an e-mail saying my contract with my record label had been terminated. I was like, ‘Wow, OK.’ I was just looking at this document on my phone thinking, ‘It’s really happening.’ Then I just started writing and writing. Lost & Found is about letting go and realising that maybe the people I had relied on so much weren’t necessarily the right fit for me.

When you are walking away from something, [even if] both parties have agreed it’s going to end, that doesn’t make it less painful. I’ve been grieving, but I also feel I’ve rediscovered who I am. It’s bittersweet. It’s a whole new chapter — a whole new story.