WATCH | Lloyiso Gijana on new single ‘Speak’, fame and lessons learnt

When Lloyiso Gijana walks in a few minutes later than we agreed, he comes in full of life and energy, like he just had tons of sugar and all the energy was reserved for us.

Sitting down, he apologises for the wait and explains he had to go past his barber. He excitedly jumps into his new single Speak before we start rolling, and it is evident in his eyes and the never-ending grin that this new single means a lot to him. 

“I'm feeling excited. It is going to be one of those special releases for me and I'm excited to share these emotions and share the story.”

“I a never intended to write a song called Speak. When I was singing it, it was something that came out but I didn't know that was how I was feeling. I knew there was something going on. You know when you feel overwhelmed and don't know how you actually feel until you speak about it or write it down.

“It was  confirmation that what I've been feeling is left out. I've been feeling like I'm looking for something but its not there. I've been wanting these emotions and vulnerability from this person but I'm not getting it. It is something  a lot of people feel, even if it's with friends or family.”

After US singer India Arie and many other international stars paid the singer compliments for his soulfulness, we had to ask how he pours his soul into music.

“I've thought about it many times. I've even asked my mom where do I get this emotion to put this into a song? Did something happen to me that I didn't know about? A Sometimes I listen to myself and I'm like, this is like something so special because you can feel the emotions from the voice to the point where its almost tangible.  I don't know where it comes from but I know that it's not from this earth.”

He is gearing to leave for the US to record music, something he said has always been on the cards since he sang songs from the movie Dream Girls when he was two.

“I've always known I'm meant for global. I never thought to myself that I'm going to be a SA artist. I always thought I'm going to be touring the world. My plan was to release as much music as I can, get myself out there as much as I can so I can travel the world and be myself.”

Lloyiso is grateful for the lessons learnt since his 16 year-old self auditioned for Idols.

“That gap between when I was 16 to 23 was life-changing. That is a space where I learnt patience on another level because I wanted things to happen now. I was like, when am I releasing this song? I wanted to be Justin Bieber at 16 and famous. but if you are not meant to be famous at 16 you are not.

“There are a lot of things people deal with in the music industry that we don't know about. I'm really grateful I went into this space of finding myself because if I were to be given this type of fame at 16 I would've drowned in it. The way I think now is different to how I thought then. I'm  grateful I've learnt to grow.”