10 Things We Love About: lordkez

South African based singer lordkez doesn't just consider herself a musician, instead she's a jack of all trades in the creative field of view. As well as being a remarkable painter and poet, lordkez is making the covers on magazines across her country for her charming but engaging musical talent. After releasing her debut EP 'Revenge Season' back in 2019, a moody and alternative album exploring themes of lust, love and jealousy, lordkez is back a year later with brand new project Charcotta alongside a captivating alter ego. With Charcotta being a jazzy and soulful listen that needs a burning incense stick to accompany it, we had a chat with lordkez to explore more about her and see what makes her music so incredibly hypnotising.

We love your Lo-fi sound – Who would you say are your musical inspirations?

I am inspired by a few artists, Erykah Badu, Amy Winehouse, IAMDDB, J.Cole etc. But, I would say I draw my biggest inspiration with the artists I surround myself with, the people and the creatives I collaborate with, it tangible inspiration, you can feel it in real time.

We love your sense of style – How would you describe your fashions sense and how was it doing a Weekend Turn Up with Sportscene and Adidas ZA?

I wear whatever I feel like at any given time. My fashion sense is centred in my expression, it can be anything at any given time. It was great, they have been supportive of me for a while now. I had fun in that insert, I also took them to my local crystal and incense shop, to put them onto some of the vibes.

We love your powerful and imaginative visuals – Tell us how you come up with your ideas for creating a music video.

It's usually a collaborative thing, we will always be throwing ideas around, the process is informal and fun, we live in the world of ideas, so we are always thinking of the next thing to do. The music always leads the thoughts and feelings, which is a shared philosophy between myself and my team.

We love that you’re highlighting talent in South Africa – Tell us about the music scene in South Africa and what do you want to achieve in the future in terms of your career.

The music scene in South Africa is rising, there is a fully functional industry here that has now started to develop in global spaces, which is great. I see myself as a citizen of the world not bound by my borders or boxes. I make music for people not places and one day, I want to share moments with all the people that find my music and connect with it.

We love your live performance video of ‘Rain’ – Tell us about why you decided to film the video in this way and what Charcotta is and the meaning behind it.

Rain is the type of song that we felt needed a live version of the song, so we decided to shoot a live performance video to add to the character to the song and launch the sonic direction of Charcotta. Charcotta is a personality/identity I developed years ago when I was writing poetry and releasing it online, it stems from the full name "Sherry Charcotta". It is a very personal name for me and because this project is so personal to me I felt it was fitting to name this project after it.

We love how you're starting to gain lots of popularity – How did you feel being featured in British GQ?

This was amazing! I was so surprised and honoured to be featured. It's always so humbling when people show love and support.

We love your artwork – Tell us about your paintings and how you created your album artworks.

The artworks for my project were created by an JHB based expressionist artist by the name of Mudza. My team sent him the music a month or two before it was getting ready to be released and he painted by hand to each song, translating the music into an art. He did some really dope work. My personal art is something I use to supplement my music or add a medium of expression to my life that is needed sometimes, also it helps with getting decorations for my apartment! haha

We love your Screens Only Tour – Tell us about your experience performing virtually and where would you love to perform next when people can attend concerts again?

That was a really cool experience, we streamed in live from the Marabi Jazz club. I had fun, shout out to JUSTN & Nele in LA for the opportunity. I am looking forward to curating my own shows and performing live soon, it's so much fun and it helps you sharpen your skills. There are a few places I want to perform at and a few countries I want to visit - we will manifest these.

We love the Revenge Season EP – What went into creating your debut EP and how did you feel about its reception?

I wrote this project during a major transitional time in my life, that is why it is so dark & bloody, I used the project as a way to transition from who I used to be in my personal life to who I wanted to become, which resulted in the project narrative being very vulnerable, honest and confronting of people, moments and of myself. It was a creative and emotional release that needed to happen for me to grow. The reception was great, I got a lot of love, which was so humbling, everyone is so CUTE! Thank you.

We love your recent single ‘Find Me In The Trees’ – What are we to expect from your next album release?

Thank you! Find Me In The Trees is one of my favourites. My next EP is my story thus far, each song leads to the next and plays a role in the sonic journey. It's honest, it's pure and it sounds like my favourite music, I'm such a fan! haha

Check out lordkez's most recent video for 'Sunday' off the new EP Charcotta and stream her album right here on Spotify or Apple Music.