Shanah – Winner
The most likley setting for contextalising and showcasing young singing talent around here (apart from school) is religious spaces. What would church be without the occasional youth praise and worship sessions or the awww-cute Sunday School performances? What naturally flows from this phenomenon is that audiences tend to be very perceptive and accomodating to very young artists that crop up in the gospel music scene. What this also means is that these kids often have to operate within certain restrictive limits in terms of content, style, genre and presentation. You know what I mean, right?
That being said, Shanah Manjeru, rising gospel singer and host of KBC’s kids show Big Minds, certainly brings her own surprising twist to the predicatbile content expected from our child gospel stars. She follows up her chewy bubblegum debut single with Winner, an uplifiting rock song defined by bolder lyrics and an unexpectedly sharper edge. The music video also banishes the incredibly dull formats employed in most local gospel music videos in favour of an action packed storyline.
If the right stars aligned, there would have be no reason this song wouldn’t have been part of the Super Modo soundtrack. This track is the jolt the gospel industry needs. No wonder it has stayed at the top of XFM charts for weeks.
BABYMETAL – Road of Resistance
To me, Shanah’s single immediately brought to mind BABYMETAL, the group that has so successfully combined the kawaii features of Japanese pop/idol culture with heavy metal. For the first timer, experiencing BABYMETAL in their full audio-visual glory can feel like a bit of a trip. It might take a while to process what exactly is going on but once you let go mentally, it all makes sense. Definitely one band to see live, should you get the chance.