Former Uzalo Actor Breaks Into The Music Industry!
Former Uzalo Actor Breaks Into The Music Industry! King Wanda takes on the music industry with his debut music project; REBOUND. KwaDukuza’s 26-year-old rising star is set to make a move in the music industry after a run in the acting industry in 2019.
After making his acting debut on Mzansi Magic’s hit show eHostela season 1, in 2019 and later bagging a role of “Handsome” on Uzalo which is the most watched television show in South Africa and a few appearances on Imbewu, the Singer, Songwriter and Actor is going back to his first love, music.
The 30th of October 2020 marked the worldwide release of his 8 track EP titled REBOUND which is available on iTunes, Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, YouTube Music and all online music stores. This comes after the first single off the EP was released in July this year, the catchy afro-pop hit titled “Kilode” won the Gagasi FM “Must or Dust” show, a feature where listeners vote for the best new song of the week. Kilode took the first spot in the competition after getting 70% of the votes. It has also been playlisted by a number of radio stations which include Icora FM, Alex FM, Jozi FM and Nongoma FM so far. The music video of the song was released in August and it has recently been added into the MTV Base playlist of Dstv channel 322, this being a huge accomplishment in his budding music career.
The EP was produced by Irvin Nxumalo, better known as VIN to his followers, and features 3 rappers who are also from Kwa-Dukuza; Felli Kay, Sain and VIN.
“2019 was a very big and busy year for me in terms of my budding acting career, I got to work with some of South Africa’s biggest actors and directors, it was a life changing experience. I shared the screen with people I grew up watching on TV, it’s crazy. In the midst of all of that I didn’t get time to write and create music, it was impossible. When 2020 came through I got another acting gig on Imbewu but this time it was a very small role, and with Lockdown, production stopped and I had all the time in the world and I decided to use it to go back in studio and create with VIN. What was meant to be a recording project of just 8 to 9 songs, we ended up recording about 18 songs, and deciding which ones make it on the EP was a really hard decision. I have been working with VIN on this project from April and we finished late September”
The EP is about rising from a fall, be it any form of fall. It was inspired by my experiences, rejection, relapsing, depression and recovering from a breakup. Life is all about Picking yourself up and starting all over again, REBOUND. Songs like Vuka and Brand-New Day are motivational songs that speak about never giving up and not letting circumstances pull you down. Summertime Fresh, Don’t Hurt Me Again and LIAR which features VIN and Sain are about recovering from a breakup and the heartbreak that it comes with.
I got to work with 3 of my favorite artists whose work I admire. I have been a fan of Felli Kay from back in my varsity days and we’ve always spoken about working together, same thing with VIN but we just never got the time to make it happen, Sain on the other hand, I believe is the next Nasty C. All these guys are from my hometown and that’s special to me. Even my music video was shot by Natar Khazi who is also my photographer, he’s also from Kwa-Dukuza. The EP was recorded in Kwa-Dukuza as well, it’s a good feeling. There’s Rap, R&B, Afro-soul, Afro-Pop and Pop elements in the project, there’s something for every music lover.
