After surviving a scandal that nearly ended her blossoming music career, the award-winning songbird has emerged stronger and says she is ready to take on anything life can throw at her. Staff Writer GOSEGO MOTSUMI chatted her up recently
After people in cyberspace publicly dragged R&B songbird Amantle Brown for alleged cyberbullying that degenerated into a trademark war with a fellow artist, the musician is picking up the pieces and has decided to focus on her career and development.
And by the looks of things, she is winning in both departments because her euphonious voice was once again heard on radio airwaves in a new song, “Zaka” featuring crooner Berry Bone last week. Both artists stalled release of the new song that was composed last year but only got to enjoy its debut radio airplay last week.
In an interview with the “Black Mampatile” hitmaker, it turns out the delay was mainly for fear of traversing uncharted waters. “Berry Bone introduced me to a new groove sound called ‘amapiano’ and I am now excited and ready to explore other music genres,” says Amantle Brown.
“I have been turning down music collaborations that required me to explore new sounds because I did not know how to do it. With this new release, I allowed myself to be versatile so I don’t sound monotonous. After all, I can always go back to R&B.”
Prior to the release of “Zaka” and the cyber saga, the artist had released her first international collaboration with South African female rapper Gigi Lamayne last month on an upbeat song titled “Sedidi.” Two days later, the R&B songstress had just embarked on a robust marketing course for her new song but soon found herself in the middle of a scandal that shut her highly followed Facebook page. The scandal came after a woman – also an artist and apparently her namesake – lay claims to Amantle Brown as her authentic names and protested on social media that the artist had bullied and labelled her a fake.
“I was pushing hard and was motivated to present my latest offering when the scandal erupted and overshadowed everything,” says the artist. “I could not get the response I was looking forward to because it was an intense moment and I found myself panicking and all alone. I remember talking to Gigi Lamayne and she suggesting us working on a music video to re-launch the song. It’s a pity that borders are closed and can’t shoot a video, but we are working on creating videos separately.”
Amantle Brown is living proof that being in the public eye isn’t easy and that not even a tremendous amount of fame can save anyone from controversy. In the aftermath, she says the experience taught her that comfort zones can also be danger zones. But she has found the forbearance to break out and take her music to bigger platforms, enter into new collaborations and explore other musical genres.
As she reflects, she believes that another lesson from the controversy is the importance of building and working with a team so that she may delegate for other duties while she focuses on making what she knows best – good music.
Amantle Brown is undoubtedly one of the hottest artists that Botswana has ever produced, witness her hit songs that often top the charts across radio stations. ‘Brownies,’ as she is affectionately known to her fans who are warming up to her, recently opened a new Facebook page that is now sitting at 148 000 followers.
“I am moving forward even though I have not completely healed,” she says. “But I thank God for choosing me to be in that situation because I have come out a different person and everybody who was looking was also able to learn from the experience.