Mpho Sebina On How The Lockdown Affected Her Creative Process. Botswana born Mpho Sebina, blew to fame pre-pandemic with one of her biggest song features on ‘Dinaledi’ by Major Lague DJz, and just like everyone else in the music industry, the pandemic’s lockdown had an impact on her and her creative process.
Speaking on how the lockdown affected her creative process, Mpho agreed to it having an impact. “I think it really did cause me to introspect and dig deeper within myself and who I am, my culture, a lot more Setswana coming out and realizing the wounds that I want to heal within myself. It definitely did affect the art in that sense because I had to think about a lot of things and overcome a lot of things as well. It’s got me thinking about life. There’s a lot of shift that’s happening in the air, but I think we will come out stronger. We are now more aware and vocal of a lot of things with the whole Black Lives Matter movement and I just see a lot of great things coming out at the end. And systems that need to die, dying as well. I see that happening,” she said.
Giving advice to creatives who want to enter the industry, Mpho mentioned that one should always remember that there are obstacles along the journey. “It all sounds so cheesy but that’s the truth. Stay focused, because I feel like we all have that vision and we kind of know what we want at the end, but then during that journey, there are always so many obstacles that say you can’t do it. It’s tough, sometimes there’s no money and sometimes you’re not getting as many streams as you thought you would, but just stay focused and keep going. Try to diversify your income streams, because what we are most passionate about usually isn’t giving you the reward that you deserve at that particular time. So it’s always good to just diversify,” she explained
“Also your main passion, it’s nice to step away from it for just a second sometimes to just let it breathe and take care of yourself. Guard your heart because I feel like our energy is the currency and there are so many things that are trying to deter it, waver it and shake it, so just keep yourself protected. I don’t know how you take care of yourself, whether you’re prayerful or you meditate, or you dance, take care of yourself and your spirit. Love yourself and keep going,” she added.
