Janie Bay pushes the envelope with new album ‘Prisma’
AFRIKAANS singer Janie Bay pushes the envelope with the songwriting in the release of her third album.
Prisma is the culmination of songs written between 2019 and early 2021. The album includes personal themes of family, love, passion, loss and encouragement.
The seven tracks, although seemingly different, come together in an intricate prismatic matrix that hits home with thoughtful intention at a time when nothing is certain.
Bay generously moves between these mercurial emotions and fans will love the new sound.
When Bay started working on Prisma, she had a clear idea of what she wanted the end product to be.
“I wanted each song to have its own theme, sound and feel, various topics of things we as humans experience in life,” she said.
Hits on the album include radio favourite Ek Glo Nog In Jou with Danie Reënwolf, the new single My Lief featuring Majozi and Early B, a moving toned down version of the popular Fokofpolisiekar tune.
The South African Music Awards nominated musician, who always tries to write about things that she or others go through, said the lyrical content on Prisma mirrors real life. Bay also said that she enjoyed writing songs about the musings of love.
Explaining the message of the first single, My Lief, as honest and simple, Bay said: “Relationships aren’t perfect. Sometimes things get hectic, but then one remembers, that through true commitment, partnerships can stick through thick and thin.”
Another single off the album, Kalmeer is about the unpredictable world that we currently live in.
Bay explained: “Things seem to be moving too fast and many unexpected things are happening to every one of us in these strange years. There is a need for calmer waters.”
The overall sound of her latest offering is pop with a true and authentic message on each song.
“Working with my producers Dee Graaff Productions, we really didn't have too many challenges. I think production-wise the songs blend nicely together and these songs also mostly came to me quite naturally,” she said.
On naming the album Prisma, she explained: “A prism separates white light into a group of seven colours called a spectrum. Like the colours of the rainbow. And because there are seven songs on the album with each song having its own unique vibe, I felt it fits the theme well.”
While Prisma sees Bay delivering an album with a strong pop focus, she does so in Afrikaans, which is something she has not done before.
Bay signed with Warner Music South Africa in 2017. Her music has been streamed over 6 million times and, according to RadioMonitor.com, her Afrikaans singles from the past two years have reached more than 90 million impacts.
Bay shared: “I felt closer to people during the making of this album. The songs are personal, but also an expression of what we are going through as a collective and I hope that everyone that listens will enjoy it.
“I also hope that this album could possibly help them to know that they are not alone and that we all go through the same things, that we can all relate with each other.”
Bay also recently took part in the third instalment of Apple Music’s Visionary Women campaign, which aimed to highlight the women that have shaped, shifted and enriched the local and global music landscape.
The Visionary Women Collection will house the playlists of South Africa’s trailblazers, pioneers as well as disruptors, which include Bay, former Miss Universe Zozi Tunzi and musicians Amanda Black and Demi Lee Moore.
“I think the golden thread is ’authenticity’. Music and melodies that speak to me and move my heart and soul deeply. I have personally drawn from these women from a young age up until now and applied it to my own songs and career,“Bay said.
◆ Prisma is available on all digital platforms.