BY WINSTONE ANTONIO
Songbird Plaxedes Wenyika, who makes a return on the music front after a four-year sabbatical, says she is now mature and not afraid to express herself in different ways.
Plaxedes appears to have resurrected from the “musical grave” with Phoenix Rising, her seventh album launched in style on Friday night at The Venue in Harare.
Known for dishing out a string of classic love ballads, including Wadarirei, Hapana Angandida Sewe and Tisaparadzane, Plaxedes had last released a song (Now I Know) in 2017.
In the midst of her silence, Plaxedes said, at one point after going through divorce in 2018, she could not think she would return to the stage.
“In 2018 I went through a divorce and when you go through a divorce there are kind of shifts you hold because a lot of things that you think would happen in your life take a different turn,” she said.
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“So, I was like starting to walk again, trying to find Plaxedes somewhere again for who she became. A lot happened and, in that space, I think I was discovering myself to become this version I am now.”
Plaxedes said songs from the album reflect her maturity as her music writing and style has changed.
“My perspective of life and experience has changed. I am home, I am happy, I am in a good space, I feel like writing love songs, I know what it is like to love. For me, I think the writing is deeper now and I am not afraid of expressing myself in different ways, which is why you find I have sexy songs now,” she said.
“This is one life, this is the time I have, I had Covid-19 twice, so God has kept me for a purpose and when given me this chance, I am taking it, no more humble, humble for who.”
Plaxedes also took time to explain and share with the guests her musical journey in the midst of her performance.
“I am inspired by my own experiences, so I am going to break it.
“They were thinking that this was going to be a heartbreak album launch, no this is a straight album launch. This album is for the grown and sexy,” said the musician.
“So, with issues of love, you get to be too intimate with your person such that if you think about the way they hold you, you will miss your person and the way they make you feel.”
“There were challenging times in my mind. There was a time when I lost weight. I felt like maybe Plaxedes was a failure and I would doubt myself, but you know what, God is God who answers prayers and God can lift you from any situation.”
“One of my prayers was, God I want in the land of living while I am alive, I want my kid to see me back on the stage one more time in my brilliance.”
Just like the well thought eight track love-themed album title, Phoenix Rising, Plaxedes appears to have risen like a phoenix to emerge from a catastrophe stronger, smarter and more powerful.
Like wine, maturing with age, Plaxedes in a sign of showing serious efforts of a comeback, she engaged the services of three local producers, Gold Fingers, Rodney Beats and MacDee.
If the songs from the album she performed on the launch night are anything to go by, no doubt the original Plaxedes whom music fans used to know when she launched her music career in 2002 with the release of debut album Tisaparadzane has resurrected.
On the stage, Plaxedes oozed with confidence as she displayed a flawless energetic performance that brought back memories of her days at the peak of the urban grooves movement in the new millennium.
At 40, Plaxedes’s performance at the launch reminded guests that she still has a lot to offer to the showbiz scene.
Her melodious voice made not only men, but everyone in the house go crazy when she was talking and singing.
Spotting a blond hairstyle, a glittering blue outfit, that was short enough to cover the essentials, Plaxedes was just a marvel to watch on the stage.
With a well thought after playlist, consisting of both her yester-year songs such as Tisaparadzane and Wadarirei as well as the latest ones like, Someone To Love and Hewo Moyo Wangu, Plaxedes did not disappoint at all.
The launch was just epic!
A well-organised event that had limited guests strictly by invite was endorsed by some of the top local corporates, a feat that many artsites are failing to achieve in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Some of the songs on the album are, Rise of the Phoenix, Nguva Ichipo, Feel Your Love, Old School Loving, Nzvimbo Yekupotera and Keep the Faith.