Karabo Shows Vulnerability With ‘Only 4 U’
Love songs about the early rush are everywhere.
Songs about staying are harder to find. Karabo’s ‘Only 4 U’ belongs to the second group.
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He describes it as a song about loyalty and about the commitment he and his partner have established over time. There is no performance of mystery in it. The idea is to give someone all of you and let them see it.
Built on electronic production featuring digital drums, keys, strings and bass, ‘Only 4 U’ sits within a New Age TrapSoul R&B mood, aligning Karabo with contemporaries including Giveon, Lucky Daye, Leon Thomas, Alex Isley and Manana.
Speaking on the single, Karabo said: “Only 4 U speaks about being vulnerable with your significant other, basically not withholding any part of you and allowing your partner in completely. It also describes the kind of love I have for my significant other, furthermore it speaks to how loyal I am to them, and the commitment we have established in our relationship over time.”
That honesty runs through Songs About You, his third studio album, which explores love, vulnerability, commitment, memory and human connection through an African lens. ‘Ngak’thandazela’, the album’s lead, came from the prayer he made for the woman who would become his wife. ‘Only 4 U’ carries that thread forward, now in a New Age TrapSoul R&B setting shaped in the studio with Tinashe and Tineke.
‘Only 4 U’ follows the release of Songs About You, an album exploring love, vulnerability, commitment, memory and human connection through Karabo’s distinctive Afro-Soul lens. The record is led by ‘Ngak’thandazela’, a love song inspired by the prayer Karabo made for the woman who would become his wife, and ‘Safe’, featuring Tineke, which has already secured playlisting on Mzansi Soul. The album also brings in South African voices KLY on ‘Flashbacks’ and Touchline on ‘Mnike’.
