Cape Town - R&B sensation and nostalgia-provoking hitmaker Craig David has added another “voice” to his multifaceted profile in the form of a recently released book, What’s Your Vibe.
Craig, 41, is currently in Cape Town for one show only at the GrandWest Arena today, before leaving on Friday.
Soon after arriving on Sunday, David was taken along Chapman's Peak Drive to take in the scenic splendour of the City.
The British hitmaker is also in the City to offer his new book What’s Your Vibe alongside his eighth album ”22“– denoting the number of years David has been in the music industry.
No stranger to South Africa, this is Craig’s third visit, with the first being for shows, and the second as part of a World Health Organisation Tuberculosis awareness campaign, a cause he has championed since 2010 as a UN Goodwill Ambassador.
The timing of both book and album had been divinely orchestrated and aligned, said Craig – they had been released just weeks apart in October and September respectively.
“I can sit down and talk to someone and it doesn’t just have to be about the music. We can talk about mental health, depression, people pleasing, bullying, racism, music – and I think that for me is the new voice that I’ve found.
“That’s just a beautiful thing to nurture that voice, not the one that’s always caressing the melodies but the one that has to stand alone and speak a truth that hopefully will resonate and help people. So I’m kind of embracing that too,” Craig said.
“Up until a certain point, even depression had been slightly abstract to me. I could hold space for someone who was saying they were feeling depressed, but I didn’t know how it felt until I felt it and through that experience, it allowed me to have to go through it. That healing process of my own, which the book really helped me with. So the book ended up allowing me to speak on it.
“To be more unfiltered and you get to the bottom, the root cause of things, and to make my connection with people more soul to soul, outside of the role to role that we’ve may have had for a very long time.
The Covid-19 pandemic had proven to be a creative period for David, with ample time to dedicate to creating new music and working on the book, but also for gardening and learning about plants.
Craig David said the book also provides contexts for some of the songs. In terms of whether or not his sound has changed over the years, he believes it has gone full circle.
Thank you Cape Town for all the love so far🇿🇦❤️ I can’t explain how amazing it is to finally meet some of you amazing people in person 🙏🏽💫 Thank you for having me 🏆 Looking forward to bringing my @TS5 set to Grand Arena in Cape Town this Thursday 👀 See you all soon 🎤🔥 pic.twitter.com/AILCWN1sEu
— Craig David (@CraigDavid) December 6, 2022
The performer said he looked forward to bringing the TS5 experience to the Grand Arena, an abbreviation for his Miami penthouse, Tower Suite 5, where he would host regular parties to get away from the “elitist red rope” of clubs and provide music he believed all would enjoy.
“The whole thing is taking the DJ mixing and blending songs together but then incorporating that into a full performance. It’ll be as immersive as a full band performance but it’s just a one man band.”
The singer-songwriter finished off with naming koeksisters and biltong as his favourite South African snacks, with the two nicely balancing each other out.
Limited tickets available at www.ticketmaster.co.za, and the book can be purchased here: https://www.loot.co.za/product/whats-your-vibe/rgvj-7691-g830