Paheja Siririka
WINDHOEK- Latoya Mwoombola aka Lioness is the queen of lyrics but some say she is a mistress of rap.
She did not disappoint with her latest release on Meme. Lioness sings about her wanting to hold her mother, wanting to see her. According to Lioness, it took a year to get this comfortable, to come to terms with has happened, enough to write a song about losing a mother. In the song, she narrates not knowing about the cancer that was growing and not being able to tell what it was, how she missed all the symptoms and blamed her dad, “because of that element of separation especially after growing up with my mother and being young I also blamed my father,” says Lioness.
“I was constantly fighting with my sister Gina in the cancer ward and it was because we both did not know how to handle the condition our mother was in,” she says. Lioness’ mother passed away from a terminal stage cancer on February 3, 2017, which also happens to be her father’s birthday. Some of the lyrics that are lifted from the song are “hospital visits, I was always nervous from the drive-I could see your body giving in” and “how can the womb that birthed me want to kill you,” etc.
The music video shot by Reggie Films was released on March 21, 2019. The song was produced by Spaxx Major, mastered and mixed by Lucas Bikedo of Ogopa Inc. The video was the genius work of Reggie Films and crew and Lioness with the makeup styling by Jay Aeron. Reason behind the black and white visuals, Lioness says when those colours are combined, they evoke more emotions. They did, however, try the video in full colour but ended up using black and white. “I honestly did not know the song will be received in the way it was, the responses are overwhelming,” she says. “What is so weird is that we shot the Meme video before Tala but decided to release Tala first,” says Lioness. “I appreciate how everyone relates to Meme,” she says. Everything changed for Lioness since the passing of her mother, therefore this song is a tribute to those who have lost a mother or mother figure.