Goapele - Favorite Album Tracks

BIOGRAPHY
In one breath, Goapele is urging social change and personal transformation. In another breath, she is penning sensual and introspective R&B tracks. In between, she’s as soulful as ever. This delicate sonic shapeshifting was introduced on her now classic 2001 debut album. “Even Closer”, yielded the iconic anthem “Closer”, which has quietly racked up tens of millions of plays, downloads, sales and impressions. The title track of her fourth album, Strong As Glass, endures as a women’s anthem. While hypnotic bass heavy songs like “Play”, from Break of Dawn display a more sensual side of Goapele, songs such as “Stand” continue in the tradition of movement music. Essence claimed, “her voice is the stuff of dreams” and Huffington Post called her “a driving motivational force for many women.” Goapele is an Indie Artist role model, who has always been able to stay true to her vision, with the support of her family run record label, Skyblaze Recordings. 

Diversity comes naturally to the South African (Tswana-Sotho), German-Jewish, Oakland-born singer/songwriter, producer, activist, actress and designer.  Her unique influence can be found in moments throughout R&B, soul, and hip-hop over the past two decades. Over the course of touring the world and releasing five albums, she has embraced the opportunity to work with a wide array of collaborators  including Snoop Dogg, BJ The Chicago Kid, Hieroglyphics, Eric Benét, Soulive, E-40, Mike Aaberg, Kieth Harris, Cassper Nyovest and Jeff Bhasker. 

In film and television, some of her notable musical contributions have been in: Honey, Power, Black Lightning, 90210, Baggage Claim, Zulu Wedding and the documentary Homeroom. As well as writing the timely song, “Borders” for an upcoming film on family separation. She appeared in the feature movie Sparkle, and with the likes of Gabrielle Union and Alfre Woodard in Ava DuVernay’s fashion short film, The Door, for Miu Miu. She was an executive producer and appeared in the art-noir, experimental short film #WhereIsBeauty.

Outside of entertainment, Goapele continues to be a dedicated mother and community builder to support the call for social justice. She has worked with multiple prison reform efforts including Common’s Imagine Justice Organization, Represent Justice, and A New Way Of Life Foundation. An advocate for healthy living, she has been the face of several public health campaigns, from the California Tobacco Control Program to AIDS HealthCare Foundation’s ‘Rise Above’ campaign in the US and South Africa. Her passion has led her to become involved in the Movement For Black Lives, The Agape Spiritual Center and more.

Goapele is currently recording her sixth project, and has decided to do it in an unconventional way. Being an Artist with synesthesia, which is a combining of the senses, Goapele has been waiting for an opportunity to introduce her music in a way where the audience can partake in more than just listening. In collaboration with her lifestyle brand Dreamseeker, this time she will be sharing songs as an immersive experience, beginning with the capsule release of  Tone Series 01 “Color my heart”,  where two love songs come with a curated scent and correlating merchandise. 
Visit Dreamseeker.shop to find out more on Tone Series.

Goapele - Favorite Album Tracks

Goapele - Strong as Glass 2014

Goapele Mohlabane, simply known as the artist Goapele, takes a refreshingly nuanced approach to conveying her inner strength on Strong as Glass, the fifth release from the Oakland songstress who's won a legion of loyal fans thanks in part to her signature hypnotically melodic vocals. While heavy rotation radio singles like Rihanna's “Pour It Up” and Beyoncé's “Flawless,” reflect personas so braggadocios that they become R&B caricatures of their mainstream hip-hop counterparts, Goapele doesn’t claim to be made of Teflon on her new album. Rather her courage is found in her ability to honestly assert both her vulnerability as well as her independent strength.

This concept is captured best in her title track, “Strong as Glass,” one of the strongest tracks on the album, both lyrically and musically. On it, she skillfully articulates her strength as a women who can take care of herself but also gives us the real with lyrics like, “I’m built to last, but I can break.” She’s honest about her heart and doesn’t try to be something she’s not.
It’s this emotional transparency that gives the album its voice and also makes the album highly relatable. Some of the other high points on the album share this central idea such as “Truth Is” and “Perfect” in which she boldly confronts a lot of the imperfections in her relationships as well as her own doubts and flaws. Rather than claiming to be “Flawless,” she sings about being flawed, how it doesn’t make her nor her romantic relationship any less valuable and how she -- and her love -- is worth fighting for.

But don’t worry, Goapele still knows how to have fun, and she gives us a taste of that in her collaborations with Snoop Dogg and Eric Benet. Her first single, “Hey Boy” featuring Snoop, was released just in time for summer and gives us that danceable Michael Jackson in the '80s feeling that’s perfect for all the Chicago steppers out there. It’s the type of upbeat track that fits in perfectly at the grown-folks club and the wedding reception. It’s enough to get both you and your uncle with the matching linen outfit and the snakeskin Stacy Adams out of his seat (I know I’m not the only one with one of these).

The feel-good vibe continues with “My Love” featuring Eric Benet, a lighthearted lover's anthem that’s the type of track it's good to have in rotation on date night.
Strong as Glass also continues the path she the started on Break of Dawn in 2011, constantly expanding the soundscape she uses on her albums. No longer clinging to her neo-soul comfort zone, she weaves between R&B, contemporary pop and other genres. This is most notable on “Powerful,” which transitions seamlessly from a ska-like guitar sound, to one of the harder hip-hop-based beats on the album, while also offering pop ballad breaks. She even switches up her flow at times to a reggae chant style. These intra-song genre blends make for much richer musical experience, particularly on “Truth Is.”
“Last Days” is another one of my favorites on the album as it highlights her invariably sultry tone found on her prolific neo-soul classic “Closer.” It’s floating-ambient quality makes it a must have on any lovers playlist.

Strong as Glass hits the mark of being a genuine and comprehensive R&B experience in a field where most mainstream R&B divas are trying to make the best soundtrack for the “turn up” -- not that there isn’t room for that, too. Strong as Glass gives something that’s more honest to the human experience, and it’s that honesty that continues to play a huge part in the appeal of Goapele’s music.

01. Strong as Glass
02. Hey Boy ft Snoop Dogg
03. Insanity
04. Perfect
05. What in the World
06. My Love ft Eric Benet
07 was a track not from this album)
08. Powerful
09. Some Call It Love
10. Last Days
11. Truth Is

Strong As Glass

Goapele - Strong As Glass 2014

Goapele - Even Closer (2002)

Even Closer is a reworked version of Goapele's limited release debut, Closer, with five additional songs: "Ease Your Mind" (featuring Pep Love), "Got It," "The Daze" (featuring Zion I and Casual), "Back to You," and "Red, White & Blues" (an anti-war song featuring a blistering guitar solo by Errol Cooney). It showcases Goapele's sultry, cascading voice with relatively sparse vocal arrangements and the contributions of producers such as Amp Live, Jeff Bhasker, Eric Krasno, and Mike Tiger, who help create a smooth, tasty mixture of soul, hip-hop, jazz, and occasional touches of other styles. Goapele navigates this potpourri quite adeptly, although the album does tread a thin line between appealingly eclectic and insufficiently cohesive; fortunately, she has enough talent, including a sufficiently distinctive vocal personality, to pull it off. The words tend toward lyrical and enigmatic, but occasionally they are effectively straightforward and to the point (e.g., "'Cause you're so f**k'n romantic/I can't stand it" from "Romantic"); Goapele also manages to tackle social/political issues without getting too preachy. However, some may wish her social protest lyrics were less vague and more incisive; also, the album isn't replete with clever wordplay and the rhymes tend to be conventional combinations such as "friend"/"end" and "same"/"blame." Nonetheless, this album is worth a listen if you enjoy contemporary soul.


Closer
Got It
Romantic
Too Much the Same
Catch 22
Thing's Don't Exist
Childhood Drama
Salvation
Back to You
Butterflykisses
It Takes More
Red White & Blues
Catch 22 Remix
Childhood Drama (ext rmx)
Closer to my Dreams (ext)

Even Closer

Goapele - Even Closer (Favs) 2004

Goapele - Dreamseeker 2017

The act of chasing one’s dreams isn’t a flimsy New Year’s Resolution or a future aspiration for acclaimed singer Goapele — it’s a never-ending way of life.
Now, less than a year removed from the release of her sixth album Dreamseeker, “the next thing” keeps moving further down the road for Goapele. Instead of chasing the next big innovation, however, she used the project as an opportunity to return to her musical roots, minimizing live instrumentation to create what she calls an “effortless” album reminiscent of her debut Closer.
Goapele has seen the full evolution of R&B in her 17-year career, a transformation she welcomes with open arms. Her discography has never been an exact fit into the box of R&B, but in an era where the borders between genres are crashing down, she finds it easier to create what she wants without having to struggle with labels.
“I feel like we’ve come full circle, genre wise, with independent R&B music,” she said. “It’s something that I’ve been doing for a long time, but I felt like I had to explain myself, when I was first doing it. Now, it’s understood and established.”
The fans themselves weren’t the ones Goapele felt she had to explain herself to — “they don’t care what it’s called; if they feel it, they feel it,” she said. But trying to convince the typical gatekeepers to promote her music was a struggle in the days when the walls were more rigid.
The singer credits the initial years of her career she spent on her family label for not only instilling the extraordinary self-confidence necessary to succeed in her industry, but also giving her the tools to do it her own way.
Goapele’s family has empowered her in more ways than one; she is finely tuned into social issues of inequality and seeks to use her music as a fuel to spark the change she wishes to see. Her late South African father Douglas Mohlabane spent his life struggling against his country’s oppressive apartheid system, and in the process, opened his daughter’s eyes to the work that needed to be done.
“There’s always been a questioning of equality out there, and an awareness that just feels natural to me,” she said. “I’m a mom now, I have a daughter who’s confident and empowered; even though she’s really young, she’s already learning about sexism from comments people make at school. Things still aren’t balanced the way they should be.”
Mass incarceration and its disproportionate effects on people of color certainly qualifies another one of those imbalances, and Goapele points to her recent benefit concert with Common and J. Cole, which aimed to highlight this issue as an example of how she can use her platform to improve the bigger picture. Billed as the Imagine Justice concert in Sacramento, an estimated 30,000 people showed up for the free concert in front of the Capitol building, and left with a firsthand understanding of the power of music.
“We got them thinking about some of our policies, but it was a fun event, and that gives me life,” she said. “Being on stage and performing with the live musicians that I work with is exciting. When it’s live, it takes on its own life, and it’s always nerve wracking, it’s exciting.”
“Going through all five albums and different moods, it’s going to be a journey through my music,” she said. “It’s exciting to me that I finally have a long enough discography to dip and dive through all the albums, so it will definitely be dynamic.”
01. Dreamseeker (Intro)
02. $ecret
03. As Bright as the Sun (Interlude)
04. Power
05. Take It Over
06. Giving Me Life (Interlude)
08. Stay ft BJ the Chicago Kid
09. Full Circle (Interlude)
10. Stand
11. Cool Breeze

Dreamseeker

Goapele - Dreamseeker 2017

Goapele - Change It All (Favs) 2005

Bay Area native Goapele has quickly made a name for herself as a versatile artist combining elements of soul and world music with socially conscious, often political lyrics and ethereal aura to her work.  Influenced by American soul and jazz greats as well as some of the great artists of her South African heritage, she has set a path for herself and her music may hinder mass acceptance (despite her striking physical beauty) but which will likely make her an important artist and voice for years to come.
Following her graduation from Boston's prestigious Berklee School of Music, Goapele launched her recording career with 2002's Even Closer.   The disc's strong lyrical content and otherworldly sound won both critical acclaim and strong sales for a debut.  And the song "Closer" became an underground soul favorite that continued getting play for the next two years.
In December 2005, Goapele released her much-awaited second album, Change It All.  It continues the alternating lyrical messages of romantic love and social consciousness and is even more appealing than its predecessor.  Goapele certainly shows growth as a songwriter on Change It All, along with the ability to present her compositions in a number of musical setting.   Whether coincidental or not, her writing is at its sharpest musically when it is at its most political, such as on the title track and the solid midtempo "Find A Way."  Her vocal arrangements are occasionally a bit monotonous and hinder her generally strong vocal delivery, but its tough not to be drawn to solid tracks such as "First Love," "Fly Away" and the surprisingly traditional ballad, "Darker Side of the Moon," a beautiful closing number that sounds like something Heather Headley might sing.
Change It All is in all respects that album that Goapele's growing fan base was hoping for and should solidify her position as one of the important young voices in soul music.  Recommended.
By Chris Rizik

1. Intro
2. Change It All
3. First Love
5. 4AM
6. Different ft Clyde Carson
7. Crushed Out
9. Find a Way
10. If We Knew
11. You ft Dwele
12. Good Love
13. Battle of the Heart
14. Darker Side of the Moon
15. Closer-rmx

Change It All

Goapele - Change It All (Favs) 2005

Goapele - Break Of Dawn (Faves) 2011

Time takes on new meaning in the furious and frenetic world of entertainment, and a performer electing to take years away from the spotlight can risk losing her edge and her audience. The trend-driven nature of the beast causes many artists to adopt a 'can't stop, won't stop' mentality, so it's hard not to take notice of others confident enough to do the opposite, such as Goapele Mohlabane. In the nearly six years since her last solo project, Change It All, the singer, songwriter, musician and activist turned her focus from local to global, championing the Motherland's most challenging dilemmas by adding her talents to the ANSA (Artists for a New South Africa) organization and 'motherhood' to her jam-packed resume, crucial changes that have obviously emboldened the 34-year-old California native to plunge into more sensual material for her latest release, Break Of Dawn.

Experiencing the CD is both soothing and surreal, kind of like moving from Norman Rockwell paintings and veering straight into the Salvador Dali wing. Producers like Bedrock, Mike Tiger, Dan Electric, Bobby Ozuna and Drumma Boy, to name a few, put aching, yet edgy, lilting touches on songs about the various twists and turmoils that the heart can take. “Pieces” is a wistful, gauzy cascade of a melody about desperate dejection and loneliness: “Then I fall into pieces, I’m here and you’ve left/I fall into pieces, I’m never seeing you again/separated like a puzzle, flying into space, so lost.”  “Tears On My Pillow,” its stark and stormy flipside, is a brooding, percussive glimpse into a broken heart and angry acceptance: “I saw you slip away, long before you gave reasons/couldn’t hold you down, if you wanted to go.”

Never one for conventionally-styled R&B, Goapele is still an affecting songstress, thanks to her sweet yet searing soprano that burrows into the lyrics and peels back layers of emotion with focus and ferocity. "Undertow," a prime example, floats in innocently enough, unfolding languidly as Goapele describes the immediate attraction of their initial encounter, but laments the toxicity of that bond: "How you were licking your lips, I could tell you were danger/that you were the type of boy that even love couldn't change / So I know I should leave, but I'm not ready to go / About to ride that wave, riding on that me on that wave / got me on that wave, caught up in your undertow..."

The richness of a broadened perspective is also what helps in conveying the intent and the emotions of the music in Dawn. Stretching the common woe of single motherhood into hymn territory is "Hush," a song meant to soothe the fatherless child, but laced with just enough frustration to purge her own anger clean during the process: "You know I love you, I'd move the mountains with my hands if I had to, do anything for you/Baby believe me, I hope you can see that, your Momma loves you." The urgency of now and seizing the moment shimmers to the surface of "Right Here," pairing a synthesized whisper of a track with notes that dip and soar with expectancy before flowing into the most straightforward number of the entire set, "Milk & Honey," featuring an artful---and bordeline orgasmic----placement of Auto Tune that tenderly implores her man to surrender to her capable wiles. 

Does Goapele stretch herself too thin at times? Certainly: "Money" has a worthwhile message, but is blatantly lifted chapter and verse from the Book of Prince without his bite or self-assurance, and the opening track, "Play," shape-shifts too much from one genre to another to maintain a lasting impact. However, Break of Dawn is a daring and delectable return, interlocking her life-long political and cultural savvy with a fully-realized vivaciousness that, just like a sunrise, is awe-inspiring and impossible to ignore. Highly Recommended.

02. Tears on My Pillow
03. Undertow
04. Break of Dawn
05. Hush
06. Money
08. Pieces
09. Milk & Honey
10. Don't Be Shy

Goapele - Favorite Album Tracks

Will Danner