WATCH: Shungudzo Releases Video For “There’s Only So Much A Soul Can Take” Alongside Album Announcement
WATCH: Shungudzo Releases Video For “There’s Only So Much A Soul Can Take” Alongside Album Announcement
The single has more flavor than a creamy chicken.
Words By: Bre Offenberger
Shungudzo, a Zimbabwean-American artist and activist, has announced her debut album, I’m not a mother but I have children, will be out June 18 via Svikiro Records. To celebrate, Shungudzo has also released a single, “There’s only so much a soul can take,” with an accompanying video.
To get straight to it, this is a track for two kinds of people: those looking to spearhead social change and those looking for a place to let out their rage about the chaos of the U.S.’s current political climate. She immediately calls out “A certain kind of men / Praising God but burning crosses / The world revolves around them,” alluding to neo-Nazis and present-day followers of the Ku Klux Klan. Despite her laments that she can hardly take it anymore, Shungudzo has crafted a retro pop track for the ages — laced with soothing guitars — that takes a sad present and transforms it into a painstakingly joyous look to the liberal dream of the future.
The video opens with a static-y screen of the track title before images of different colorful entities — ranging from a flower to outer space — flash. A silhouette of Shungudzo appears, and she keeps lightly slapping herself into different scenes as she expresses her hatred for self-absorbed men. Every scene — including one of her trying to stop herself from reaching over to her couch to presumably doom scroll on social media — pops with different yet equally vibrant colors. As her world becomes more trippy and the music climaxes to the point you think she’s going to explode, it simmers and she dances around, symbolizing the hope she has for what’s to come.
Of the video, Shungudzo shares: “The video represents how external stressors — including digital ones — impact our internal selves. It’s also a statement about the fact that all of us have breaking points, and that it’s okay to admit to being hurt by people, systems and things. After all, we can’t heal any wound that we deny having.”
When Shungudzo was just 5 years old, she promised to write a poem every day until she dies. The upcoming 16-track album — 13 songs and three poetic interludes — may be Shungudzo’s debut LP, but it’ll hold the seasoned writing, powerful storytelling and compelling sonic elements of a veteran in the industry. There’s no one like Shungudzo, whose music is bound to change not only the industry but the world as we know it.
