Zimbabwe-born, south Wales-based Sizwe Chitiyo – aka Szwé – takes Emma Way on a whistlestop tour including the deluxe release of his Holy Glory album, fatherhood and judging the Welsh Music Prize.
What’s been going on with you and your music recently?
Szwé: My partner and I have found out that we’re pregnant. It’s changed a lot for me in terms of what I need to do musically, and where I want to go musically. Ultimately, I think at this moment in time, I’m not in any rush to get anywhere or to do anything. I’m mostly focused on developing. In terms of my music, I’m just about to start pushing the deluxe version of my album a little bit further afield, and develop a much stronger fanbase.
Why did you initially want to do a re-release?
Szwé: When I released it the first time I always knew I was going to do a deluxe version. I’ve always had this dream of making albums where the context was the thing that stood up at the forefront. It wasn’t about the beats or playlists, it was about listening to the story in its entirety to understand the person you’re listening to.
When it comes to Holy Glory, it’s a project I’ve been working on for the past three or four years of my life, and the songs that I’ve written have a lot of trauma and a lot of healing to them too. When I had Holy Glory ready for release, I knew there was some stuff that I hadn’t said. I wanted to do a deluxe version and include a couple of tracks that were missing and a couple of remixes. It wasn’t really a re-release in my eyes – more of an update.
You sent me a track-by-track guide to every song on Holy Glory and that got me wondering – how much do you leave to interpretation?
Szwé: I think it’s a 50/50 thing, and I struggle with it sometimes. The concept to me is everything. I’ve spoken up a lot about my mental health throughout my music career, but if I say I’m dealing with depression or anxiety, people are still surprised; I get confused by that, because if they had heard even a single one of my lyrics they’d understand to some degree what’s going on. No matter how you present it, no matter what you leave up to interpretation, I guess people will only take away what they want to.
Holy Glory was my attempt to reconnect the two things people look for: the production, but also the lyrics. The thing I won’t leave up to interpretation is my story because I think that’s where you get misinformation sometimes.
One thing that stood out to me was your use of Greek mythology in your lyrics, what do you see in Greek mythology that you see in yourself?
Szwé: It’s tragic and ironic in all the most beautiful and painful ways. What I really enjoy about Greek mythology, and history in general, is making everything a lesson. That’s something I have seen throughout my life, also because I grew up religious. A lot of the stories in the bible relate to Greek mythology.
Was it hard having the responsibility to judge 2022’s Welsh Music Prize?
Szwé: Yeah, for many different reasons. Judging my peers is always going to be difficult. You shouldn’t really pay attention to what everyone else is doing and focus on you, but when you become a judge you’ve got to put that hat on. I also represent Black origin too, and there was nothing I wanted more than for Lemfreck to win, but in terms of what Adwaith had done as well, it was impossible to ignore. So even though one thing would have created a historic moment, so did the other.
The production quality that’s coming out of Wales at the moment is just second to none. Lemfreck’s album was an eye-opener – or what should be an eye-opener – for the rest of the MOBO scene in terms of what you can do with music of Black origin: how genre-bending it is, and how diverse you can make it.
Are there any artists with releases coming out this year that you wanted to highlight?
Szwé: ManLikeVision, he’s doing a lot of great things right now. He’s got venom in his lyrics. I love Truth. I’m excited to see what Mali Hâf does. Her growth’s been great. I’m really excited to see what SJ Hill does. Jimbo, another one and Endaf as well. Sage Todz, 110%.
If you could change one thing about your local music scene, what would it be?
Szwé: Giving credit where credit’s due. It’s easy to go to a gig and just enjoy the performance without realising the importance of having that gig there. I think a lot of promoters don’t get credit for the kind of shows they’ve done or what they’re doing in terms of representation.
When can we hear your deluxe album?
Szwé: In February. There’s going to be a little bit of a buildup. I’m going to be releasing a track called Fatherhood, announcing to everyone that we’re having a baby. There’s going to be a little music video as well to go along with that. I want to do a headline event too, just to round off this album.
Once the album’s done, I’m dropping one more project called Yours Forever – that one will be coming in July. That’ll be me taking a step back from the scene before I become a dad.
Info: Szwé on Facebook
words EMMA WAY
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