He's been in the industry for quite some time. He's released a couple of albums and is always in the spotlight.
But he still gets a bit nervous when he's working on a new project, which he is doing now.
Khaya Mthethwa (32) is currently working on new music after the success of two of his albums, The Uprising and All about Jesus.
He recently released the first song Ngambulele, from the album that he is recording in the studio.
He's all about contemporary worship music as he wants to not only glorify God but to give people a revelation of who God is.
The Idols season 8 contestant tells us how this album came about.
“I have been doing a lot of personal music right now; I am going through a lot of introspection. I am in the process of aligning my heart and my mind. As people it is very important for us to have moments like that where we self-align. I am aligning my music and my calling, myself as a father and as a friend.”
The song is inspired by his yearning for God to reveal himself to him.
“I feel like my life has been going in circles, I want God to reveal exactly what he thought about me before I was formed in my mother’s womb. I am asking God to give me the strength to be patient even though I don’t really see what is going on. I just want to write real music, I no longer want to make music just so I can sell, and get playlisted.”
Khaya is both excited and nervous about the album he is working on now.
Read more | Joyous Celebration's Lindelani Mkhize gets honorary doctorate from University of Zululand
“It’s very self-reflective and I am hoping that I am not just telling my story but that I get to echo what is happening in other people’s lives. As a worship leader, you have to be in tune with everyone’s heart around you. I am hoping that I have tuned my music to everyone’s heart and that I put to word and melody what people have been trying to voice out in their spirit and souls.”
He has presented multiple gospel shows such as Gospel Avenue with SABC 1 which is a morning gospel music show with popular celebrities where they share their faith journeys and life stories with the viewers.
They are going to work on a new season soon.
“We are going to start filming for season 4. Because of the pandemic not a lot of artists have released material. We want to go in when we know that we have more people to cover and amazing content for each episode. That is exciting, we like each season to represent a new sound, and a new feel.”
Although for many lockdown was about adjusting to the pandemic and social distancing, Khaya’s lockdown journey was a time for him to grow closer to God and for him to be honest with himself about the way in which he would like to see his life turn.
He says he spent a full five months without contact with the outside world and in that time, he took steps to work on himself.
“I spent five months alone in my house, I didn’t interact with people and that’s when I wrote the album that I am recording right now. I had to look at myself in the mirror and be honest about the things that I needed to change in my life. From the conversations I need to have, to the apologies I need to give. Life is uncertain, and the pandemic made me a better person.
“The pandemic revealed the things that we have built our lives on. If you built your life on a job you might have lost it, if it’s a loved ones, you might have lost them. If you built your life around your house, you might have lost it, everything was shaken. If you a believer, it showed that you should have faith even when you are not in front of people.”
He says that his son Oyinkosi Mthethwa is his greatest source of inspiration, and he is working hard to be the best father he can be so that his son may have a great character to model after.
“My life completely changed when he came into our lives. He’s the reason why I get up in the morning and I need to portray an exemplary life to him. At the age of two, he does everything that I do and that will continue until he is a teenager. He is emulating everything, if I am not practising what I preach, I am going to turn him into a monster and I don’t want him in that situation.
“The presence of God and the holy spirit in my life is everything. I do not want to contaminate what God has deposited in my life.”
He says that he is no longer living to please other people but to be in the right standing with God.
Read more | Khaya Mthethwa says the church needs to change with the times
“When you a people pleaser you can easily live a life of compromise. By being in a relationship you are not supposed to be in, keeping company you have no business keeping. But I have evolved, and the journey has been everything to me.”
He believes that Christians have the power to achieve their dreams and live a life outside of poverty, if they put in the work that I drive by prayer.
“I am tired of seeing Africans suffer in the name of religion, it hurts me. I believe that there is another element that we need to tap into when we pray because God reveals things through prayer. We have so much revelation and so many gifts and they don’t show in our lives, it almost makes God out to be liar and he is not."
