#TheTribeExclusive featuring Taylor Jaye
Tayler Jaye is undoubtedly one of the most dynamic performers to come out of the land of the brave.
Passionate about performance and committed to always elevating her craft, this young singer has been making a mark in Namibia and beyond. She talks to #TheTribeExclusive about music, art in the time of COVID-19, and getting recognition for her work.
You’ve been back in Namibia for some time now, how have the fans been receiving you?
It’s good. I feel comfortable because it’s calm here you know. With all the chaos in the world right now, Namibia is calm and I’m with family. I’m with my people so I’m good.
How have you been keeping yourself busy?
I’ve been doing my live sessions where I do my live concerts. I also teach choreography and I’ve been doing these chats with artists across Africa from East Africa, Nigeria, etc.
What has the reaction from Africans been like to Namibian music in general and to your music specifically?
For me, it’s like validation because I put in a lot of effort. To see my music on Trace and on Sound City Africa, on Channel O or on Base TV is gratification, it shows what we doing and what I’m doing as an artist is at least being recognised.
How do you feel about finally being on the NAMAs nomination list?
I think it’s always good you know. I didn’t enter last year so this year my team decided that I will enter.
It’s good to receive the recognition at home, there’s nothing better than that.
Now everyone that knows me as an artist knows that I’ve never done music necessarily for awards you know but I do love the NAMAs platform. This year my biggest goal is to perform on that platform.
How have you been entertaining your fans during the lockdown and how can artists survive during this time?
I think right now artists have realised that during this time period we were like, people are looking to us to entertain them and keep them out of falling into depression.
So it’s cool for us to be doing all these live shows online but how do we get to do it sustainably?
At some point, we would have to monetise it through some kind of subscription fee or something like that. As an artist right now you can only put out as much content and actually make money off it so it’s important that we look for other means of making money.
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