 Welcome back, this is ESPN Buzz. My good name is Selvakido. Today I've been joined by one of the leading actress, a superstar, producer, musician, a mother, a model, a super, super host, Abidah Maloney. Welcome back to ESPN Buzz. Thank you. You're so good for my ego. Come on, Abidah. Why say that? No, the intro. I love it. Thank you. The last time we were with you, you were heading to India for a special treatment. How was the journey? How was the recovery journey? Are you better now? Better than before? The journey was crazy. It was scary. It was painful, but I'm better now. See, we're not alone here. Alhamdulillah. And my voice doesn't sound as crazy as it did that time I left, that we spoke. So I'm happy. I actually had my first vocal singing therapy lesson today this morning. Your first? So after the surgery, I had to learn how to talk again and now I have to learn how to sing again. How's the classes? How's it taking you so far? It's hell. You know, when you do your class, it's like, don't worry, it'll be okay. For how long you'll be going through these classes? Until my voice does what it needs to do. So it means right now you can't be booked for a show? No, what it means is, no, I wouldn't take a full show now. No, maybe in a month. It doesn't take long. Like the vocal therapy took two weeks and I've started today. So they've told me another two weeks. But I, you know, it's not only about fame and whatever. It's about health. Yeah. So I'm not going to go and take a show just in the in the risk of hurting myself. So yeah, we'll take our time and show Ziko. I know shows are always there for you now just to understand this. During this difficult time, what lesson have you learned, maybe? To not take anything for granted. I took my voice for granted. I was yelling, you know, I would get on a show without warming up. I would, I would, you know, apparently this drinking cold and hot things is both, you know? Yeah. So now, you know, rest is important. Yeah. Just not taking anything for granted. What if, what if the lump was cancerous? Before I knew, before I knew it wasn't, what if, you know, it just gave me a new perspective on life that you don't take anything for granted. What if, what if this is slowing down your career, maybe? No, because I think everything in God's time. Yeah. Everything in God's time. I think I even have a song that says that. All right, Abida, you've released a new song, but just to compliment you, you're looking amazing. And everything that's mine will be mine. I know, I know for sure, I know for sure. Abida, you're talented. I know that you don't need to remind me that. You're looking amazing. Thank you. Please, let's appreciate this beauty. Let them see what they're seeing. Thank you. That's for another day. Now, Abida, you've released your new single, Let You Go. Let You Go. Why let you go? What are you letting go? The desire to do something that's probably not right. So this song is just, and even when you watch the video, I take the audience through a journey where, you know, we all have these desires to do things. And it's all of us where you want to do something that you probably shouldn't do. But in the video, I do it. So I'm going to do it for you. And you just watch the video. I'll do the thing for you that you're not meant to do. And then you can stay home. But the idea is letting go of the desire of something you're not meant to do, that society says you're not meant to do. What is it that society meant? I don't know. Whatever it is for you. Is there something you always wish to do, something you decide to do? Maybe society will judge you, see you? Well, it's not even society. It's religion. It's politics. It's the police. It's, you know, we're the control. You're always functioning under control. What will they say? What am I allowed to do? What am I not allowed to do? Who said it? We don't check. You know, we don't check, why should I not do this? So I just, you know, instead of making it so heavy, I just did a nice song. What is it you always want to wish to do? What is it? What is stopping you? What is stopping me? Yeah, the religion maybe is stopping you from doing something that you always wish. I don't, I don't, nothing stops me. Because if I go through the video, I see you coming, you know, a sexy, they're trying to do something. I don't know what you're trying to communicate. I don't know. I'm not trying to communicate anything. I think, I think I'm, I'm a woman and I'm, I'm, I'm expressing my body, my, my all the girls. That's why I have the girls. We all look the same. We're expressing beauty. We're expressing dance. So I'm not, I'm not, I didn't hold back. I just had fun. How do you express your feeling? How do you express your love to someone? Minus time. Sorry? Time. This how you show love? Time. Quality time? Quality time. That video is so amazing. So beautiful. The video is so amazing. So beautiful. You had so many beautiful girls there, well shot, well edited, nice vocals, nice chorus. Are we expecting more of this? You're trying to give us like a signal. Guys, we're getting started. Be ready. Be ready. Does this remind you that this is back to stay? Abida, does this remind you of your days while you're growing up? The crazy Abida, 18-year-old Abida. I was never crazy. I was never crazy. What do you mean you're never crazy? I was never crazy. I mean, I mean, you used to express yourself. There's a way you used to draw. You call that crazy? Maybe you had your own freedom, you know. There's a way you used to do things. There's a way you used to dress. Okay, maybe you can call it freedom. I wouldn't call it crazy. You miss your freedom? Do you miss the 18-year-old Abida? No. I mean, no, I don't. Because right now time comes with maturity. I'm not going to say age, time. And I know things I didn't know then. So no, I embrace every moment. What is that you wished you could know before? Things that I should do and things I shouldn't do. What is it that you wish to do? I mean, nothing. I've not done anything different in this video. What I did in Sunshine, what I did in Kesho, and my reason, I've done the same thing here. So in this video, I wanted to remind people about how Abida started, through the visuals. But obviously my voice has grown. The content has grown, you know. No, Abida, it's something you're hiding from me. What? I feel... What am I hiding? Guys, stop me. Have you guys, have you guys set the video? Let it go. You know, let it go. My understanding is maybe you're tired. There's a burden. There's a pressure. There's someone. Maybe you're late and go. So this video started in 2015. This song. So writing this song, it's not something that's happening in my life now. What really happened? What really happened? Nothing happened. What was it you were letting it go? So actually, when I... So I did this song with Silverstone, right? He's a producer as well. We were both in South Africa. There was an awards show. It was either Channel O or MTV. I can't remember. And we were in there and he was saying, Abida, let's do something controversial, right? So everything I do is relationship-wise, right? It's love. It's whatever. So what about that love that's forbidden? Gosh, I'm sorry. It's my watch making noise. What about that love that's forbidden? You have somebody and you want that person. It's not something that happens to one person. It happens to all of us. Now that's what I said. In the video, go watch what I do. But in the song, I say, I have to let you go because I have someone. Okay. Yeah. So it's just, it could be a desire to... It could be, okay, some of the... One of the things that I know I suffer is, as a mother, there's certain things I can't do because I have a daughter and I care, right? So maybe you can say that I have to let that go. But in this song, it's about letting that guy go. That's hot. That's fine. But I have somebody so I can't. Just to understand this, have you refined yourself in a position whereby you've let someone go because of maybe your own reasons? No. This is literally a concept that we created that happens in... Nothing in regards to your life. No. Why? What do you mean why? I'm just... Okay. It's good to be great here. You always do this with me, Annie. What do you want to find out? There's nothing. There's no secrets with me. Come here. Come on. Come on what? It's the same way when I wrote Kesha. I had just moved here and I found everyone was doing come stay. Then what inspires you writing? It's experiences. I go out, I meet people and I come up with an idea. Have you experienced this? This, no. Okay. This year, what plans do you have for us? I have so much. I have a fashion line. I have a... I have some... You know, I have my NGO called Superwoman Foundation. We're working on a major project which I'll share with you. There's music. There's obviously more acting coming. I know I'm coming out in another show soon. And music. Music, music, music, music, music. All right, Abida. We're talking about shows. Collaboration. Podcasts. You want to know everything. Last day, man, you take it lucky to have a sign. Talking about shows. We've seen a debate going online. Most of Abanton artists, they're missing out in big events. I don't know, but first of all, if you understand, if you know any Abanton artists, any Abanton song, you know? No, I know. They do other people's songs, right? They focus on doing their own version of a song, right? You know any Abanton artist? I couldn't tell you right now, no. They don't know anyone. So there's a debate going online. Why are they not being featured? Why are they not getting gigs for shows? And so I'm discussing about it. You are in the right position maybe to tell me, as an artist, how do you feel? Is it okay? Why are they missing out on the shows? Is there something that is not right? Well, I don't think, I mean, so if I think about this topic, for the life of music, there's always been people that've done remixes of other songs. But if I think of the way the life of that thing would go, if I take, for example, like we talked about it, it's Sunshine. If Sunshine, if somebody took it and did it, what that does to the life of Sunshine is makes the original song bigger. And that song then makes Habida bigger. So if I was a promoter, I'd say, oh, that's a, you know, that's a hard remix of what's the original, who did that song? And then I would hire Habida. So in my mind, that's what I think is happening, because, you know, I think that's what's happening. Because if you pick a song and you think it's worthy of a urban tone vibe, right? Then as a promoter, I want that artist that you've done a remix of their song for. Now, I'm not saying what they're doing is wrong. I don't. There's always, everyone has their place, right? But I think my advice to an urban tone artist is once you do a remix of somebody else's song, do your own vibe. Your own vibe. That would get you a show. That would get you a show. In your mind, that's your opinion. Habida, if you were there, one of the urban tone artists, assuming you're the one of the urban tone artists, how will you feel as an artist? You have a biggest hit. You have views, you put yourself, like you can produce hits. No, you've not produced a hit. You've produced a remix of a hit. What are the numbers on YouTube? I get you, but you're... So even the reason I would take a song and remix it is because I want the numbers of that song. So it's very hard to take something that already exists and make it yours. It's very difficult, right? And then you want credit. So what you'll get credit for is a remix of an original song. So just do the remix, get known, get seen, and then do your own vibe. These boys are controlling webs, streams. The big... You know, as an upcoming artist, assuming if you have... You've just said what they're controlling. They're controlling the web, but they're not getting showed. They have numbers. Okay, but they're controlling the web in Aishapo. So to get a show, do an original song. I want to see who you've done the remix of. You've done a remix of Sunshine, I want to see Habidah Nameless. Do your own song, I want to see you. If you wrote a book, take the... If you write a book and then someone else comes and comments on your book, I'll go and read the book to see why you're commenting on the book. This is just my thoughts, people. I'm not trying to say I'm an expert, but that's just the way I think. That's why I would never do... I would never take... And even if I did, I would not expect to get so much credit for it. So there was a time I was thinking of doing a collaboration and a remix of one of Chaka's songs. The reason I would do that is because it connects me to a different market, and I give credit to something that I think was amazing. I think one of her songs is amazing. I want to do that song because I think it's amazing. For them, they have their own reason. As well, they want to give credit. Just to ask you, given a chance, can you have a collaboration with an Abadun artist? Can you feature an Abadun artist? Will you love to see an Abadun artist doing a remix of one of your songs? I mean, of course, because it would make my song bigger. Can you work with an Abadun artist? I'd have to see. I'd have to look. I've never thought of it, yeah? So I would now have to go and look and see something that sparks joy in my soul. Then, yeah, if there was an artist, that, yeah. All right, well, Said, hopefully people won't see you like you're hating on them. Hopefully. All right, thank you so much, Abidah. Guys, all I've said is that an original is always better of a remake, in my view. So the re-you asked me why. I think if, in my mind, you do my song and everyone knows you do other people's songs, what that does is it makes me look at the original song. I look at the original song and I want that artist because it was worth doing a song, a remix of or an urban tone vibe off of it. All right, Abidah, thank you. Thank you, Shakulea. Do you agree with me? I agree with you, but now my view, they have a right to perform. The artist, the creative, they deserve a chance. That's their hustle. Why not? But they're dominating a platform that's amazing. So why are we looking down on that? Online is an amazing platform. Why are you looking down on the fact that they're monopolizing an online platform? You just told me that they're online. They're big, yes, online. Ah, I see. They have numbers, you know. Abidah, trust me, if I pick one urban tone artist right now, 298 was Street Sahi, you'll see the reaction. Everyone knows them. They're very big. I believe to the promoters, to the event organizers, you need to sit down. You need to think about this, boys, because if you're planning for an event, if you need a sold out event, if you need your shows to stand up, please, have them. Have them on your show, you won't regret. 100% return. So I'm speaking off of just the idea. I don't really know too much about the urban tone artist. That's a new thing, right? So for me, if I think of something that is redone and someone else tries to own it, if you look at that concept, it's very difficult to then say, this deserves, you get what I mean. This is not yours, you've taken someone else's thing and you've made it yours. That has always been looked down on in terms of the creative world, has always movies, books, music, it's always. That may be the reason. I'm not saying it's the reason, that may be the reason this is happening. And who knows if it will change? It might change. Yeah, there's a natural progression and evolution of things, creativity or whatever, yeah. All right, Abida, thank you so much for speaking to us. Hopefully to see you again and again and again. What were you laughing at? I was laughing because I didn't know if I was going to be like Mungo. Hi, how are you? Thank you, Abida. Mungo was the one who hoped to attend the show. The show was amazing. It was Friday, it was a great show. When did you come to Yumbani? No, I came to Yumbani, everything you see me in. I told them I was starting a fashion line. It's subliminal. All right, stay tuned for more on SPM Buzz, one and only, Abida. Go watch the new song, let you go on YouTube, The Real Abida. Follow me on Instagram, The Real Abida. Go on TikTok, Abida's world. Go on, these are the ones I'm going to be. The ex. Me, I'm going to be on Twitter. I am going to be on Twitter. Come follow me, The Real Abida. I'm your fan. Thank you so much for watching SPM Buzz. My name is Seville Kiddo behind the camera. Director Rahman with the ones and two. Still next time, adios.