Karma-Ann Swanepoele is a South African pop-rock artist who’s carved her place in the scene in that country since the debut of ‘Slap The Face’, the first album from Henry Ate, the band she fronted, back in 1996. Performing simply as Karma, she continues to be an inspiration to young musicians and songwriters in SA, and was a pioneer in the LGBTQ community, being an “out” celebrity in a time when there were very few, if any, of her status in the industry. She moved to the US back the mid-’00s, but she’s continued to make music, and her latest single, ‘Hold On Me’, a collaboration with Jack Rayner, serves as a testimony to her talent. Rayner is on a similar footing to Karma; the Los Angeles-based producer has remixed tracks for the likes of Katy Perry, and Britney Spears, and worked on shows such as American Idol, America’s Got Talent, and World Of Dance.
Originally, ‘Hold On Me’ was a slow building ballad; more suitable for long drives on the highway, and reflecting late into the night, rather than for the dance floor. But in Jack Rayner’s hands, he’s managed to keep the intensity of the track, while upping the urgency of it all, by the addition of trap drums, lo-fi synths, and stupendous organ chords. It’s been transformed into a track that retains the arresting personality of the original, while making it a version worthy of its own music video and release.
Jack called upon Kalon Badenhorst, the lead dancer with Magic Mike Live Berlin, of which Rayner is the music producer, to star in the video. Effectively the clip serves as a bridge between the generations of South African talent, with Kalon a winner of the South Africa’s Got Talent TV show. The clip for the original song showed Karma singing directly to the camera, surrounded by a blackness that mirrored the state of her emotions, and Rayner has combined this with footage of Kalon’s dancing, making it not just a remix of songs, but also videos.
Watch it below. You can follow Karma online on Instagram.
