At the height of pandemic lockdowns, Namibian rapper, songwriter, and producer Lioness (La-Toya Mwoombola) was faced with a new reality. Between her life as an entertainer stifled at home and a tireless frontline anesthesiologist, her creative and physical capabilities were tested to the limit. “I was so pressured to make music that I couldn’t make music unless I enjoyed making that music,” she tells Apple Music. “I was three months pregnant, and I was also very unsure about where my career was going. I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness. Is this the end of me in terms of the artistic side?’ And already being a doctor and having so many accolades and dualities that exist in my personal life, I was like, ‘I don’t know.’”
In the midst of a changing world, with a child on the way and new genres reshaping the musical landscape, Dance & Dance became the release she needed to bring her back to a place of gratitude. Across five tracks, Lioness brings her many sides to a mind-opening, pain-mitigating, hip-swaying catharsis. “This body of work, particularly, just allowed me to let loose,” she says. “When you dance, you should, ideally, feel safe and you should feel free.” Here, she takes us through the EP, track by track.
“Bring Em Ova” [Lioness & Tamy Moyo]
“I came across Tamy Moyo with a friend of mine. She was listening to her music, and I was like, ‘My goodness. Who is this girl with such a big voice?’ It happened that we had met at Coke Studio Africa in Kenya back in 2018. She was this very timid girl, but when she sang, she just had a very big voice. We exchanged contacts and then, years down the line, I was like, ‘I have this song; I really would love to come to Zimbabwe and extend my continental context.’ I saw that there were a lot of collaborations between women, and they were very impactful, so that’s what I wanted to do for myself and for Africa.”
“Risky” [Lioness & J.Derobie]
“I actually had sent this song to one of the guys from WSTRN, Akelle. I was just like, ‘Look, I’m going to take risks.’ I think that’s even where the name of the song came from. I sent it to him, and he loved it! And he sent me a little bit of a snippet when he was in his studio, but things got a little bit sticky for him, so he couldn’t deliver what he recorded at that set time. I said, ‘OK, well, this isn’t meant to be.’ And then I was like, ‘Look, J [Derobie], I have this song, I’m done with it. I recorded some choruses. Let me know.’ He sent back the track, and because we had worked together previously, he could complement my style. It was so beautiful in the end.”
“Linyenga” [Lioness & Falz]
“‘Linyenga,’ in my native language, Oshiwambo, means ‘move.’ I try to incorporate different words that relate to dance and the art of dance. We pitched it to a couple of artists, and then it came back and I’m hearing this voice, and I was like, ‘Oh my god. Who is that?’ And it was Falz! It was one of those ‘oh my god’ moments because I was like, ‘This means that I’m good enough.’ I think that artists always struggle with that balance of, ‘Am I really good enough or creative, in general?’ I just felt, at that moment, I managed to do something that bigger artists like Falz can look at and want to be on.”
“Danisa (Dance)”
“‘Danisa’ in my native language means ‘dance.’ So, it was just a very fun addition to the EP. Also, something very different, very experimental too. I know that it’s probably something I wouldn’t do again. I loved it. It’s almost like a curiosity. Like, ‘Can I make rock music?’ And you make it and it’s good and you park it, but you’re like, ‘OK, maybe I would rather do a song like “Risky” or something else.’ It’s celebrating the art of dance.”
“Gratitude” [Lioness & Page (Ethnix)]
“I wrote, ‘Grateful for this time I’m alive/I’m grateful that I’m living out a dream and not a lie.’ And I left it like that. I came back to the song later, and I listened to it again, and I was like, ‘This is what I truly feel.’ I‘m so grateful that I’m even alive because [at the time I wrote this] people were dying in Namibia. Whilst I was in the hospital, we were almost desensitized because people were dying left, right, and center. I was dead inside. We were all dead inside—healthcare workers and I’m sure everybody else. I really wanted to get a little bit personal with the song and just go back to the roots. I’m grateful for everything. I’m grateful for meeting [Mr] Eazi. I’m grateful for meeting Diplo. I’m grateful for meeting Willy Monfret. I was grateful for my talent. I was grateful for the people that mattered in my life. I can go on and on about the song, but I think that I just had to show that at that moment in time, as an artist also coming back with all these realizations of why I make music, I’m grateful for the opportunity to even make music.”