Adora Keeps Rising

Sought-after singing sensation Adora has come a long way since her highly acclaimed debut album was released back in 2016.

Today, she sits pretty at the top of the musical food chain alongside other equally powerful female singers and performers in the country. Her unmistakeable voice, energy and unique sound have set her apart from industry peers as she continues to grow her fan base and brand. The Weekender this week caught up with the singer to talk about her latest projects and what it means to be part of the new wave of young musicians running the industry at the moment.

Dressed casually and sporting minimal make-up, Adora looks appropriate for someone who just left class to rush to our afternoon meeting. She’s relaxed and eases into our conversation, starting with an announcement about a cross-country collaboration.

“I call it a big project because it’s an international collaboration with a young upcoming artist from Swaziland,” she says.

A multi-talented artist at heart, Adora refuses to limit herself to one art form. Many in the entertainment industry have grown to see her as not only a singer but also a make-up artist, MC and presenter.

She is in her second year at the College of the Arts, where she’s studying new media, and she also serves as the co-owner of Phoenix Media Group, a company that provides visuals and post-production solutions.

Lately, she has been busy with multimedia projects such as the album review and a reality show titled ‘Diamonds In The Rough’, which is a collaboration with Tulisan.

The show, which was initially piloted on YouTube, was quickly picked up by a television channel and Adora promises that fans can look forward to new content once clearance is given for its television premiere.

The album reviews consist of conversations where Adora reviews the works of other artists.

“We want to speak about the journey of the artists we feature. We take five songs from the album and speak about it in depth,” she says.

On the music front, Adora reveals that her album ‘Rise’ is 99% complete and fans can expect it to drop on 15 March. “Our marketing strategy has been tightened to the core.

We’ve shot a couple of music videos already, which we’re just waiting to release. Some tracks off the album were already dropped last year including ‘Akutiike Kwii’ and ‘Pirikiti’.

‘Rise’ features exciting collaborations with the likes of Jaliza, Kalux, Lovey and producers like Araffath, DJ Preezy and Challo On The Beat.

The album will be available for pre-orders by mid-February and will be launched countrywide with the official launch taking place on Saturday, 30 March, at Keetmanshoop.

Adora calls on owners of lounges and clubs to approach her if they want to host an event at their towns, with plans to hold at least one launch per town.

For album sales, Adora and her team are opting to go independent this time around because of past experiences. “We want to create our own channels because of how we’ve been cheated so many times by distributors. We’ll open the channels for pre-orders by 20 February, so whoever wants to be on that list needs to get in touch with us as we’re collecting a database to courier the albums to those who want to be the first to own the album,” she says.

Adora is hopeful for the future of Namibian music, especially because of the kind of unity she’s seen amongst her fellow women in music. “Although the rest of the industry is not trying to unite in a genuine way, female artists are really trying, and that, for me, is beautiful and it makes every single woman in the industry a force to be reckoned with,” she says, while adding that women are getting along more because everyone is respecting each other’s lanes.

The growth of the industry at large is also a great achievement, she says. “Some years ago you couldn’t imagine that we’d be this far but here we are.”

She’s hopeful that this development will continue and that through Phoenix Media Group she will also contribute to this maturation, especially by helping young, upcoming artists who may not have the funding to bring their projects to life.

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