Exclusive: Le Band’s Joel Maina releases first solo EP
Famous boy band Le Band’s vocalist Joel Maina aka Chokoraa Mjanja has released his first solo Extended Play (EP) dubbed Kiss Me or Kill Me, which he disclosed was inspired by heartbreak.
“It has a reggae song that I know many ladies will love,” he told Nairobi News.
The EP comprises four tracks which include Deni Ya Mapenzi, Mapenzi Yanitesa, Jah Love, and Nipende Tu.
The singer added that the EP came at a time he was going through a painful heartbreak that saw him singing sad tunes that only inspired him to make music out of the experience.
“Heartbreak. It got to a point we started having communication problems, and one thing led to another, one day she called me and told me she was done. I played sad guitar tunes to my own breakup,” the singer recalled.
“Aside from the sadness, I feel so amazing and proud of myself for achieving this milestone because it shows that I am pushing past the walls that I was so used to as part of Le Band.”
The EP marks the vocalist’s first solo project ever since Le Band split up back in 2019 for reasons best known to the group. However, giving a little insight into what could have transpired at the time, the singer said that many things could have contributed to it but it did not affect their friendship.
“I can say it’s a whole lot of things that could have contributed because honestly, I can’t tell you the exact day that Le Band split up, but the beauty of it is that we were friends before we were musicians so there is so much love between us,” he said.
Speaking on whether the group plans on getting back together Maina stated that they haven’t talked about it but it is his hope that they can get back to producing music together because their fans love Le Band music as a group.
“We haven’t yet talked that far ahead, but my greatest dream is to see Le Band do things together one more time.”
The vocalist opened up about what he has been doing by himself saying that he ventured into teaching and producing music, on top of singing as a solo act.
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