She hasn't released an album in five years. She would like to release more, ideally once every year or two. But she knows that her music is about quality and not quantity. Brenda Mtambo's latest album Sane is a 12-track album filled with emotions, ranging from spiritual sounds, jazz, and inspired by her church upbringing. The artist tells an eager audience at her album listening session, hosted by Universal Music Group, that this project is a representation of her life

?LIVING WITH ANXIETY

Her music is emotional and so is she. She is aware of it and draws inspiration from her own experiences of hurt, pain, love, and joy. "I have a serious case of anxiety,' she says. "I have been open about my struggles with anxiety. I have chronic anxiety, so I suffer a lot,' she says. "I know sometimes it looks like we are always surrounded by people but 85 percent of the time, I am alone. Sometimes I feel overly overwhelmed by everything,' she says. When you suffer from anxiety it's hard to open up. You tend to feel weak. I take medication.' But Brenda says that she takes each day as it comes. "I take care of myself.  I recently tried something different either than pills... I went for therapy and went to the doctor., she says adding, "I choose the people around me well and check If they are good for my mental health.' ?

COPING WITH DEPRESSION AS A PARENT

She says that being honest with herself and the people around her has helped her to cope. 'I am honest when I am not okay,' she says. "I sometimes feel bad for my kids because I am dealing with anxiety as well as being a single mom. I have to be fully present. I don't know how I'm doing it,' she says. "I have someone helping me at home but sometimes I have to drag myself out of bed. At times, my kids come and drag me out of bed. Luckily, I have really beautiful children. I don't know If they understand, or they are just really good kids. One thing I don't ever want to play low about myself is that I show up all the time for the kids whether in my pyjamas, tights, or looking crusty. I show up. When I was grieving the loss of my family and the loss of my mother, they knew. With kids there's no formula, we just show up and do what we can and God helps us to do the rest.'

COMING FULL CIRCLE

She has come full circle and is content with the woman she has become. "I am experiencing Brenda in full, in all my glory. Before, I was never this open about my life and anything. I used to be ashamed of a lot of things in my life, but now I'm not ashamed anymore. There is nothing that anyone can say about me that can make me feel inferior,' she says. "I am that woman now and I do that with so much grace now. I am very firm in who I am.'

HONOURING UYINENE IN HER SONG

She is also an activist and always puts women's rights at the forefront of her music. "I am very passionate about women. In a lot of my compositions, I talk a lot about GBV. I want to be the voice that speaks about those issues.' Her song Hamba Nathi was written with Uyinene Mrwetyana ,who was raped and murdered by Luyanda Botha, when she went to pick up a parcel at the Cape Town post office where he worked.  "The story really broke my heart. I couldn't sleep and I wanted to know what would make someone do something like that to a child,' she says. "I heard this one lady say, masithula bayasibulala, masikhuluma bayasibulala. Ngcono si silwa (when we keep quiet they kill us, when we speak, they kill us- it's better that we fight). I took that and wrote Hamba Nathi, a prayer for women.' Brenda wants to encourage a lot of women not to doubt themselves and not to settle for abusive relationships.