Maxwell: ‘I miss you guys,’ ahead of his performance at DSTV Delicious Festival

“I miss you guys, it’s because of it all (the music and the food) that I said yes [to Delicious Festival],” said Maxwell.

“I haven’t been there since 2013, 2014 possibly so t’s been a long time. I love the culture and I love you guys and I want to thank you for listening to what I do,” said the Woman’s Work singer speaking to Metro FM’s DJ Sabby.

After a terrible outing last year where overcrowding and dysfunctionality marred the event, DStv Delicious Festival announced a slew of Grammy award-winning artists as this year’s headline acts.

The Neo-soul singer is one of the headliners this year, alongside Nigeria’s Tems and Zakes Bantiwni − all Grammy winners. The DStv Delicious Festival will take place in Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit Johannesburg during the Heritage Day weekend.

In service to the audience

When asked if his ardent fans should expect new material from him, the 50-year-old US vocalist said he was more interested in giving the audience what they want, than force-feed them new music.

“I think before I should ask of the listener to hear something new, I should give them what they’ve appreciated over time,” said Maxwell, adding that he’ll have Mzansi’s favourites like Let’s Not Play The Game in his performance.

“Every time I’ve went there, they’re like ‘you’re gonna play that song’ and I had no idea it was such a big record there. But I’m gonna play everything you guys made happened for me, I’m in service to the listeners, I’m in service to the audience.”

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About the music

A few years ago, the singer shocked his global fans when he shaved his afro that he was synonymous with.

“I just wanted to go places and do things, like people. Thank God for my genes, I grew all the hair back. I think the pandemic kind of helped, I couldn’t get a haircut at that point, everything was locked up and it just grew and we’re back with the old vibes.”

“When you say someone is a brand, you take all the creativity out of it and you make it a product. I don’t think human beings are brands. Cereal is a brand, orange juice is a brand but a human being is not a brand. I think that’s why I took those kind of risks back in the day and now.”

The singer’s full name is Gerald Maxwell Rivera, but in the interview he shared that he opted to use his middle name also as a form of protecting his family from the prying media.

“I think more than anything, I just wanted to keep my creative life separate from my physical life on planet earth, I don’t know it’s just something I felt I needed to protect. The world can be invasive and especially in this day and age, where people are more concerned about what toothbrush you use and all these things that have nothing to do with music.”

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