TRIVENO FACES REALITY IN NEW EMOTIONAL SINGLE
Following on the heels of his 2019 hit, Not Perfect, comes a brand-new heartfelt single from South African singer-songwriter Triveno Smith.
WALKING TALL (also the titular track of his album), written by the artist himself during his late wife’s battle with cancer, is a blues infused country-pop song about facing reality and not giving up in difficult times.
“My first wife, Alecia passed away in 2017. We were married for eleven years. Even though I wrote WALKING TALL before her death, it serves as a reminder to keep on walking no matter what life throws at you,” he shares. “When life throws a curve ball, your worst fear can become your reality. Mine was that my wife would die and that our six-year-old-daughter, Gabriella, and I would be left alone. When that happened, it felt like my whole world was falling apart. Luckily things have taken a turn for the better and I was fortunate enough to find love again. Christelle and I were blessed with a beautiful baby boy, Matthew Steven earlier this year.”
While the theme is universal and relatable, his latest release is very personal and close to his heart, says Triveno. “I wrote the track while going through personal challenges to encourage myself and friends to keep moving on and not to allow bad things to bring us down,” the singer explains. “Life is tough, yes. But we can live in hope that things will get better. Sometimes we have to face difficulties to realize what is valuable in our lives.”
He believes that the song will appeal to listeners of all ages. “The music is greatly produced and mixed to bring out the emotion of the song. The uplifting chorus will make fans smile and give hope to everyone who listens to it.”
The music video, directed by Zunaid Allie of Native Indian Films, takes you on a journey through Paarl and manages to capture the emotion of the song perfectly. “I wanted to include scenes of my hometown and Lantana Street where I grew up. The idea was to keep walking (WALKING TALL) for most of the video to complement the theme and message of the song,” says the musician. “The first thing I told Zunaid was that I wanted the emotion of the song to be evident. I believe we did a good job and that everyone who sees the video will be moved.”
Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/ylD7SxUpwr0
Born in Paarl (Western Cape), Triveno was greatly influenced by gospel music as a young boy and started playing the guitar and writing music as a teenager.
He has been working in the music industry for the past seventeen years and did his first professional recording at Franschhoek Recording Studios in 2012 with Uys Visser and Helmut Meijer.
In 2014 his first album, Brighter Day was released, followed by numerous popular singles and a six track EP with his band, Southern Lights.
His latest album, Walking Tall delivered several chart-topping hits (Not Perfect, Foreign Land, Ignite and Lost In Berlin) that were playlisted on various major radio stations, including RSG, Radio Tygerberg, CCFM, Groot FM and more.
Over the years, Triveno has shared the stage with many great South African artists like Joshua Na die Reën, Jesse Clegg, Mel Botes, Hot Water, Emo Adams and Jonathan Rubain and performed at some of the country’s biggest music festivals.
He credits Steven Curtis Chapman, Eric Clapton, MW Smith and Coldplay as some of his biggest musical influences but admits that he is working hard on establishing his own sound in the local music scene.
According to the artist, his music is inspired by life, love, loss and faith. “Life is short and shouldn’t be taken for granted. My view on a lot of things changed after my wife passed away. Let’s live life in the moment and appreciate who and what we have, because it could all be gone in an instant.”
Triveno still has a lot of plans for the future, including releasing an Afrikaans album. But for now, he is enjoying being a dad and doing as much live performances as possible.