Lize Mynhardt has always had a passion for music – she first picked up a guitar at the age of three and learnt how to play with lessons from her dad.
The SA Idols 2014 finalist released her second single, I Was, last month on Valentine’s Day, and she’s set to release more music later this year.
“I was planning on releasing on EP but then I ended up recording five singles with three different producers. They were so different that it didn’t really make sense for me to put them on one EP.”
The 23-year-old, who released her first single, Dare to Daydream, in December last year, says her Valentine’s Day release is more of an anti-love song about unrequited love than a ballad to which Cupid might loose an arrow.
“It is about when you want to be in a relationship with someone but you can’t,” explains Mynhardt. “I wrote the song with a friend and it was based on her experiences but it is a very relatable song.”
This second single, she says, was influenced by the artist Pink and it’s different to her first one which was more dance influenced.
Her parents, she says, supported her musical interests when she was growing up, sending her for lessons and buying her instruments, and it’s left her with an eclectic taste in music that sees her flitting between classical and rock.
“When I was little, I was listening to people like Robbie Williams, Celine Dion people with very powerful voices. It was more vocal-driven music and that has been the biggest influence. The vocals have to be the main thing and the music can’t overpower it.
“I had a natural talent when it came to music. Like people have ball skills I could pick up instruments and learn them very quickly.”
Back in high school though, she had planned to study medicine and took science and higher grade maths. Then she took a gap year and studied sound engineering at Mowbray Audio College.
She then went back to university and started a BCom law degree. “I loved music, but I wasn’t planning on making a career out of it. However, Idols made it possible for me to do that.”
Mynhardt, who is based in Stellenbosch but stays for some of the year with her dad in Vredehoek, came third in the 2014 edition of the popular reality television show and says it was a great springboard for a career in music.
“You can’t buy the type of exposure that you get on Idols,” she says. “There are millions of people who know your name and know what you’re doing.”
On top of three more singles set to be released this year Mynhardt is hoping to record an album for next year.
Feedback on social media and radio stations for the music she has released so far, she says, has been positive.
“You don’t make money from selling music, you make money from performing. The main goal for me is to perform as often as possible and shift over to festivals and my own shows. It is the top thing on my list this year.”
She says the live-music scene in Cape Town is in a good space at the moment. “I really enjoy it and there is always something worth watching in town. On every corner, there is cool live music going on and people support it.”
You can find Mynhardt’s music on the iTunes SA store or on Google Play.
