El Mukuka delves into the development of the single and the journey it has taken from conception to completion, saying “I started working on ‘Keep My Heart Safe’ back in 2019 with Brazilian singer-songwriter Brabara Schucko. The two of us met as students back in 2012 at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. The chorus was the first thing we developed and the only thing that stuck from our initial songwriting sessions 3 years ago. Over time and through inviting more collaborators to the table, I gained more clarity around my vision for the song in relation to the verse melodies, overall song structure and production. The elements of ‘Keep My Heart Safe’ only started to come together and make sense in a coherent way earlier this year. By that time several new writers had joined the team and some integral contributions had been made. The entire project from start to finish was done remotely and as the team grew so did the challenges of collaborating from a distance and through a global pandemic. The team consisted of writers from the USA, Germany, South Africa and Zambia. However, looking back I feel so grateful for the long creative process that we went through with this song. It was a 3-year journey that taught me a lot about fusion music techniques, different collaboration approaches and patience haha.”
For Kyle Deutsch, it was a special experience collaborating with El Mukuka and Janou on the single. He shares his involvement, saying “Working on this track was an absolute dream. It’s so feel-good, uniting, global yet still so African. I can’t wait for the world to hear it and feel what we felt whilst making it.”
Lyrically the song conveys a message of reflection and positivity while the music serves as an embodiment of multiculturalism through the fusion of African and Western musical elements. The high-energy and uplifting feel of the track resonates perfectly with the start of the post-COVID 2022 African summer season.