Take Heart - EP

“Growing up in [a] gospel home, my favourite songs and my favourite genre is choir music,” South African singer-songwriter and media personality HLE tells Apple Music. “I loved listening to it. I loved dancing to it. I was trying to understand it more and more, and so I wanted to commemorate that. I drew from John 16:33: ‘That in this life you will face many trials, but take heart, for I have overcome the earth’.” It’s that dose of inspiration that drives HLE’s 2023 five-track EP, her first release since she signed to legendary label Motown Gospel a year prior. The title track delivers classic foot-stomping, hand-clapping Sunday morning gospel, while “In Victory” and “You’re The Worthy One” create space for prayerful mediation and worship. On project highlight “Kube Kuhle”, HLE showcases her roots with a soaring, contemporary isiZulu choral arrangement that extols the beauty of taking refuge in a higher power.