Karabo’s ‘Only 4 U’ is a love song written from inside the commitment
Tinashe had a set of beats he had produced and two writers in the room to hear them. Karabo and Tineke were drawn to the same instrumental, the one that became ‘Only 4 U’. Tineke led the writing and Karabo filled in the gaps as the song’s theme took shape. She also recorded a guide vocal that he calls “phenomenal”.
What they landed on is a song about total access. “Only 4 U speaks about being vulnerable with your significant other,” Karabo says, “basically not withholding any part of you and allowing your partner in completely.” Much of R&B concerns itself with the chase. This song is written by someone describing what comes after, in his words “the commitment we have established in our relationship over time”, and the loyalty that goes with it.
The production leaves room for that. Digital drums and bass sit under keys and strings, and Karabo places the track in a New Age TrapSoul R&B mood, a lane he shares with Giveon and Lucky Daye. A producer’s beat was the starting point, and the arrangement still serves two writers working out what to say.
It also continues the story of his third album, Songs About You, which he approaches through what he calls an Afro-Soul lens. The record’s lead song, ‘Ngak’thandazela’, grew out of the prayer he made for the woman who would become his wife. Read alongside it, ‘Only 4 U’ moves from asking for love to describing what it looks like in practice. ‘Safe’, with Tineke, has already earned playlisting on Mzansi Soul, and the album brings in South African voices KLY and Touchline.
Karabo won Idols South Africa Season 11, shared stages with Anthony Hamilton and collaborated with Bebe Winans. He was also the first African artist to create a theme song for Disney Africa’s The Lion Guard. Now independent, he has been working a radio tour through his home province of Mpumalanga while turning his attention to UK and US listeners.
For anyone meeting him for the first time, ‘Only 4 U’ makes a plain introduction: this is how he loves, and he is holding nothing back.
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