South African singer-songwriter and storyteller Pilani Bubu releases her new single, “Caged Heart”. It’s a song about finding the courage to keep going, challenging your own limits and finally doing the things you’ve been putting off.
Its story starts in 2014. Three years after leaving corporate life to pursue her passions, Pilani had gone back to working in an agency. Late one night, unable to sleep, she began writing a poem. It was a reminder to herself to keep believing in the path she had chosen.
“‘Caged Heart’ is a very personal reflection of who I was 12 years ago, in 2014. After quitting corporate three years earlier, I had gone back to work in an agency. One night, I couldn’t sleep, and I wrote this poem about defying my own limitations. At the time, it was an affirmation, an encouragement to keep going on the journey I had started. I was only one album in. Now, with my eighth album forthcoming, those bold affirmations have become a lived experience.”
Back then, Pilani hadn’t yet released Warrior of Light or begun her Folklore album series. Twelve years later, she can look back and see how much of that late-night promise she has kept.
Following July’s “Doodle Do – Diminished Light”, “Caged Heart” carries that encouragement forward. Pilani hopes it will reach anyone holding back on something that matters to them and remind those already pursuing their dreams to keep making room to grow.
“I want people to be encouraged by this song. If there’s something they’ve been sitting on, something they’ve been deferring or postponing, I want them to get up and do it, and do it now. Ask yourself: if you were to die today, what would you wish you had done? Even when you’ve chosen your path, you need to continue to be bold and courageous, to break through your own ceilings, defy the boxes and challenge your self-limiting beliefs. That’s what ‘Caged Heart’ is about.”
At its heart is a question Pilani first asked herself years ago: what kind of life do you want to live, and what’s stopping you from taking the leap and defying gravity?
