Hey Mawule! Give us a proper introduction.

Hey, I’m Mawule, a RnB/pop artist based in Denver Colorado I was born and raised in Ghana but grew up in Denver.

So we’re here to talk about your newest music video “It’s Not You” tell us a bit about the actual song before we dive in 

Definitely. So I wrote the song to show my support for women and anyone who goes through experiences of sexual and domestic violence. It was inspired by friends who had been through such experience and as friends, there was nothing I felt like I could do to support other than listen and believe them. So I wrote the song as a way to show support and to create an awareness.

With this heavy topic, how did you approach the visual? 

I work in higher education and so I took advantage of that and asked colleagues who work in resource centers that focus on these topics. I asked them to listen to the music and let me know what visuals they would like to see if they saw a music video. We took all their feedback and the director and I took their ideas to develop the storyline and the visual you saw.

How long did it take to shoot? 

Started in March, didn’t finish until early June.

The song was featured on your 2016 album chosen. Why did you decide to choose this song to make a video for? Why now? 

Well, I wanna shoot a video for every song on my album before I release another album.

Why is it important for you to do a visual for each song? 

All my songs are focused issues I really care about. Songs are a great way to put a message out so I wanted to compliment all of them with thought-provoking visuals.

You do an excellent job of portraying your passion for these issues while still showing your skills as a rapper. Were you happy with how it’s not you turned out? Did you enjoy the process? 

Thank you! Overall I am happy with what we got. If I had to do it again I think we would know exactly what to shoot. Like how to shoot.

Looked great to me – how did you initially link with the director? 

Thank you. Well, he is a close friend of mine. He’s been involved in the graphic design world and wanted to venture into the music video world. Never shot a music video before so I asked him to do a shot doing a video for black is beautiful which was the first video he shot. The video did really well so we started planning more videos after that.

The It’s Not You video is incredible for his first time. Do you plan on working with him throughout this process? 

Yes! We always have great conversation at the start of everything from storyline development to shooting and marketing so definitely. Love working with him. 

Any last thoughts or shout-outs? 

Hell yeah! I wanna give a huge shoutout to the director Garrett Hayes for all his hard work on the video. And to all the actors and people who supported the video and to you for your interest in the video.

We really appreciate your time! 

Likewise! Also wanted to include the link to the directors site Squarevisionsmedia.com