{"id":57015,"date":"2026-04-23T13:11:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T13:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=57015"},"modified":"2026-04-23T13:11:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T13:11:06","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignrouge-opens-up-on-depression-after-losing-aka-riky-rick-and-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/04\/23\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignrouge-opens-up-on-depression-after-losing-aka-riky-rick-and-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Rouge opens up on depression after losing AKA, Riky Rick and others"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"mvp-content-main\">&#13;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_73327\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-73327\" class=\"wp-image-73327 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Rouge-opens-up-on-depression-after-losing-AKA-Riky-Rick.jpg?resize=600%2C455&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"455\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Rouge-opens-up-on-depression-after-losing-AKA-Riky-Rick.jpg 600w, https:\/\/fakazanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Rouge-300x228.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-73327\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rouge opens up on reasons for the pause in her rap career<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>South African rapper Rouge has shared a deeply personal account of why she stepped away from the spotlight, revealing that grief and emotional exhaustion forced her to pause her career at a time when everything around her was shifting.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on the <em>Defining Podcast<\/em>, the Mbongo-Zaka hitmaker didn\u2019t hold back about the toll the past few years have taken on her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had been away from the game for a bit,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd it was due to a lot of things, man. Just the amount of people who passed away. I think I went through a proper depression.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her absence came during a devastating period for the industry, marked by the loss of several artists she was personally connected to, including Riky Rick, Tumi Tladi, AKA, and Costa Titch.<\/p>\n<p>Rouge emphasised that these weren\u2019t just industry peers, but people who played meaningful roles in her life and journey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are all people with whom I had quite grave relationships, with Kiernan being my mentor,\u201d she said, referencing AKA.<\/p>\n<p>With each loss coming so close to the next, the emotional weight became overwhelming, making it difficult for her to even think about creating music.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd it was kind of difficult to release,\u201d she admitted.<\/p>\n<p>The rise of Amapiano introduced new pressures for artists to adapt and reinvent themselves; for Rouge, that shift added another layer of uncertainty. \u201c<\/p>\n<p>And really, the process of, okay, what do we do now? Because Amapiano was coming. So, trying to figure out, okay, what, how do we reinvent this?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Every attempt to move forward seemed to be met with another setback, pushing her further into the need for a break.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd then when I was about to, something would happen. And then it kind of just took me like, I need a moment from this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the rapper, stepping away wasn\u2019t about giving up, but about taking time to process loss, regain stability, and find her footing again.<\/p>\n<p>With renewed clarity and resilience, she is preparing to step back into the music space, starting with her upcoming single <em>Siyabangena<\/em>, featuring K.Keed.<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 4 -->\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Rouge #opens #depression #losing #AKA #Riky #Rick<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#13; Rouge opens up on reasons for the pause in her rap career South African rapper Rouge has shared a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57015"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57017,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57015\/revisions\/57017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}