Los Angeles based recording artist Joseph Rutakangwa opens up about vulnerability, human connection and the emotional questions shaping his forthcoming album.
Joseph Rutakangwa has spent six years releasing music, but the questions shaping his next album are less about genre than about what happens when another person gets close enough to change you. The Los Angeles based recording artist and songwriter is developing a project about love, vulnerability and the tension between wanting intimacy and wanting to protect yourself from it.
Why does love keep becoming such an important subject in your music?
Love touches almost everything. It can make you feel safe and exposed at the same time. I am interested in that contradiction because it feels human. The more somebody matters to you, the more you have to accept that they can affect you. There is beauty in that, but there is also fear.
What does vulnerability mean to you as a songwriter?
For me, vulnerability is saying the thing that would be easier to hide. A song becomes interesting when I recognize something in it that I might normally avoid saying out loud. I do not want to write about emotion from a distance. I want the listener to feel like they are inside it.
There is a recurring tension in the new music between closeness and pulling away. Why?
Because I think both feelings can be true at once. You can love somebody deeply and still feel the instinct to protect yourself. You can want to stay and still feel the urge to run. I am interested in what happens when love asks you to move through that fear rather than obey it.
What do you want someone to feel when listening to the album alone?
Recognized. I would love for somebody to hear a song and think, I have felt that but I never knew how to say it. Music has done that for me throughout my life. Certain songs become attached to people, places and memories. If something I make can become that personal for somebody else, that matters to me.
Has your idea of a successful song changed since you started releasing music in 2020?
Yes. I used to think more about what I could add. Now I think much more about what a song actually needs. Sometimes the strongest thing is very simple. A melody, a piano, an acoustic guitar, a bass and a voice can carry an enormous amount of emotion if the writing is honest.
How does living in Los Angeles fit into this chapter of your life as an artist?
Los Angeles puts you around people who are constantly making things. Music, film, fashion and visual art overlap here, and I like being in an environment where creativity is part of everyday life. At the same time, I try not to let the noise around the industry decide what the music should be. The songs still have to come from somewhere personal.
What is different about the album you are making now?
I am thinking about it as one story rather than a group of unrelated songs. Each song needs to work on its own, but it also needs to change something in the larger emotional journey. I want the relationship to evolve as the album moves forward, so that the person at the end is not emotionally in the same place as the person at the beginning.
What are you ultimately trying to understand through this project?
What it means to stay. Not just physically staying with somebody, but staying emotionally present when closeness becomes uncomfortable. Love is easy to romanticize when nothing is at risk. I am more interested in what happens when it asks something of you.
What can listeners expect next?
The album is still in development, and I have not announced the title, tracklist or release date yet. For now, I want people to discover the music I have already released and gradually understand the emotional world I am building around what comes next.
Listen and learn more
Website: https://www.rutakangwa.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4YKcvEwFMxNbom5NFjiLY9
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JosephRutakangwa
