‘We’re Not Just One Thing’: Goapele on the Bay Area’s Eternal Inspiration

Nearly a quarter-century after its release, Goapele’s “Closer” continues to soundtrack people’s lives, from weddings to graduations. The song can be readily heard blasting from sound systems in the backs of Buicks in the Town, and uptempo house music remixes of it play constantly in sweaty nightclubs from London to Johannesburg.

Late this month, the Oakland singer and songwriter will perform older and newer music alike — and of course, “Closer” — during a May 23 and 24 residency at Yoshis’ jazz club in Oakland.

A few weeks ago, multiple Instagram accounts began claiming that “Closer” was the first-ever music video by an African-American woman to be uploaded to YouTube.

“I wasn’t aware of it at the time,” Goapele tells me by phone. “But apparently this is true.”

Produced by Amp-Live and Mike Tiger, “Closer” was released on three different labels and had three different music videos. The track has since been sampled by artists ranging from Drake to H.E.R., and the song’s legend only continues to grow.

“There’s folks like [DJ] D-Nice,” Goapele says of the legendary New York DJ, “that are like, ‘I just learned about your song,’” she says, laughing. “And I’ve known him for years.”

Musical longevity is what Goapele hoped for back when she was honing her pen game as a student at Oakland’s Skyline High School and Berklee College of Music. “At one point it was new music,” she says, reflecting on the process of writing “Closer.”

“It’s really humbling that it’s still resonating with people.”

Now based in Los Angeles, Goapele is looking forward to her first solo show in Oakland after time away. In the past couple of years, she’s done private performances with Oakland’s Roots Community Health Clinic in East Oakland. She rocked the Lake Merritt bandshell at a free event hosted by social justice nonprofit Urban Peace Movement. She’s also worked with local soccer team the Oakland Roots, and new WNBA team the Golden State Valkyries.

But a full solo show at Yoshi’s is special. Performing at home gives her an opportunity to experiment, lean into song arrangements and collaborate with special guests. “I feel like at Yoshi’s,” Goapele says excitedly, “I kind of stretch out a little bit.”

In addition to preparing for this show, she’s also working on new music — songs more connected to the African Diaspora.

“Half of my family is still in South Africa,” says Goapele, whose father, Douglas Mohlabane, was an exiled anti-apartheid activist. She’s long felt the urge to make music reflective of her family’s homeland, and now she’s on the verge of sharing some of it. She mentions a song “a little more in the Afrobeats vein,” produced by Oakland’s DJ D Sharp.

Goapele’s latest album Colours dropped in November of 2023, its artwork a collaboration with renowned Oakland-based visual artist Hueman.

Hueman’s immersive artwork spoke to Goapele’s own experimentation with different modalities; at the time, she was pairing scented candles with her music “as a way to evoke a feeling past just the sound.”

After teaming up for an immersive experience at Ciel Creative Space in Berkeley, the two completed Colours. “It just felt very synergistic,” recalls Goapele. “I see music in colors,” she adds, “and I never was able to really express it on a project.”

Beyond her many collaborators from the Bay’s shared home turf, Goapele says it’s imperative that she works with people who speak the same cultural, creative and moral language, whether or not they’re from the Bay Area.

She credits this region’s natural scenery — redwood trees, huge bodies of water — as inspirations, coupled with the Bay’s history of grassroots activism and the recent elections of Congresswoman Lateefah Simon and Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee.

“And,” she adds, “I grew up at underground hip-hop shows at La Peña, watching jazz shows and listening to Tony! Toni! Toné!”

It all adds up to to what she describes as a “resilient, rebellious, eclectic spirit,” where there’s ample room to be an individual — something she’s tapping into for her next performance and forthcoming project.

“We’re not just one thing,” she says in reference to Bay Area culture, “we’re all of that. And we get to be complex, ya know?”

Goapele performs four shows total on May 23 and 24 at Yoshi’s in Oakland. Details here.