Cleo Ice Queen has proven to be one of the outstanding emcees in her home country ‘Zambia’ and across the southern region of Africa.
At this level or stage you have reached, how can you describe the ‘Cleo Ice Queen’ Brand?
well… it’s a brand that has come a long way…ummh… The brand is versatile, I think I have tried my best…. my manager and I have tried out to make sure that the brand is not boxed… You know…. In terms of; she is a rapper and that’s all she can do. No. There is so much more to the Cleo Ice Queen brand. She is a presenter, she is a radio personality, she is an aspiring actress who hasn’t like kind of pull through yet….. ummh… But yeah, she is also…you know..that fun girl, I think also there is the aspect of some trendy person and I am not really very stuck up as much as the Ice Queen people expect her to be – She is cheerfully…you know.. and yah, she just loves what she does, I think with the passion, so yeah… that’s the part that defines that it’s not boxed, it’s.. it’s versatile. I can do anything ******** anything to do with entertainment basically is what am all about, I have directed one video, co-directed one of my videos… so, there is a lot to the Cleo Ice Queen Brand.
Is Clementina Mulenga different from Cleo Ice Queen? In character wise….?
Ummh…*laughs* I think to a certain point they kind of blend, they kind of blend as one person.. But I think Clementina usually is a girl at home that’s just sitting, mothering her child, being a daughter, being a sister, you know…. and stuff like that. Yah… People hardly call me Clementina, anyway. So, I think Clementina is just like on paper not for the fans… more people call me cleo, my daughter calls me mummy, my brothers and sisters call me CLE. A lot of people around me treat me as Cleo Ice Queen.
Not like many other former BBA Contestants that have fallen off the radar after participating in the reality tv show. Your career has sparked a huge blow… What’s the secret behind the success?
Well… I can’t really say that there is a secret, you know… ummh… if hard work is the secret, then that’s the secret, because for me to join the big brother I never really did join the house like blindly… and say so, like lemme go have fun. Everything was a plan, like strategically planned with my manager and everything. And it was like okay listen I want to be in the house, it’s something that I always wanted. So, when we found that, okay fine I am into this music career seriously now, it will work out. My manager told me that; “listen if you really wanna go into the house CLEO it can go either way, it can go 50/50, people will either love you or people will actually hate you and it will be the end of you.” So…I told them and said you know what? I am willing to take that risk, I think I know who I am now…. I am a bit grown, I was a proper mature girl, I was 23 when I went into the house… I was quite mature. I Felt like Africa had to see me, I knew it will give me that boost and motivation, It wasn’t always easy obviously but I think from there when I didn’t win it even encouraged me to even work harder, you know what I am saying…. I think a win would have actually made me lazy and very chilled up but now I feel like I have got so much hard work to do, to put in and that’s what makes me kind of non-stop, it’s because I just want to achieve greater things cos I believe God didn’t give me that win for a certain reason, because of that am not gonna sit back and just wait and say ooh… now God is gonna bring more blessings in my life, I believe every blessing comes because of each one’s responsibility, so I am responsible for a lot of things which means I have to deliver.. You know, I have to work hard.
Okay i would also ask for some permission to get into your personal life. Can you tell me something i don’t know about your love life? Like what’s going on between you and Kaladoshas?
My love life is not actually for the public to conceive… am not gonna comment… No!
And the AFRIMMA Awards, did you expect to win it, how was the competition?
Ummh.. to be honest I had hope that I would win… you know I was hopeful but wasn’t just sure.. I think social media has got so much power because most of the pushing that I did was on social media, my whatsapp, my twitter, my instagram, my friends also kind of campaigning for me and always saying ‘Vote For Cleo’. So when I looked at the polls obviously being the curious person that I am.. I would look at the polls and I would see the support that was coming in for Cleo Ice Queen and I was like wow… I just like this … you know!… but you can never be too sure with these award ceremonies. So I was confident but I wasn’t certain..
How was the feeling when you got the news that you have won and what does this trophy mean to you?
When I actually got the news.. I had actually forgotten about it coz I went for OktoberFest…. And on my way back driving from the OktoberFest on a Sunday morning… I was like oh my goodness… it felt good that I had won… so, It was a moment of joy and I felt very happy… and I was very proud… I anticipated for it more than anything and it’s one of those things that motivates me to keep working hard…I dedicate the award to my fans, each and every person that voted, all the supporters, this award is for them… I think that this being my first award, I will not hold on to it… it’s really for my fans.
Do we expect more collaborations between you and Kaladoshas before the year ends?
Yah.. Of course you know.. Were my brand has reached I feel like I need to do a lot of collabos, I love doing collabos because it always adds some special elements to you.. especially for the soulful music, the music that has a soulful touch, I like collaborating on such… I have collaborated with a couple of people for my album… initially I wanted to do an all Africa Unite album but I just turned it into my solo album, so there is Kaladoshas, Salma, there Is Roberto, Jay Rox, there are a few international acts but I won’t mention them but I can mention Nadia Nakai from south Africa – definitely she’s gonna be on that, Eva from Nigeria, Stella Mwangi from Norway… so it’s gonna be a lot of collaborations from my album because it feel like that’s the step that I have reached as an international artist – So…I need to collaborate more with all sorts of people from all around African Continent and of course put my people on from back home.
With me and Kaladoshas, we’re gonna do a few more Collabos cos.. I think we’ve got great musical chemistry.. we’ll do a couple of joints together – it will be a surprise but..