Nhlonipho on cover of Spotify Africa
MBABANE – After the release of their collaborative work, ‘Yithi Sonkhe’, Nhlonipho Dlamini is part of the artists that Spotify Africa has put as their cover for Amapiano Grooves.
Spotify is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on April 23, 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 489 million monthly active users, including 205 million paying subscribers, as of December 2022.
The streaming platform is available in most of Europe, as well as Africa where now there is an African section with music that varies from Amapiano, Gqom and many more and has a total availability in 184 markets.
Last Wednesday was when the news broke of the streaming platform introducing the new faces of their African section.
A post on the platform’s verified Instagram account read. “We would like to announce that this page will have a new cover picture featuring the hottest Africa has to offer from all parts of the continent.”
It was also mentioned that the site had a strict policy and requirements on who represents their brand especially as a cover.
When reached for comment the artist mentioned how he was thrilled about the recognition by Spotify but he was amazed about the recognition he was getting from big names in the game.
“What is happening in my life right now is quite overwhelming and even though I know that I put in the work,
I never imagined that things would happen like this,” said Dlamini.
Nhlonipho Dlamini, Robot Boy and the other artists that are part of the cover will be replacing the likes of Kabza De Small, Diamond Platinum, Burna Boy and Stone Bwoy who are one of the most influencial and most followed artists from the African continent.
Release
The project that led the group to get such recognition came after the release of their work ‘Yithi sonkhe’. It features about seven songs and a number of upcoming artists. The project ‘Yithi Sonkhe’, which simply translates to all of us, is a compilation of work by various unknown upcoming artists.
Before the release of the song, there was a documentary done on it that was endorsed and featured by Trace Urban.
The documentary in essence speaks about us coming together to make music that is unique to the ear and will be loved by the people,” mentioned Dlamini when reached for comment.
“Yithi Sonke’ is a project that is going to inspire young people to believe in themselves.
“I strongly believe in teamwork, and ‘Yithi Sonke’ is a product of that. I’m looking forward to us having more performances in different places and displaying the new sounds of the project,” said Dlamini.
He has been doing well for himself over the past few months and has had the privilege to get recognition and get interviewed on Trace Urban, Channel O, and numerous talk shows on SABC1 through to SABC3.
He has shown that through hard work and determination, one can achieve anything, even artists from Eswatini.