SA artists who should be on your radar
SOUTH Africa is filled with such an influx of talent that it’s sometimes hard to keep up , especially with all the emerging artists.
With new releases coming through every week, often every day, sometimes one finds themselves enjoying the music without being aware of the artist behind it.
Because it can be hard to keep up with who is doing what and who is popping, we have come to the rescue and compiled a list of artists who are worth having on your playlist.
Tyla
The 20-year-old is tipped to be one of the continent’s rising pop stars. Her single Getting Late, featuring Kooldrink, propelled her onto the main stage. She is now back with a new single, To Last, released under label FAX Records/Epic Records.
The label went all out to get the budding artist’s name out there by putting her face on a billboard showing her love. “They did something wild!” she said.
Tyla was born and raised in Johannesburg, and her sound is vibrant and takes an innovative approach to pop and R&B. Music has always been a part of her life, and right now, Tyla is living out her dream.
Social media played quite a part in Tyla’s success. She used Instagram as a way to put her music out and eventually caught the attention of her current manager.
Getting Late also amassed success on social media generating over 5 million streams and counting.
The music video for Getting Late has 5.4 million views on YouTube.
As amazing as the visuals are, it took Tyla and her team over a year to bring together. It was entirely selffunded, and favours were exchanged to bring the hit single to life visually.
Safe to say, it worked out, as the passion and excitement showed.
On her latest single, To Last, Tyla plays around with the amapiano sounds by adding her angelic voice.
The song was recorded in the Vaal at a music camp, but Tyla had written the hook, “You never gave us a chance, it’s like you never wanted us to last”, years ago and has now finally found the perfect song for it.
Masterpiece YVK
Thabang Kgotso Kganakgawas, known as Masterpiece, started venturing into the industry as an MC doing gigs around Gauteng and, after some time caught the attention of Leehleza and Kabza De Small.
After capturing their attention, he has been taken under De Small’s wing through his label, Piano Hub. It’s even safe to call Masterpiece one of the amapiano pioneer’s prodigies.
Masterpiece dubs himself a son of a king in this music industry and the father of a future king. This plays into the naming of his album Son of a King.
“This is like a message to my son for whenever he grows up. He can look back and say, my father did this for me. He also needs to understand his place when he grows up, so this is like a message to him to say this is who you are,” he shared.
Working with De Small has been nothing but fruitful for the young artist. He is getting mentorship from the king of amapiano.
He has nothing but praise for De Small and said that the great thing about being a part of the label is that he still gets to keep his independence while growing under them.
Mfana kah Gogo
Mfana kah Gogo, real name Sipho Mbonambi, is another viral sensation who has caught the attention of Mzansi.
The matric pupil has dropped the motivational single, Hla’ethembe, “encouraging people to self-introspect and be assured that hardships always pass”.
The track comes at a perfect time as matric pupils sit down for their exams across the country.
Mfana will be dropping an album which will launch his full body of work and showcase his range early next year.
The album will be about Mfana’s life and covers various themes like his rise to fame and becoming a viral sensation, balancing making music, fame and school, the importance of umoya (spirit) in the mental health conversation and pressures of the industry, among others.
The project features Nomfundo Moh, Fezeka Dlamini, Major League, Touchline and K-Zaka.