THE ARTISTS WHO ‘BEAT IT’ IN 2019
As the year draws to a close, we look at the muscians who topped the scales
THIS past year was a great year for music. We saw some iconic collaborations, a gay black man win a Country Association Music Award and a new genre spring up and take over the airwaves in Mzansi. Here are our highlight artists.
Kanye West
This year Kanye released Jesus Is
King, a Christian hip hop album. On the US charts, the album became the first to ever top the Billboard 200, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Top Rap Albums, Top Christian Albums and Top Gospel Albums at the same time. According to Channel 11, Houston, Texas his 7pm November 17 appearance with his choir at Lakewood Church and Joel Osteen sold-out free tickets in seven minutes.
Sho Madjozi
Just as she was riding the wave of success following her debut album,
Limpopo Champions League, Sho Madjozi released John Cena, a single that has taken her to the global stage. The star has toured America, been on the Kelly Clarkson Show and also happened to meet the former wrestler her smash hit is named after.
Samthing Soweto
Samthing Soweto’s smooth a cappella notes are always worth listening to and this year he proved that, when he released his studio album, Isphithiphithi. The album has a number of songs that have already become club anthems.
Kabza De Small
Kabza De Small has been working overtime this year to give us some of the hottest tracks, and his collaborations with people like DJ Maphorisa and Nokwazi helped his cement his position in the South African music industry.
Kabza and Maphorisa have been working on several collaborations together, and are fans’ favourite to scoop the prestigious Song of the Year award.
Taylor Swift
She has one of the highest followings on social media and, at her age, she has already had an extremely successful career – 2019 has taken her even higher. The star ended off this year on a high note, with a whopping nine wins at the America Music Awards.
Lil Nas X
The American rapper came to international attention for his country rap single Old Town Road, which first achieved viral popularity on the micro platform video-sharing app TikTok early this year, and was Diamond Certified by November. The song reached number one on the US Billboard Top 100 and remained there for 19 weeks, the longest for a song since the chart started in 1958. In June 2019, Nas X came out as gay, the only artist to have done so while having a number-one country record. Old
Town Road earned him two MTV Video Music Awards, including Song of the Year; the American Music Award for Favourite Rap/Hip Hop Song; and Nas X is the only openly LGBTQ artist to win a Country Music Association award.
Normani
Former Fifth Harmony member Normani has given us amazing dance moves and collaborations this year. The 23-year-old has been compared to Ciara, when she first appeared on the scene. In January, Normani’s song with Sam Smith, Dancing with
a Stranger, was released, peaking at number three in the UK and number seven in the US. Normani released the single Motivation, co-written by Ariana Grande, in August this year, making it her first solo single without a featured artist. The song became a top 40 hit.
Lizzo
Award-winning rapper and singer Lizzo might have started her career as an electro soul-pop singer, but her raps made her famous. She attained mainstream success this year, with the release of her third studio album,
Cuz I Love You, which peaked inside the top five of the Billboard 200. Her 2017 single Truth Hurts,
which became a viral sleeper hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100 two years after its initial release.
Sjava
Award-winning rapper and singer Sjava had a great year when it comes to his music. Although he released his latest album, Umqhele, in December last year, the first single, Umama, later spawned a version on the global music platform COLORS, where he was featured performing the song on May 13 this year.
Umqhele topped the iTunes local chart and received positive reviews from critics.
Sha Sha
Sha Sha popped up on the local music scene with some of the best Amapiano songs. The hugely popular new genre is all people are talking about, along with her vocals on songs like Akulaleki with Samthing Soweto. Sha Sha released her debut EP,
Blossom, this year, which already has a hit single,
Tender Love, off it, with many more set to come.