And take a break she did. Since winning big at the 2019 South African Music Awards (SAMAs), where she bagged awards for Newcomer of the Year and Female Artist of the Year, the 30-year-old Tsonga rap star has largely shied away from the spotlight.<\/p>\n
Sure, she\u2019s featured on a few singles along the way, but by her standards, Madjozi has mostly flown under the radar and spent her time living life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always been a traveller and a nomad,\u201d she says. \u201cI love seeing new places, and lately it\u2019s been expanding more and more. I\u2019m about to start my tour in North America with Stromae.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m the only South African musical act in my generation to perform at Madison Square Garden and things like that are exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of her gradual return to the spotlight, Madjozi, who was born Maya Christinah Xichavo Wegerif, excitedly announced that she\u2019d be touring with the Belgian singer Stromae in an Instagram post a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cI SCREAMED when I heard that @stromae asked if I was available to open for his North America tour,\u201d she posted. \u201cThose who know me know he is a hero and inspiration of mine. Dankie life .\u201d<\/p>\n
The tour will include stops at New York City\u2019s Madison Square Garden, California\u2019s Bell Centre, Washington DC\u2019s The Anthem and Agganis Arena at Boston University in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy tour with Stromae feels like a dream,\u201d she says when I ask her how momentous an occasion this is for her. \u201cI\u2019m in love with Stromae as an artist and I can\u2019t believe he respects and likes my work too. This is so exciting and I hope to learn from him and be his best friend forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
On tour
\nThis isn\u2019t Madjozi\u2019s first tour outside of the African continent this year. Earlier in the year, she toured parts of Europe through June and July and played at shows in places like Barcelona, Brussels and Amsterdam.<\/p>\n
\u201cEurope was really good. I loved some of the cities and I love how European audiences have such an open mind and palette for different sounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
In mid-October, I saw Madjozi performed at the South African launch of the streaming service Universal+ at Tang, a popular luxury Asian restaurant in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n
She put on an exhilarating performance that featured high-energy choreographed dancing and supreme crowd control.<\/p>\n
It wouldn\u2019t be an exaggeration to say that Madjozi is among the most electrifying performers on the continent.<\/p>\n
Her general approach to performances involves two tricks: \u201cPractice and preparation\u201d. She also says that crowd interaction is a big part of her live show.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to make sure the audience has as much fun as I\u2019m having. I love to interact and make sure each show has an element that is different from the previous one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Upcoming projects
\nDuring her hiatus, Madjozi wasn\u2019t just travelling. Behind the scenes, she has also been hard at work on a lot of music for an upcoming project.<\/p>\n
Given the strain she\u2019d been going through as a by-product of her continental fame, she feels glad that she took a break because \u201cnow I feel excited about it again\u201d.<\/p>\n
Pre-Covid, Madjozi was arguably the most popular musician in South Africa. The combination of her music, which blends English, XiTsonga and Swahili, and her endearing personality, paved the way for her to become the first South African act to sign to the vaunted US record label Epic Records in what\u2019s been reported to be one of the biggest record deals for a South African act.<\/p>\n
The label is home to massive global acts such as DJ Khaled, 21 Savage, Future, Black Eyed Peas and Travis Scott.<\/p>\n
Coming from a place of working as an independent artist, I ask her what the difference is now working with a global major. Her curt answer reveals quiet confidence, if not nervousness: \u201cWe\u2019ll see,\u201d she says. \u201cThis is my first project with them so I\u2019m excited to see what that will bring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three weeks ago, Madjozi released a new single titled \u201cToro\u201d featuring DDG. The single sees her back like she never left as she fires off some venomous raps seemingly directed at her old team, \u201cWhere are the men who said they made me? How come my pockets [are] fatter? How come I\u2019m so much better ever since they left me? The math just doesn\u2019t add up. And since you made Madjozi make a copy, let\u2019s see.\u201d<\/p>\n
This seems to be in reference to Madjozi\u2019s claims on Twitter earlier in the year that she had discovered two people on her team had been stealing from her and \u201cdoing all sorts of dodgy things to block opportunities from me\u201d.<\/p>\n
The song was shortly followed by a new music video which brings home this theme. \u201cIn the music video I wanted to talk about the negative sides of fame,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow you can lose friends and those you are close to because of fame. It\u2019s such a good video and I feel proud to have written it and I had such a great team executing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copying, highest form of flattery
\nMadjozi has been around for a while now and achieved a lot of success. Throughout 2019, she was the centre of a phenomenon whereby young girls imitated her signature colourful braids.<\/p>\n
Around that time, Glamour Magazine quipped that every time Madjozi changes her hairstyle, children run to their parents with a picture of her saying: \u201cI want this.\u201d<\/p>\n
With several other highlights in between, I ask her to describe her favourite thus far. \u201cNothing compares to when John Cena was going viral. The TV shows and all the videos from fans and of course meeting John Cena himself. It was all so big and so special.\u201d She\u2019ll no doubt be hoping to create more of those.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cLiving.\u201d That was South Africa’s Sho Madjozi\u2019s initial response when asked to sum up what she\u2019s been up to for the past two years. \u201cI\u2019m different from most public figures,\u201d she adds. \u201cIt was not really my goal to become famous. So I need to take a break from it from time to time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":23302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,31],"tags":[7,14,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-23305","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"category-music","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"yoast_head":"\n