Nkosazana Daughter – Uthingo Le Nkosazana Album Review: The Priceless Groove

Here is Uthingo Le Nkosazana album review! My very first encounter with the impassioned vocal octaves of Nkosazana Daughter was late in December 2021 and at the time, this writer was just a passive listener of soulful Amapiano or Amapiano of any kind. Over a Wanitwa Mos ‘Dali Nguwe’, Nkosazana Daughter had won my ears via her celestial-esque vocal timbres.

The Twenty-Two-year-old South African singer had emitted a powerful skill, one that sounded profoundly pure and sophisticated – the kind to incite an emotive response from even the most dimmed of spirits. Irrevocably, I fell prey to the spell of this sonic enchantress, and every time she sang the catchy chorus lines: “Ungijub, Ungjub, Ungjub, Ungjubale” the ambience felt heavenly. For each sonorous delivery, the world and all its scuffle had gone on a brief excursion- at least in my head. 

Dali Nguwe provided Nkosazana Daughter with the right momentum for mainstream success, giving her the much-needed exposure that a talent of her calibre had required to fully bloom.

The song propelled the baby-faced singer to mainstream attention in her hometown- South Africa and consequently became her most-streamed song ( as a solo artist and featured act) – with over eight million streams on Spotify alone.

In 2022,  the trio of Wanitwa Mos, Master KG, and Nkosazana Daughter would further bank on their winning formula of fusing soulful house rhythms with log drums and Nkosazana Daughter’s distinct singing style – walking side by side to create yet another soulful sonic masterclass via ‘Sofa Silhanhle’ (subtle pun intended). 

The same Winning formula takes charge in her debut full-length body of work ‘Uthingo Le Nkosazana’ but with a more broad canvas of sonic influences and themes to paint from. Courtesy of an exclusive interview with Apple Music, the singer provided insight into the artistic direction of her debut album “In this instance, Uthingo means rainbow, I wanted the album to be like a rainbow, colourful and full of everything”, she said.

And full of everything it was or it tried to be. Nkosazana Daughter’s debut touches on dynamic concepts from love (In Love With A Foreigner) to spirituality (Uzongenzani), to conflict resolution (Empinakazi), to hustle culture (Amazinyo Enada). On ‘Uthingo Le Nkosazana’ she outsourced other contemporary music genres like R&B and Nigerian Afro-Pop (Young Jonn) to add further hue to her already colourful timbre of Amapiano- “I fell In love with Amapiano but I am an artist that does it all” she told Apple Music.