- After struggles with her previous label Open Mic and battling with mental health, Nomcebo Zikode’s new single talks about putting it all to God.
- The musician is grooming upcoming artists like Sykes and Pushkin under her record label Emazulwini Productions.
- She hopes to use her organisation the Nomcebo Zikode Foundation to provide instruments to underprivileged youth.
Her soothing vocals and admirable humility have made Nomcebo Zikode one to watch.
The past year has been monumental for the Hammarsdale, KwaZulu-Natal native. From winning a coveted Grammy Award alongside Zakes Bantwini and Wouter Kellerman for the single Bayethe to performing globally in places like Miami, South Africa has backed her immensely.
But it hasn’t always been an easy road for the global platinum selling album.
Nomcebo has risen to the heights from being a backup singer for renowned artists like the late Deborah Fraser and Zahara to accruing worldwide success through Master KG’s multi-platinum and multi-award-winning hit Jerusalema.
READ MORE | EXCLUSIVE | Nomcebo Zikode reflects on her first-ever Grammy win – ‘This is a symbol of hope’
Through all of her hard work, Nomcebo returns with her latest single titled Izono Zami - translated to 'My Sins', which highlights a journey through spirituality and humanity’s vulnerabilities.
Nomcebo’s single aptly reflects her enduring faith in God. After a strenuous legal battle with her former label Open Mic, which left her struggling with her mental health, Nomcebo shares with TRUELOVE what this song means to her.
“It wasn’t really easy at all because of problems I had with my previous company, Open Mic. As you can hear, the song says, ‘Izono zam’ ububi bami’. Inkinga zami, I’m putting it all to God. So, in short, I was crying to God, I was actually praying to God to say, ‘God, You know my problems. You know my pain with other things. There are things I can’t help myself with, but I do believe that You don’t fail us’.”
Something that never fails Nomcebo along with her faith, is the joy she gets from spending time with her children.
“[Regardless] of whatever that is happening in my life, I would say I really love going out with my kids,” she tells us. “They give me so much happiness just by seeing them honestly. It gives me so much happiness.
“Whenever I go out with my kids, that in a way eases my mind. I do have friends; we do talk over the phone but I’m not that much of a person who’s always with friends. And also, I pray a lot. Like I really pray a lot. Not to say I pray every day, sometimes I forget but I do believe that whenever I’ve got problems, God will be there for me to solve those problems.”
It’s clear that the 38-year-old musician is all about fostering healthy relationships with the people she holds dear to her, one of them being iPlan vocalist and songwriter Sykes.
READ MORE | iPlan vocalist Sykes on writing and composing a hit - 'I started playing the piano when I was 5'
Nomcebo signed Sykes to her record label Emazulwini Productions and has taken him under her wing to groom him as South Africa’s – and the world’s – next big thing.
“I would love to see Sykes going global,” she explains.
Translated from isiZulu, Nomcebo says, “I would love to see him doing the most in the space of [the] music industry. There’s so much that we’ve shared together, there’s so much that I’ve shared to him to make him aware that the music industry is not easy. He really needs to be strong for him to become the artist he wants to be one day.
"Yes, there are other people like Pushkin under the record label. I also wish for them to one day be big artists and be global. I always tell them that they need to respect themselves first so that other people can respect them back. They should understand that this is business.”
Since shaping up as one of Mzansi’s golden voices holding the mantle for traditional folk and spiritual music, the Inkanyezi songstress has started her very own record label Emazulwini Productions and has a philanthropic organisation called the Nomcebo Zikode Foundation.
Sharing what she hopes to achieve with her label and foundation, Nomcebo says, “I would love to see my company doing the most, that’s my prayer every day. Like I really want to see all these kids winning that are signed under my label and also, I’ve got the Nomcebo Zikode Foundation.
“My wish is to go back to schools and provide them with instruments because I really believe that those instruments will manage to take them away from the streets as we all know that we’ve got a problem of the young ones abusing drugs and also early pregnancy.”
