Kamo Mphela Wants to Push Amapiano as Aggressively as Nigerians Push Afrobeats
South African music star, Kamo Mphela, is eager for Amapiano to take over the world, and she’s looking to Afrobeats, which originated west of the continent, for inspiration.
The Amapiano sound has exploded over the past few years and is winning millions of fans, but the Hannah Montana star believes it needs an extra push to become a truly global phenomenon.
While talking to a group of content creators on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, Mphela said the marketing of the sound needs to get more aggressive.
She said, “Amapiano just needs to be a little more – I think we’re a little too soft. Amapiano in South Africa is about culture, and being humble to everyone, but if we really want to take it to the world, we have to be more. Wizkid and Burna Boy aren’t soft about pushing Afrobeats, they’re definitely aggressive.
“If we can be more aggressive with our sound, I think we can reach greater heights.”
Mphela made her comments to content creators from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa for Spotify’s Amapiano Tour — an exploration of the roots of the sound and how collaborations can help its advancement.
The 23-year-old star said collaborations usually represent a bigger platform for artists to show what they’re about to a new market and rejected the notion that Amapiano needs to be jealously guarded by South Africans.
“It needs to be a universal sound, more than anything. It should be for the whole world just like Hip Hop is a universal genre and not just for Americans,” she said.
Mphela further disclosed she’s working on a new song with Nigerian superstar, Ayra Starr, a demonstration of her commitment to spreading the gospel of Amapiano.
