From the music studio to the dance challenge, from the lifestyle to the mpahla (slang for fashion), women have played a critical role in shaping and giving direction to the Amapiano movement. Women who are essential to Amapiano's success do not enjoy the comparative success of their male counterparts even though Spotify recorded an 87% growth in the streams of female Amapiano artists in 2023 compared to 2022.
Despite the effort, passion, skills, and talent that women have and continue to contribute to Amapiano's success, Spotify data shows that the top 10 most-streamed Amapiano artists are still men.
There are challenges that women in the global music sector face, which in the context of South Africa's youngest dance music style have become unique to South African music. To meet these challenges and work toward solutions, it is helpful for them to see positive examples of women whose careers dispel preconceived ideas about women in music. Also, creative solutions can be applied to. Indeed, the voices of women in Amapiano must be supported, celebrated, and amplified.
There is limited knowledge of female Amapiano producers during Amapiano's early development. When most Amapiano songs being released were instrumental, women were part of a core audience that attended events, shared the music, and advocated for the style within and outside of Amapiano circles. These contributions might be unknown, but it's vital that they're not ignored.
When Amapiano songs began including vocals, female vocalists played an important role in composing catchy choruses and creating phrases that the growing movement could rally behind. Kamo Mphela and Bontle Smith directed the aspirant ethos of Amapiano to Sandton when they sang, Ba re shebile, ba re galela, chomi areyeng Sandton, the chorus on the 2019 Sandton release by Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa. Similarly, Sandy Mrd captured the aspirations of many young South Africans when she sang on Dubai and also created a catchphrase that is still popular half a decade later.
Sha Sha's Tender Love has amassed more than 6.5 million listens on Spotify since its 2019 release, and her vocal presence on subsequent Amapiano releases is emblematic of a shift toward mainstream acceptance. Her singing exerts an identifiable influence on today's Amapiano singers.
The successful career trajectories of DBN Gogo, Kamo Mphela, and Uncle Waffles in particular demonstrate how taking the lead on releases has been extemporaneous with that of the Amapiano movement in South Africa and globally.
In 2022, DBN Gogo became a Spotify RADAR artist, enjoying editorial support, marketing, and promotion of her music locally and abroad. Her subsequent being named EQUAL Africa's March Ambassador and mint's Artists To Watch for 2024, alongside Uncle Waffles, proved to be a testament to the power of women in Amapiano.
Today, DBN Gogo has five tracks that have contributed to the export of Amapiano to various territories around the world. When it all began, DBN Gogo told Bubblegumclub, we never expected it to blow up the way it did. Piano was for us, and now it's literally for the world. I wish I could look into the future and tell you exactly how crazy it's going to be, but I have to wait and see just like everyone else. Today, uMa ka Ma (mother's mother), as she is known to fans, is headlining major events on the global dance music circuit.
Kamo Mphela not only channeled her popularity as a dancer on social media platforms to global musical success, but she also laid a pipeline for other women to follow. Reflecting on the role that technology has played in her career, Mphela says, Now technology has made it possible for you to be a boss girl without a male cosign. At first it was always about girls singing about going to Dubai. Now people are singing (scat) on a song. With 2023's Dalie, Mphela secured a top 10 all-time Amapiano song on Spotify. She is also in the top 20 of Spotify's most-streamed Amapiano artists from the past decade.
Uncle Waffles has helped dispel the sexist ideas about women being able to hold their own behind the decks. Since her career-launching viral moment where she's DJing an event that had partygoers enthusiastically chanting, Waffles, we want to party, she has demonstrated talent and grit, and become a sought-after DJ in the U.S., Western Europe, and the U.K. She has also become a successful artist, with two tracks, Yahyuppiyah (ft. Pcee, EeQue & Chley) and Tanzania (ft. Sino Msolo and Boibizza), that have helped export Amapiano to the world.
The female pioneers of the Amapiano movement have put paid to bigoted ideas about perseverance, musical skills, and the work ethic women have. And as the women in Amapiano amass accolades and reach new heights, they inspire the younger generation of female artists that now know whatever they dream is possible.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
08/09/2026
Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) has announced a multi-year agreement with A E...
08/09/2026
Spectra Logic today announced the availability of Media Insight, a new capabilit...
08/09/2026
Rogers Communications and Quebecor have announced a 12-year sublicensing agreement for French-language national NHL games beginning with the 2026-27 season. TVA...
08/09/2026
Skyline Communications and Bridge Technologies will demonstrate two integrations...
08/09/2026
Boland Communications will make the European debut of its 4K55HDR7SNB 55-inch super-narrow-bezel monitor at IBC2026 (Stand 12.C57, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Ateme and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) have announced a collaboration comb...
08/09/2026
Haivision has joined the IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme as part of t...
08/09/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced price reductions on its PYXIS 6K and Cinema Camera 6K models, effective immediately through Blackmagic Design resellers worldwid...
08/09/2026
AI-Media will demonstrate its LEXI Suite at IBC2026 (Booth 5.C34, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin and Ad Insertion Platform (AIP) have announced the first live deploymen...
08/09/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate story-centric media workflows at IBC2026 (Booth 9.A01, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), connecting newsroom production, content ma...
08/09/2026
M2A Media and Ateme have announced a partnership integrating Ateme's video processing solutions into M2A Media's MediaToAnywhere platform for live sport...
08/09/2026
Ikegami will exhibit at IBC2026 (Stand 12.A31, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), including a Day 1 introduction of new cameras in the UNICAM XE series. Additiona...
08/09/2026
Broadcast industry analysts will be gathering plenty of insights at the 2026 IBC Show this weekend in Amsterdam, but Caretta Research has offered up some though...
08/09/2026
SENSHI and DAZN have announced a global broadcast partnership that will bring SENSHI's live events free to viewers in more than 200 markets. The partnership...
08/09/2026
New architecture built with Evertz will bring 4K HDR to Monday Night Football, N...
08/09/2026
Built for rap producers, by rap producers
Sauceware Audio, the independent plug-in company founded by Grammy-nominated producer Jacob (Travis Scott, 21 Sava...
08/09/2026
Classic Sound Techniques design revived
Warm Audio's latest release delivers a meticulous recreation of the preamp circuitry employed by the Sound Techn...
08/09/2026
Latest soft synth inspired by the Memorymoog
XILS Lab have just launched a software instrument that draws its inspiration from Moog's iconic Memorymoog,...
08/09/2026
The Airport Chaplain takes off as SBS's biggest launch of 2026
8 September, 2026
Media releases
1.67 million viewers on National Total TV to date
Best...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Mo-Sys, the world-leading developer of virtual production, camera robotics and image tracking technology, has completed a business restructuring, which has incl...
08/09/2026
New York, September 8, 2026 The TSAmediaHUB audiovisual contribution and distribution infrastructure developed by Telef nica's Audiovisual Services area re...
08/09/2026
Expanded Riyadh operation brings Asharq and Thmanyah services together on a resilient on-premises Pebble platform.
Pebble, the leading automation, content mana...
08/09/2026
Techex, a pioneering leader in live video workflows, will showcase its broadest software feature set to date at IBC 2026 (Stand 2.B45), extending its lead in so...
08/09/2026
Visitors to Grass Valley's booth at IBC2026 will be introduced to new Framelight X capabilities that connect content acquisition, management, editing and pu...
08/09/2026
BCNEXXT will showcase the latest evolution of Vipe at IBC2026 (Stand 2.B09), introducing a series of innovations designed to deliver higher-quality audience exp...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Ad Insertion Platform (AIP), a leading innovator in advanced ad insertion technologies, to...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics and augmented and virtual production, is announcing a major package of enhancements to its Suite 7 soft...
08/09/2026
Big Blue Marble is supporting TDF, French infrastructure and network operator, broadcasting Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and radio services, as a techno...
08/09/2026
Agents work inside a single production environment, from incoming wire copy to a live studio show...
08/09/2026
Building on their strategic partnership, Ceeblue and Layercake make the unthinkable possible: scalable sub-second streaming over standard DRM, SSAI, and CDN wor...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics, augmented and virtual production, is completing the environment for fast-paced broadcast production wi...
08/09/2026
A SaaS portfolio built to work together, helping operators grow audiences, monetise smarter and run leaner, on their own terms
At IBC 2026 (stand 1.B49) Synam...
08/09/2026
Accedo, global provider of video streaming software and services, has been selected by PlayOn Sports, a national leader in high school sports technology, to exp...
08/09/2026
LiveU, the leader in live IP-video solutions, is enabling The Associated Press to take global newsgathering to the next stage with intelligent connectivity and ...
08/09/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced the latest evolution of it...
08/09/2026
Compact, power-efficient X Platform performance brings broadcast-grade reliability and ultra-low latency to space-constrained remote production (REMI) workflows...
08/09/2026
Zixi, the leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Kiloview, a leading provider of professional IP video encoding and decoding solutions, t...
08/09/2026
Collaboration gives content owners scalable CDN capacity and broadcasters enhanced flexibility, including for C-band transition planning
Quortex today announce...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Telos Alliance and Pluxbox Announce Dynamic Media Facility Integration Partnersh...
08/09/2026
J nger Audio Showcases Industry-First S-ADM Cloud Workflow at IBC 2026
Search
Dolby, MainConcept, Techex and J nger Audio will showcase the industry's ...
08/09/2026
Tuesday 8 September 2026
Sky Go gets a major upgrade for Sky Glass and Sky Stream customers
Today, Sky launches a new version of the Sky Go app for Sky Glass ...
08/09/2026
Documentary thriller simulating a Russian attack on UK soil will culminate in a live final episode reuniting the playersTuesday 8 September 2026
Trailer releas...
08/09/2026
Tuesday 8 September 2026
Jamie Demetriou and Amelia Dimoldenberg to host next t...
08/09/2026
Wuppertal September 8, 2026
Riedel Introduces New OnAir Headset PlatformRiedel Communications today announced the launch of its new OnAir headset platform, a...
From the music studio to the dance challenge, from the lifestyle to the mpahla (slang for fashion), women have played a critical role in shaping and giving direction to the Amapiano movement. Women who are essential to Amapiano's success do not enjoy the comparative success of their male counterparts even though Spotify recorded an 87% growth in the streams of female Amapiano artists in 2023 compared to 2022. 
