Like a true daughter of the African soil, she introduced herself to the world with ululations from her Lilizela song, calling for praises.
From there, she took us on a journey of loving and being loved with Phakade Lami. If she could, she would demolish the mountains that stand in between her and her lover.
And then it all came down to a manifestation of a soft life; exactly what seems to be coming to fruition for her.
Within six months of releasing the manifestation song, Nomfundo Moh Ngcobo was already tasting the soft life.
From being conferred with a bachelor’s degree in social work at the University of KwaZulu-Natal to having Soft Life going platinum and being presented the music plaque at her graduation, things have been looking up for her.
In her previous interview with Drum, she relived what she called “an amazing day”.
“I already planned that on stage I was going to sing the song ‘Soft Life’ and then let my colleagues back up my singing because I know we always support each other. So, when the song played without me knowing, that was a surprise. I began to see things from a different perspective that ‘these people are truly happy for me’ and it was them singing and rejoicing with me.”
“When I was still excited about that, as I walked off stage and then here is a double platinum plaque for Phakade Lami. I couldn’t stop crying, I am such a crybaby, I was never ready especially because the song went gold maybe about two months ago. So, I was still happy about that and on to that. For me to go double platinum right now, it was just a double blessing and having everyone around me,” she added.
Read More | 'Going platinum and graduating is a double blessing' – Nomfundoh Moh celebrates milestones
It has been just over a year since and Nomfundo has secured more wins.
On Thursday, 19 May, Nomfundo was presented yet again with multi-song plaque at the Universal Music Group (UMG) offices.
Her five singles – Izibusiso, Kuhle, Nginjena, Sibaningi and Umthwalo have all been certified of gold status. This, while her debut album Amagama and songs – Lilizela, Ngam’khetha have gone platinum.
The plaque race is led by her two hit songs though; Phakade Lami and Soft Life which have topped with six-times and three-times platinum status.
Speaking on how this achievement means to her, she says, “This is a green light assuring me that the future is bright. I shall keep on doing more timeless music and heal people.”
She tells Drum that “I feel blessed and I’m super grateful to the almighty, my UMG and Sginci Media team, family, friends and the MohFam (my fans). I wouldn’t have made it this far without these people.”
Her wins are nothing short of groundbreaking. Although she’s not an extrovert, the award-winning musician attributes her success thus far to being a people’s person, which inspires her songwriting.
“Being a people’s person has brought me to this point. My music is written from a personal perspective and also from my observations of the world and how people are living. These factors make my music more relatable hence the success of it.”
When writing her songs, she is deliberate about where she is so she could exude greatness. She prefers being at her home in the village of Ndwendwe in KwaZulu-Natal.
She elaborates that this is because “I tend to get more inspiration from the warm atmosphere (family love) and nature (mountains & rivers)”.
After writing them out, she comes up with melodies and records her raw singing on her phone. When she gets time to go to studio, she works with her producer to perfect the craft.
At times, her producer and her team members bounce off ideas and share what she calls “beautiful concepts that inspire me to write more music”.
Read More | Rising star | Nomfundo Moh on the making of her debut album - 'I want to connect with people through music'
From 2021 when we first got know her till now in 2023, many things have made her stand out from the rest.
Her greatest highlights from the musical journey have been her music plaques, winning South African Music Awards (SAMA) Afro Pop Album of the Year.
Working with the pop star Mika and touring with him on a sold-out show in the UK and working with artists like Ami Faku, Shasha also makes it to the highlights list as they are artists that she had been looking up to.
“The journey has been quite fulfilling, I’ve achieved a lot in such a short space of time,” she admits.
No journey is without challenges, so Nomfundo shares that keeping up with social media as a reserved person and managing time have been her challenges.
It is clear that not even challenges are keeping her down though because she is preparing to drop her second studio album called Ugcobo (The anointing) on Friday, 26 May.
