Yallunder is coming for it all after working with Black Coffee

For as long as she remembers, music has been a big part of her life. But having been a shy kid, performing on any stage was nothing she had imagined for herself.

To her, there were no signs that singing professionally would be her thing.

Ever since her hit song Ndinovalo, Yolanda Nyembezi has no doubt that she belongs in the music industry.

Although Yolanda introduced herself to the world through social media with cover videos of her singing, she started singing professionally in 2014 when she studied opera music at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT).

Popularly known as Yallunder, the rising star did not approach the opera music course with much excitement though.

“I had just been financially excluded from my studies and then I considered registering for a different course in TUT and because it was a late application; I had to select what was available which was a music degree. The choice to do arts related studies was a controversial one especially Opera of all music classes,” she tells Drum.

She also says, “I had little to no clue about opera, all I had was the voice and the potential. The difficult in it all was making my parents understand this, because their biggest question was ‘How am I going to make a living?’ and my examples or references were really limited.”

Before she knew it, she had immersed herself enough in musical notes to know that music was her greatest love.

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At first, she didn’t know what genre of music she would pursue but with time, it all became clearer.

“I think when I graduated from my Diploma in 2016, I had grasped so much vocal technique at the time but still was never really sure of the genre of music I wanted to pursue, and it was then that I started doing covers and interpreting house songs in a soulful cadence.”

“Even before posting the videos, I knew I had found my voice. And so, we took it to social media, and from great ears came great opportunities,” she adds.

These opportunities came knocking at her door much earlier than she thought.

Her biggest highlight thus far has been working with Black Coffee.

“I posted the cover song Buya and Black Coffee liked it, in fact loved it so much we met, went to studio and told me he was going to do a live music concert in December. The year was 2018.

Of course, I was excited! Of course, I was in disbelief that I am in studio sitting with this legend and having this conversation!”

The 29-year-old musician doubted that it will all come to fruition because she wondered how “one of the biggest stars in Africa” would remember her.

She thought, “I will obviously slip his mind!”

Much to her surprise, she was wrong because months later Black Coffee’s team made contact to book her for Music is King where she shared the stage with some national and international acts in the music industry at The Dome in Johannesburg.

Two years later, she recorded her first studio offering.

Over the years, she has found healing in music.

“I have found music to be my simplest form of expressing myself, a tool for communication as well. Sometimes I write to relieve myself of some kind of tension. And I’d say I attain that goal each time.”

Even though she’s found her place in the music industry as an Afro Soul musician, making cross genre music isn’t what she fears.

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So far, she has worked with the likes of S’java, Kabza De Small, Oskido, Heavy K and Lemon & Herb, and for her, that is proof of her versatility.

Yolanda recently became an independent artist and started her own record label as well as a booking/events company.

Speaking to Drum about all these ventures, the Eastern Cape Bizana-born artist says, “All this because I have learned that I have to take control of my own path. My future needs to be in my hands.”

Even with her hands full, she maintains that besides music, there’s nothing else out there for her as “my entire life’s plans revolve around the music currently and even for the future so I am in the process of learning more about the industry and going beyond just being an artist/performer”.

Television is just one of the other things she’d like to see herself tapping into in the near future as she also works towards working with local artists such as Manana, Msaki and Kelvin Momo and internationally ones such as Billy Eilish and Adele.