BY Munya Vomo
When you were in matric, there were probably a few things on your mind and a music career running concurrently with your studies was probably not one of them. But that’s exactly what happened with singing sensation, NOM, who has just burst onto the scene with her fresh sound.
“I’m excited that my new single is out. It is called Uthingo. My sound is contemporary. There is a bit of Afro-soul, R&B and hip hop. I’m aiming at making uplifting music where I inspire people. I can’t say it’s really gospel music, but essentially it is made to inspire,” said the fresh-faced teen.
While her peers are worried about their matric dance dresses, NOM is looking at the bigger picture, a career in the music industry.
“I am doing my matric this year and a lot of people ask me how I manage to do both music and school. I have a motto that I live by which is ‘you make time for what you love’ and I love music, so it doesn’t matter how busy I get, I always make time for music,” she said. “It’s not really hard if you plan ahead.”
Judging by people’s reactions, NOM is already getting the right traction which encourages her to keep going.
“People are saying my music is awesome. They feel it’s different and I am giving the market a fresh sound which is refreshing. The song Uthingo speaks about the joy that comes after a storm. It is based on a Zulu proverb which speaks of the beauty of a rainbow that comes out after a storm. A storm varies from person to person. For a 3-year-old, it could be the unavailability of candy and for an 80-year-old, it could be that they have lost a spouse. We all have bad days, and although the magnitudes are different, the feeling remains the same,” she said.
NOM says her album would be nothing without the help of several seasoned people in the music industry.
“I have a mentor called Sane, who wrote the song and I loved it from the moment I heard it. It spoke to me and how I felt in certain instances. Since it is uplifting, I feel that people should get to hear material like this. We are now working on the rest of the album and I am so excited to share it with people. It is set to be released at the end of this month or early in May. I worked with guitarist Kenton, who plays with Lira’s band. He played a lot of strings on this project. I also worked with producer Michael Myn. All of it was a great learning curve,” she said.