The Tsonga Michael Jackson

After all the work he’s put into building his brand over the past few years, Musa Keys is weary of finding himself in the middle of controversy. Recently, after a flurry of new Twitter notifications flooded his phone in a matter of seconds, he feared the worst.

“I first got a notification from SA Charts, or something like that,” he says. “They usually mention me for music charting and all of that, so I thought it was one of those … But I was like why is this tweet getting bigger, what the hell is happening?

“If there’s one thing I don’t want to get caught up in, it’s some drama. So, I was starting to panic.”

When he clicked on the tweet it read that he had been nominated for Best African Act at the 2022 MTV European Music Awards. Keenly aware of Twitter fake news and, perhaps afflicted by a sense of impostor syndrome, he wasn’t buying it.

Then, a few minutes later, his manager shared a congratulatory message in their team WhatsApp group.

“The first question I asked him was, ‘Is that page right?’”

It was right. Keys was South Africa’s sole flagbearer among five other stars nominated for Best African Act. Although the award at the star-studded ceremony held in Germany two weeks ago eventually went to Nigerian Afrobeats star Burna Boy, Keys has every reason to feel like a winner. He has shot to continental fame, thanks to his recent trifecta of hit singles: Vula Mlomo, Selema (Po Po) and Kancane.

Keys, who was born Musa Makamu, grew up in a religious family. It was at church that he learned to play the piano. Born in Giyani, Limpopo, and growing up in Polokwane, his household was a melting pot of different sounds.

His mother was big on R&B, his uncles were entranced by deep house and his granddad used to play a lot of Tsonga music. This range of early influences is evident in his unique musicality today.

In stark contrast to his peers in amapiano, he’s conservative in his use of drums and digital sounds, instead opting for light, spacious composition. When I ask him if his process is the reason it takes him so long to release new music, he says, “My music needs to take care of me as well. For me, it’s pointless to be putting out hundreds of songs but yet not making millions from the hundreds of songs that you have.

“Sometimes it might take four months for somebody to understand your song.

“I’m still performing songs that I made two years ago and they still sound very new. I always make sure that my music sounds timeless. I need people to listen to my music a year from now and still feel like it’s still new.”

His latest hit single Kancane fits that description. A gorgeous amapiano cut straight out of Keys’ playbook, the single sees him playing second fiddle to Konke, the talented 20-year-old vocalist whom he recently signed to his independent record label, House of Tayo.

Keys tells the story of how he discovered Konke while scrolling through Instagram, sent him a DM, and flew him to Joburg from Durban. Except it wasn’t that easy.

Konke’s parents refused to let him fly down because “he’s still a kid”. Not one to take no for an answer, Keys sent his manager to Durban to mediate; a diplomatic envoy of sorts.

A day later, Keys and Konke set up shop in Joburg. During his three-day stay, they made Kancane and started planning his branding.

As evidenced by his list of collaborators over the years, Keys loves fresh, new talent.

“I hate this thing of the people in the industry using the same people every time. It gets boring because we’re all doing the same thing. Sometimes we just need somebody who’s out the box and does something different. So, I always want to find unknown artists, people that are dope that people don’t really know.”

Apart from Konke, he has a handful of other talented up-and-coming acts under his watchful eye.

Keys’ music has placed him firmly at the forefront of the global explosion of the genre. His style of amapiano is more palatable to global audiences than the log drum-heavy music a lot of local acts produce.

In August, seven-time Formula One champion Sir Lewis Hamilton showed just how far the music was reaching when he used Selema (Po Po) as the soundtrack to one of his Instagram reels. At one point on the reel, which sees Hamilton taking us through the action during his race weekend at the French Grand Prix, the British racer holds his phone towards the camera to show the song playing on Spotify.

I wondered what Keys’ thoughts were on why his music seems to work so well in Europe and beyond.

“My music is delicious and my music is universal,” he responds. “You know what’s crazy? Growing up and making my own music, I used to get super anxious to play it for my friends because everybody loves their own style of piano, so if it’s not their own style of piano, what if they say it’s wack? But then I escaped that bubble on my own and I was like regardless — if my music has flavour, it’ll catch on either way.

“So, I kept doing things the way I do it and not trying to copy people and all of that. I always say nobody can ever take away your style the way you do it … I feel like if you’re an innovative person, nobody can take your style and your style will always be your style.

“Sonically, I feel like that’s what’s led my sound to sound the way it is and for me to make my music the way I make it. It’s just who I am, it’s just my talent the way it’s been shaped and I believe it’s a once-in-a-lifetime vibe.”

At the South African Music Awards this year, Keys took home the biggest award of the night when he won Record of the Year for Vula Mlomo, his infectious collaboration with Sir Trill and Nobantu Vilakazi. He closed the show with a spellbinding performance, full of dancers, pyrotechnics and his customary dance moves.

One thing he’s eager to point out is that his success isn’t just thanks to his music but largely due to how his music complements his brand. He explains that he’s been able to hit the nail on the head and come out with incredible music, and a dress sense to match the quality of his music, by being stubborn about implementing his vision.

“I was, like, I need to hit the target, I need to hit both worlds. One thing I hate doing is having different groups of everything. I don’t want to have a group of people who like me just for my fashion sense. I need you to be like, ‘Oh damn, your fashion sense is hot, but your music is hot too.’ Or the other way around. I don’t need you to be picking what’s hot or not.”

This approach came when he grew disillusioned by the image he felt was expected of a top amapiano artist.

“If you looked at it, amapiano was being shaped in a way where people believed that if you’re a super dope piano artist, you need to have Gucci shoes, Dsquared jeans and whatever shirts they like. But I was, like, for me personally, that’s not an appealing look to the global audience and I need to be as innovative as I can.”

And so he decided to do his own thing with conviction, thinking that, eventually, everybody would catch on to his wave. And catch on they did. Keys is now considered to be one of the best-dressed celebrities around. In August, he won GQ’s Best Dressed Male Celebrity, a moment which he felt vindicated his hard-nosed approach to his image.

In support of his grand vision, Keys has nicknamed himself “The Tsonga Michael Jackson”. And the King of Pop’s influence is clear to see in how he carries himself.

“[The nickname] represents the way I dance and the way I perform,” he says. “I just love Michael Jackson and I loved the way he performed, the way he dressed up and all of that. I was like, ‘This is me,’ and I believe that I’m building myself to become that for my generation.”

“The Tweet read that he was nominated for Best African Act at the 2022 MTV European Music Awards (EMAs). Keenly aware of Twitter fake news, he wasn’t buying it.”