Nyota Parker Announced As Apple Music’s Up Next Artist In South Africa

Apple Music has revealed that Nyota Parker, a composer and rapper from Neo-soul, is the newest featured artist in its Up Next artist development programme in South Africa. Early in 2021, Apple Music’s localised version of the international platform for up-and-coming artists debuted.

“I feel honoured to have been selected, I feel seen,” she tells Apple Music. “Hopefully, the people who resonate with my music feel seen too, that’s what it’s all about. It’s helping me to stay optimistic for the future of hip-hop and Neo-soul, especially in South Africa!”

Nyota, who is half-Irish and half-Congolese, relocated to Mzansi, South Africa, when she was five years old. Currently residing in both Montreal and New York, Nyota combined elements of alternative R&B, hip hop, rap, and neo-soul with parts of her own cultural background to create a unique sound in her songs.

She developed a passion for songwriting at the juvenile age of eleven. When she was sixteen years old, she met mixing and mastering engineer Jay Loopz, who assisted her in recording her first album. With his support, she recorded her first song. However, she didn’t look back after seizing the opportunity to open for Nasty C and A-Reece after winning a competition. Nyota’s first album, “Spectrum,” released in 2021, made a strong statement about self-awareness, achieving your goals, and defying social conventions. This helped her develop a devoted following of fans who value her unabashed commitment to her craft.

Her new album ‘INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS‘ (2024), released on her birthday and available to stream on Apple Music, is an exploration of the tumultuous journey through the human psyche. It fearlessly navigates the inner chaos that often dominates the mind, while her evocative lyrics and soulful melodies skillfully weave a tapestry of emotions that deal with mental health struggles, artistic dilemmas, and the core theme of self-discovery.

As the newest Up Next artist to be spotlighted in South Africa, Nyota Parker will be featured across Apple Music’s South African Up Next playlist. The curated Up Next playlist features a dynamic class of new and emerging artists, thoughtfully hand-picked by Apple Music editors from around the world.The playlist is genre agnostic and represents a line-up of artists our global editors are passionate about and eager to expose to a larger audience.

Stream the playlist below: