Afro-pop star Azana shared over the weekend that “Ngize Ngifike”, the Sun-El Musician featured single off her Sama-nominated debut album “Ingoma”, has officially been certified gold by the Recording Industry of South Africa (RiSA).
Gold certification in South Africa is defined as sales in excess of 10 000 units or more than 1.2 million streams on accredited streaming platforms such as Apple Music, Spotify and Deezer.
“ 🏆 "Ngize Ngifike" is now GOLD!” she shared on Instagram. “Thank you for the support.”
Just three years into her career in the national spotlight, the 22-year-old singer, who was born and raised in Durban, has established herself among the top tier of South African vocalists.
Having received her first Sama nomination with “Ingoma”, which was nominated under the category Best Afro-pop Album, Azana is this year nominated for Remix of the Year for “Uhuru” alongside Sun-El Musician and Da Capo.
Azana has also been nominated for songwriter of the year and artist of the year at the new Basadi in Music Awards, which will take place on October 15.
For the artist of the year category, Azana will be going up against a star-studded list of nominees, including Pabi Cooper, DBN Gogo, Holly Rey, Makhadzi, Nomfundo Moh and Simmy.
Azana is gearing up for the release of her upcoming sophomore album, “Igagu”.
She recently described the sound of the project to Moziak Africa: “I’ve always had Afropop roots and South African Afropop sounds, so you can still expect quite a bit of that on this album.
“As you heard on some prior releases like ‘Abafazi’, I can also make house music, so you can expect a return to that on this upcoming album as well. There’s also one song on the new album that will be a bit deep-house-like as well.”
Azana said that at some point in the future she is also going to collaborate with amapiano artists to explore different sounds.