Zee Nxumalo Bets Her Big Year on 3-Step
South Africa's most-streamed woman of 2025 could have coasted on amapiano hits. In 2026 she went small, strange and Zulu-inflected with Dlala Thukzin instead.
By the end of 2025, Zee Nxumalo had the kind of numbers that usually freeze an artist in place. Music In Africa reported she finished the year as South Africa's most-streamed female artist, ending a four-year run by Taylor Swift at the top of local streaming, and that her 2024 single "Ngisakuthanda" had passed 100 million streams across platforms. The safe move for 2026 was obvious: another round of amapiano log-drum singles built to that template.
She did something narrower. In April she released Izinja Zam: Vol. I, a four-song, 25-minute EP made with the producer Dlala Thukzin and built on his 3-step bounce. It is the most interesting thing she has put out, and the reaction to it says a lot about how South African dance music fans police genre.
From viral cover to Funk 55
The short version of the backstory: Wikipedia lists her as Zandile Nxumalo, born in Eswatini in January 2003 and raised in Alexandra, Johannesburg. The Sunday Tribune traces her first attention to a viral cover she posted at 15 of "AmaBlesser" by Mlindo The Vocalist and DJ Maphorisa.
Her 2022 debut, the six-track KwaNxumalo, was Afro-pop, and OkayAfrica's Tšeliso Monaheng calls it solid rather than groundbreaking. The turn came in 2023, when work with MFR Souls and her feature on Shakes & Les' "Funk 55" pulled her into amapiano. "Funk 55" went to number one in South Africa, is certified 5x Platinum and won Record of the Year at the 2024 SAMAs, per Wikipedia's chart and award tables. She told Sowetan it was the song that put her on the map.
What the EP sounds like
The partnership with Dlala Thukzin predates the EP. Their 2024 track "Ama Gear" was one of the songs that, in OkayAfrica's telling, established her as a new voice in the scene. In the Sowetan interview, she credits him with inviting her to the studio and pushing her to try 3-step, and she has her own name for what they make: "kompo," which she describes as lekompo with Zulu in it.
Izinja Zam is not a party record in the way "Funk 55" was. The two openers, "Bawo" and "Guqa (My Prayer)," are devotional in subject, and The Music Review's C. S. Hadebe notes that "Guqa" is synth-led and punctuated by percussive hits that sound like xylophone. The striking choice is her voice. Hadebe hears her as more subdued than usual, with less of the brash energy fans expect, and reads it as control rather than fatigue. That restraint is the point: she sits inside the beat instead of shouting over it.
The exception is "Awe Mah 2.0," which brings in Young Stunna, Blxckie and Funky Qla, per the Apple Music credits. It is the club track, bouncy and blunt, and Hadebe hears Young Stunna's verse as luxury talk and Blxckie as taking a slower, looser pass. The closer, "Ngithathiwe," pulls back again; Apple Music's notes describe her there as composed and unbothered.
The safe move for 2026 was obvious. She did something narrower.
The backlash, and the year around it
Not everyone wanted the detour. In August a user on X told her to drop "this 3-step gimmick" and go back to making songs like "Funk 55," Briefly News reported. Her reply was six words: "How about you stick to Sgidongo?" It is a funny line and also a position. Amapiano's mainstream has a tendency to treat its offshoots as fads, and she is choosing the offshoot while she has leverage.
The rest of her 2026 is a mix of validation and snubs. She led the field of nominees at the Metro FM Music Awards, tied with Sam Deep, and then, as OkayAfrica notes, went home with none of them. She was named to Forbes Africa's 30 Under 30, according to the Sunday Tribune, and OkayAfrica reports a multi-city Australian run covering Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane.
Her manager, Shingai Darangwa, told Music In Africa that 2026 would be about legacy, with a bigger live show and bigger brand deals. A four-song EP that some of her own fans call a gimmick is an odd first brick for a legacy. It is also the clearest sign yet that she has taste of her own.
Where to start
- "Guqa (My Prayer)" for the restraint
- "Awe Mah 2.0" for the club version
- "Funk 55" with Shakes & Les, to hear where she came from