Minnie Ntuli goes deeper with music

Music heals and music loves. It has magical powers that people do not realise.

These were the words of singer Minnie Ntuli who has reintroduced herself to the industry with new melodies.

“Spirituality is so important to me. It assists me in everything. Music for me is already very spiritual. It makes people cry and takes them down memory lane. That is the power of music. You have to be spiritually ‘right’ if you want to be a creator. You have to allow music to tell you what to do because you are dealing with peoples’ souls and feelings and that is a serious thing as musicians we have to deal with.”

Ntuli got her taste of how showbiz works in 2017 when she made it to the Top 16 of singing competition SA Idols.

“I had auditioned many times before but that year I made it really far. It was really challenging and I wasn’t prepared for what actually happens on the show. After Idols I decided to focus on radio and television because I felt like I went through a lot and I needed to regroup.”

In 2018, Ntuli was approached by singer Zanda Zakuza who told her that Prince Kaybee (Kabelo Motsamai), was looking for a vocalist to feature on one of his songs.

“I was at church so I did a quick prayer and that’s when I started working with him. He knew how I felt about music and reminded me that the audience never stays the same. I was featured in his crossover song called Imbokodo, a beautiful song people fell in love with.”

The song was close to her heart and the perfect one to get back into the music business with.

“It needed to speak to my heart. It spoke to women about going to war and came at a time where women were being killed and disappearing. From there I got another feature with DJ Vumar.”

Prince Kaybee then nudged her to get on with her own music but Ntuli needed to pray about it first.

“It was time and then I came up with this single that is not house music. It is my love letter to South Africa. I have people in my life that are giving me a helping hand. The song iNtaba featuring Sykes, we wrote the song after I told him I wanted to sing about love and he just got me. I wanted to do something different and break away from house. Everyone knows I dance and I perform but this time I wanted something that was laid back and would make people think and fall in love.”

With this being her official launch as a solo artist, Ntuli does not want to be “locked down” to a specific genre.

“It was so important for me to break away from house music a little bit. I want to do what music tells me to do. If music tells me my next single should be afro pop, we will do that. I want people to consume music the way we used to.”

For now, the singer is focusing on producing more music and getting some videos out as soon as possible.

iNtaba is now available on streaming platforms.