African Music News: Apple Music announce Mia as their latest Up Next artist in SA (2024)

Northern Cape-born singer-songwriter Mia, has been named the next recipient of Apple Music’s Up Next program for June, a local version of Apple Music’s global emerging artist platform that launched in early in 2021.

“I feel so honoured to be Apple Music’s Up Next artist, I feel like it just puts a stamp on my musical talents and it’s an amazing start for my artistic journey/career.” Mia tells Apple Music. 

As a burgeoning R&B talent, Mia’s penchant for performing was shaped from the early age of 7 as she competed in numerous talent competitions, eventually landing on the SA Idols stage and reaching the Top 30 at 16 years old. 

As a viral sensation on TikTok, her ever-growing fan base has allowed her to reach a global audience, attracting the attention of Sony Music Entertainment Africa, who excitedly announced her signing in February 2023. 

Mia’s debut single “What Is Love” showcased her impressive vocal range, anchored in her views of what the perfect love looks like to her, and she quickly followed it’s success with the release of her debut EP The Other Side (2023), available to stream on Apple Music in Dolby Atmos, that tackles her take on a relationship, but from the man’s point of view.

As the newest Up Next artist to be spotlighted in South Africa, Mia will be featured across Apple Music’s South African Up Next playlist https://apple.co/3eITdJd. 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.