Nadia Nakai Says ‘Umfazi’ Is Not Amapiano, It’s 3-Step

We were able to steal a few moments of Nadia Nakai’s time during the celebration of her partnership with GUESS. 

“I think it’s exciting to work with a brand like GUESS because like I said, I worked at a lot of stores as a sales rep in Fourways Mall and I always used to walk past GUESS, hoping I could afford one of their jeans or one of their handbags. To be able to work with the brand now as an ambassador is crazy for me and I’m so appreciative,” Nadia Nakai said about the partnership. 

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We asked her about her latest single ‘Umfazi’ in which she taps into Amapiano to deliver a message of strong womanhood. 

“I think after the year I’ve had, not to like ‘dog’ men, but women are extremely resilient. Women know how to push through pain and be able to come out on the other side strong and victorious. And I really wanted to pay an ode to women because also the people that came and supported me were women,” she said about the song’s messaging. 

Speaking on the sound, she said: 

“I think it wasn’t really Amapiano, it was 3-step and it’s all I’m hearing in the club and I love it! I love listening to it, I love dancing to it. It's exportable right now, and it’d be weird if I wasn’t there.”

Breaking down the experience of rapping over 3-step, she said: 

“I needed a lot of guidance, it’s very different. Very different from Hip-Hop. Also, I was taught not to overthink it. Like, you don’t have to do a 16. You don’t have to be doing an 8 bar. You can repeat the same thing for four bars and it’s okay.

“I was able to really relax and that’s the fun thing about it because you don’t actually  have to think too much. Not talking about the structure but like, your subject matter. 

“You really can just have fun. You can literally go “Hee Yaa!”, and that could be part of your chorus so it was really fun to do.”

Revisit ‘Umfazi’ by Nadia Nakai below: