Apple Music launches YVNG & FREE, a campaign to commemorate Youth Month in South Africa.
Apple Music continues to nurture and elevate South Africa’s up-and-coming creative talent with the launch of YVNG & FREE, a dedicated space on the platform for the next generation of artists and creatives who are innovating within their craft.
In South Africa, June is widely celebrated as Youth Month and on June 16th, commonly known as Youth Day, we honour the young people who led a movement for societal change in 1976. Forty-five years later, the struggle continues with a new set of socio-economic challenges, yet the passion of South Africa’s youth and creatives remains unchanged, an element that Apple Music’s YVNG & FREE campaign aims to spotlight.
To honour Youth Day, Apple Music is launching an exclusive Audio On Demand Radio show, hosted by the new African Now Radio host & Mzansi TV and radio personality, LootLove (real name Luthando Shosha) on June 16, featuring interviews and music from SA’s most inspiring young artists and creatives.
Under the banner of YVNG & FREE, LootLove will discuss the concept of freedom in SA with a group of young artists and creatives who have found new ways to stand up for the underrepresented and have the courage to tell their own intersectional stories.
YVNG & FREE will also feature a playlist with exclusive artwork by boundary-breaking Capetonian illustrator, Yay Abe (real name Russell Abrahams), who has created striking work for a number of major international brands.
YVNG & FREE will also house breakthrough albums and EPs from artists that are leading this generation’s next wave, as well as feature exclusive guest playlists from trailblazing vocalists Zoë Modiga, Elaine and SiBi, culture-repping rappers Blxckie and YoungstaCPT, as well as Afrofuturist DJ, producer and songwriter Muzi, to name a few.
“This playlist has defined so many key moments in our society. They’ve allowed for not only the artists but the listeners too to feel empowered, heard and seen.” – Elaine
“These songs for me represent how this generation has no limits, no boundaries, and is unapologetic. It’s Africa’s stars of tomorrow reaching up today.” – SiBi
“To be YVNG & FREE is to tell your story confidently, to speak unfiltered, and to live out your youth unapologetically. To have worked and written alongside some of these talented young artists, as well as admired the rest from afar, I could not be more confident in the music representing my generation. I hope this playlist reminds you to tell your story, make your mistakes, and return to yourself. Being YVNG & FREE is, to me, more than being reckless – it’s looking the face of adversity in the eyes and holding up your middle finger.” – Valley Sixteen
“These songs convey freedom of expression for me. Having the courage to take the less travelled route, creatively and sonically. Doing what comes from the heart rather than what is expected of you.” – Muzi
“I’d say these artists all represent their identities freely without conforming to traditional standards which makes them free…they’re all South African based but mainly Capetonian with a strong connection to their heritage and African roots regardless if it’s in the language, the lyrical content or the musical production. They’re a good blend of what it looks and sounds like to be Young, gifted and fight for freedom in the dark continent.” – Youngsta CPT
“We are resilient and they call us brave, as we actualise our Gods’ and ancestors’ wildest thoughts. Our lives are a hymn that compels the universe into revolutions as we lead lives that acknowledge our very beings. We are a flicker and an inferno, singing songs of peace and warfare and still, the sinless warriors. We have been prayed for and so exist in agreement with this voyage and while we are here – and to time indefinite – we are power personified, we are impact realised. The artists in this playlist reflect the layers and different perspectives we are. Inspired by expression, language, identity, celebration, life and storytelling. Enjoy the love.” – Zoë Modiga
“All youth have different experiences and express themselves in different ways. Some express themselves through love, culture, real life experiences etc. The tracks I have chosen represent youth in their own different way and represents how they can put these experiences into song too. This is how we represent the youth.” – Hersh
“The artists in this playlist reignite my love for the arts, and their stories inspire me to be genuine in my own ways of expression. Being able to enjoy the privilege of our present day with these songs playing in the background as I dance, draw, love, travel or mingle is a sweet reminder of how far we’ve come. From ‘Blessed’ by Sevana to Doowap’s ‘Thunda Thighs’, being free means celebrating all parts of me with no fear, and this playlist captures that perfectly.” – Neo Mahlangu
“The music in my playlist is my interpretation of being a young, free South African in my world. I believe that the youth of today is probably the most diverse that South Africa has seen to date. We have no boundaries. We no longer need to fit into a box to succeed or “BE SOMEONE”. I think that’s why I am even able to be where I am today, and represent myself – YVNG & FREE!” – Blxckie
“The following tracks were on repeat while creating the artwork for YVNG & FREE. I think SA’s young local talent has this amazing energy that celebrates craft and passion like no other. Although I am a visual artist I can definitely say that this playlist would be the audible representation of my work and vice-versa. With a mix of established and up-and-coming talent, I hope this playlist puts you into the mood to celebrate Youth Day and creativity as a whole!” – Yay Abe
Listen to the YVNG & FREE collection here http://apple.co/YVNGFREE
Source: MuseAfrica
