NOMSA, a young Zimbabwean singer, songwriter and student at the University of Zimbabwe, is quietly carving a niche on the country’s music scene by turning private feeling into public art.
Since releasing her first official single in May 2023, Nomsa’s soulful, R&B-leaning music — threaded with Afro-soul and subtle traditional textures — has found a small but fervent audience and sparked conversation about what it means to sound “local” in a global era.
“What drew me to making art was the need to express emotions and ideas I couldn’t fully put into words,” she said.
Nomsa traces the desire to create back to childhood.
“I started music when I was in Grade 3. I was writing songs for my crush,” she said, and to a more urgent period at university when she wrote Ndochema, a song about depression and isolation.
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“I wrote that song when I was depressed at university,” she said.
“When I released it, a lot of people could relate.
“It made me feel less lonely and also take note of how important mental health is.”
That candidness is central to Nomsa’s aesthetic.
Her songs explore love, self-worth, heartbreak, healing and the mixture of womanhood with a “poetic softness” and a “quiet defiance” she says comes from blending vulnerability and strength.
Her genre leans towards contemporary R&B and Afro-soul, painting warm-toned, intentionally feminine visuals and sonic textures that distinguish her from mainstream Zimbabwean Afro-pop.
Nomsa’s creative process is also collaborative.
“When I feel something I listen to music,” she explained.
If no existing song matches the feeling, “I make one myself” — meditating, finding a motif on her keyboard, then working with producers Glitch and Hoolanwolf to shape the track.
A preview of a break-up song called Siya Ndiende has already inspired TikTok posts, she says, months before its full release.
But the path hasn’t been frictionless.
Nomsa faces scepticism from certain corners of the local music industry for favouring an “international” sound.
“I’m doing music as a passion and a way to express myself, and show my identity,” she said.
“I think to myself that if I change it then it’s no longer MY identity, it’s what people want me to be.”
She recalls being told to add more Shona and make her songs sound more local so that Zimbabweans pay attention, and others say her music is “saladic”.
Still, she insists on artistic authenticity rather than conformity.
Nomsa is also deliberate about the business of music.
She treats visibility and strategy with as much care as songwriting, using social media to build a brand, pricing her work intentionally, staying open to collaborations and exploring revenue streams from performances, digital content and commissions.
“Kudzidza hakupere,” she observes — “learning never ends” — a Shona proverb that serves as her personal credo as she hones her lyrics and craft.
Outside music, Nomsa studies film, radio and television, draws and writes and describes herself as a storyteller who feels intensely.
“I’m curious, expressive and unafraid to ask the hard questions, even when the answers hurt,” she says.
For a new generation of Zimbabwean musicians negotiating identity, language and global influence, Nomsa’s work is a reminder that authenticity — even when it doesn’t fit neat categories — can still find listeners and spark conversation.