BIO

Rose Lukhele (born 1993 in Daveyton), known by her stage name JOZIA, is a South African singer, songwriter and One-of-a-Kind-Artist. She first entered the music industry with the release of her extended plays EP ‚At Last‘ (2015). Her debut studio album ‚Mamokebe‘ (2017) was released to acclaim from critics in South Africa and abroad.

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MUSIC

When it comes to her unconventional songwriting, Jozia is an adventurous spirit, driven by her artistic visions. She developed an eclectic musical style that draws on a range of influences and genres spanning afro pop, hip hop, house, neo soul, folk and indie rock. Praised as "South Africas's Hottest New Star", Jozia is an unusually complete artist — a visionary musician, singer, composer, actress, dancer, poet and perhaps, most impressively, a creator of fantastically catchy but never cheesy tunes. She has an unerring instinct and talent to create cutting edge music that triggers strong emotions and vivid images.

Listening to her songs can be like immersing into a movie where the stories and characters seamlessly merge with one‘s own imagination, memories and experiences. The pure intensity of her music unfold a magic that we cannot escape. Driving all this is the one-of-a-kind voice, as instantly recognizable and aching with emotion as those of Brenda Fassie or Björk, and yet not actually quite like anyone else. 

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VIDEOS

In addition, there’s a strong visual side to Jozia‘s vision — yes, the cameras obviously seem to love her, but beyond that she is also the creative force behind extraordinary music videos that put many art world efforts in this medium to shame. For example: the track ‚Mamokebe‘, released as the opening single for her eponymous album, was accompanied by an intense and hypnotic video that featured Jozia as a kind of siren, a strange mythological creature dancing naked on the shore of a barren island, lamenting her fate as an outcast of society, whereas becoming more and more sinister and ecstatic, before eventually creeping towards the viewer to seduce or devour him. The video was praised as mind blowing and courageous, but above all it shows that Jozia goes all out for the realization of her artistic vision and is not afraid to breaking boundaries and taboos.