Kaunda Selisho

By Kaunda Selisho

Journalist


WATCH: India Arie gushes over Lloyiso

Former Idols contestant Lloyiso Gijana was listed among musicians that India Arie recently discovered and fell in love with.


Musician Lloyiso Gijana has a new fan in the form of fellow musician India Arie.

A video of her gushing about his talent has gone viral on social media and prompted fans to remind Lloyiso to get back to India Arie after she revealed that she has sent him a direct message on social media which he had not responded to.

“He sings with so much heart, and depth that it is striking!” exclaims a visibly excited Arie.

She goes on to explain that Lloyiso’s talent is exceptional to her because a lot of people can sing notes but “it’s a rare thing to see people go to this place went they sing. He goes to this place…”

Arie said she made this observation about Lloyiso after watching a series of his videos one evening. She concluded by asking him to get back to her via DM as she would be willing to offer him any kind of support.

The clip was taken from a longer video posted to her Instagram account which shows her shouting out to artists that she had recently discovered and fell in love with.

Lloyiso’s song titled ‘Love Runs Deeper‘ was recently selected as the soundtrack for Disney’s global holiday season campaign, much to the delight of his fanbase which includes people like fellow musician Langa Mavuso and former collaborator DJ Zinhle.

The 23-year-old singer from Uitenhage, Eastern Cape, first appeared on national television when he competed on season 11 of Idols SA in 2015. At the time Lloyiso was 16 years old and he made it all the way to the top five.

According to a report by Drum, last September, he became the first South African artist to sign to Republic Records – a label that boasts artists such as Drake, The Weeknd, Ariana Grande and Post Malone on its roster.

Before that, he was signed to local label Ambitiouz Records where he spent his time singing covers of popular tracks and sharing them to social media platforms TikTok and YouTube. Evidently, this is how India Arie found his work.

A quick scroll through Arie’s comments shows that people continue to confuse him for Loyiso Bala and even adding the second ‘L’ to his name to combat this confusion doesn’t seem to have helped.

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