SA’s Micaela Kleinsmith named Apple Music Up Next artist

As the newest Up Next artist, Kleinsmith will be featured on Apple Music’s South African Up Next genre-agnostic playlist, which features a dynamic class of new and emerging artists handpicked by Apple Music’s editors from around the world.

The announcement coincides with her three-track EP Butterfly released in early April. The project, which also features ‘Eternity’ and ‘Raise the Group, was released through Platoon. It exemplifies the type of heartfelt music she makes, using her voice as her main instrument to convey a multitude of emotions using the butterfly as a motif for love and self-realisation.

“Going from being a little girl in Cape Town, South Africa, who loved singing with her guitar in her room and dreaming about doing what I love for the rest of the world, to being Apple Music’s Up Next artist is an insane and beautifully blessed path my life and career has taken. I am honoured and grateful to have been selected by Apple Music. Your support for my music means everything to me,” she said.

After a successful stint on Idols SA in 2016, Kleinsmith went on to perform across almost every stage in and around Cape Town in order to hone her live skills. She was first championed by masked country singer Orville Peck on the first season of Apple TV’s My Kind of Country, before she won the competition in April.