Aletta Shikololo
WINDHOEK – Just three months of setting her feet in the music industry, new kid on the block Yessonia is planning to take her music internationally.
The hip-hop, RnB and dancehall artist is not just your regular artist, she has made her name a brand and performed in the United Kingdom, Angola and Nigeria and has collaborated with local artists, including Top Cheri and Zimbabwean rapper, KNG.
Yessonia, whose real name is Sonia Shaalukeni, recently released her new single ‘Honey Fudge’ featured by Namibian singer and radio personality, Paul da Prince, and is rumoured to have dedicated the song to her ‘prince charming’.
She was born and raised in Swakopmund.
“Music has always been a passion and hidden talent of mine, but with the family I grew up in, who were very religious and a bit on the strict side, I had to buckle down and focus on other seemingly more important things. The universe has been kind enough to allow me a second bite of the cherry, this year I decided to put my vocals where my mind was and pursued a career in music,” said Yessonia, who is also an entrepreneur.
She described her journey as an upcoming artist as a blissful rollercoaster ride full of immensely high energy and lots of inspiration and already she has been exposed to some of the best of what Africa has to offer in-terms of unsigned talent.
“In the three months that Yessonia the musician has existed, I have been blessed enough to have toured London, done my first Namibian and Zimbabwean collaborations and became the first Namibian artist to have music being play-listed in Angola,” she added.
The ‘Muscle Up’ singer excitedly said she managed to secure a slot at the highly acclaimed ‘AYLive’ stage show in Nigeria for the coming weeks, which is a great opportunity and huge stage, proudly sponsored by Air Namibia, as a travel partner and producers of the show along with her friends.
Besides her music career, Yessonia is involved in a formal business in which she holds shares.
She says she was recently invited to perform at the Africa Fashion and Cultural Week, which will be held this week in Brussels, Belgium.