[imagesource:twitter/news24]

South African singer Motswedi Modiba is taking China by storm after a fantastic performance on one of the country’s largest reality TV shows.

The 26-year-old Tshwane lass wowed millions with her Mandarin performance as well as becoming the first black African contestant on Sing! China! – the Chinese version of The Voice.

The competition, in its eighth season, follows a similar format to its US counterpart, with the first round judged blind.

Two of the four judges selected Modiba to progress to the next round, forcing the singer to pick one as a mentor for the latter stage of the competition (she chose singer, rapper and actor Wilber Pan.) We have to admit it is funny to see the judges’ reaction when they see a black singer performing in perfect Mandarin!

The singer lit up Chinese social media: “How could Motswedi sing so well?” wrote music blogger Radio Utopia to their 11.8 million followers on Weibo, while the hashtag “I cannot compete with Motswedi,” trended in reference to a quote from competition judge Joker Xue.

Modiba told CNN her parents sent her to Pretoria Chinese School, where she learned Mandarin from age six to 18. “They looked at world trends and saw China was probably going to become an important world player economically, so wanted to give us the best opportunities in life.”

As a child, she performed on the recording of the song Baba Wethu by South African gospel artist Tebs David, and at university in China she entered small-scale singing competitions, singing in Mandarin. In 2022 she launched a career in South Africa as MOE. with the single It Was A Vibe, winning a Metro FM Music Award.

Last April, Modiba joked with friends about trying to make a viral hit on Douyin (the name for TikTok in mainland China), and posted a video of her singing. “It does go viral,” she recalled. “Then I post another one and it goes viral … within about two weeks, I had over a million views.”

By June she was in China preparing to audition on Sing! China! Modibe described her audition as life coming “full circle,” after performing the song years before at a student competition.

With a much larger audience this time, “nerves completely took over me,” she said. “There was so much adrenaline that I can’t really remember how I felt during the performance.”

Modiba sure didn’t show any signs of nerves, and her performance was mesmerising. Watch the moving audition below.

@moeismusic ‼️ANNOUNCEMENT‼️ I have been so eager to share this news with you all. I took a huge leap of faith and joined one of Chinas biggest singing competitions, SING! CHINA. It is a competition that is loved and watched around Asia.. by hundreds of millions of people. And this is the first season a Black & African has graced this legendary stage. The reception since the show aired a few hours ago has been overwhelming😭❤️. This is a historic moment, for me, for China, for South Africa, for the world. And it’s one I’m so honored to be a part of. Thank you to my team here in China of over 20 people who work so hard to make sure I succeed. Thank you for helping me iron out my Mandarin chops and giving me so much courage! I love you all so much. Thank you to my team in SA for holding me down and supporting me. To my team in the USA for actively making sure my interests are taken care of while I’m away… thank you! And the biggest thank you goes to the Lord!! 🙏🏽🙏🏽 Thank you Jesus!!! #MOE #MoexChina #Singchina #moe莫维蒂 #中国好声音 ♬ original sound – MOE.

Let’s raise a glass of Jiu Niang to this amazing talent.

[source:cnn]