MBABANE – The Eswatini-born vocalist steps deeper into R&B and Neo-soul with a six-track project about heartbreak, longing and the complicated business of letting go, set for release on 23 October 2026.
Mbali Gamedze, known to the world as Zinia, is ready to tell a different kind of love story. On her debut EP, Devotion & Other Mistakes, she turns her attention to the parts of love that are not always easy to admit, staying when you know better, leaving only to look back, attachment that outlives its purpose and the slow, uncomfortable process of choosing yourself. Across six tracks, Zinia makes room for the contradictions of loving deeply and imperfectly. She offers a project that does not try to make heartbreak beautiful so much as find beauty in telling the truth about it.
At the heart of the project is a question many people know but rarely answer, when does devotion stop being an expression of love and become a mistake we keep making in its name? This tension runs through the EP, tracing the movement from surrender to uncertainty, disappointment and the difficult work of release. Here, love is not a neat progression from desire to fulfilment. It is a negotiation between what we feel and what we know, between who we want someone to be and who they actually are.
There is no pretence of having it all figured out. Instead, Zinia sits with the uncomfortable truths of wanting to be understood, giving more than you receive and discovering that knowing when to walk away does not make leaving any easier. The result is a body of work that views heartbreak as more than an ending. Sometimes, it is the beginning of seeing yourself clearly.
Sonically, Devotion & Other Mistakes marks a deeper move into R&B and Neo-soul, drawing from soul, house, Afro-house and African rhythmic influences. The music moves within a sensual yet grounded space, allowing Zinia’s vocals to remain the emotional centre of the experience. Her range gives the project room to navigate between vulnerability and resolve, tenderness and strength.
The project features Oriiginelle, bringing together two Eswatini-born artists whose paths intersect on a release centred on intimacy and emotional expression. Production comes from Fezi Simelane, with mixing and mastering by Lethumusa Simelane, shaping a sound that places equal importance on atmosphere and vocal performance.
For Zinia, the EP arrives at a point where years of performing meet the opportunity to present a cohesive statement. Born in Mbabane, Eswatini, her relationship with music began early. Her sister recognised her talent when she was 12 and by 14, Zinia was singing in church. Raised in a musical household, she later studied Music Business and Performance at South Africa’s Campus of Performing Arts (COPA).
Her development has unfolded across recorded music and live stages. Zinia is a familiar presence on Eswatini’s festival circuit, appearing at MTN Bushfire and the Standard Bank Luju Food & Lifestyle Festival. In 2024, she performed alongside Umuti at MTN Bushfire before taking the stage for a solo performance at Luju’s Stella Artois stage. She returned to Bushfire in 2025 with Sands and performed at Luju with Sibu Manzini that same year.
Beyond Eswatini, she has extended her reach into South Africa, performing at The Weekly Catch Up and Pretoria’s Black Labone stage in 2025, followed by Johannesburg shows alongside ZuluMecca in early 2026. Away from the stage, she wrote and recorded the MTN Yellow Care campaign song and undertook voice-over work for the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA).
Her song Love Back, which has surpassed 450,000 views on YouTube, offers a glimpse into her growing audience. Devotion & Other Mistakes shifts the focus from individual releases towards a unified artistic vision, presenting Zinia at her most vulnerable, sensual and honest.
