‘John Vuli Gate’ reaches new heights

The last week or so has been a busy one for the hitmakers behind social media’s latest hit John Vuli Gate.

After having their song blow up thanks to a viral video taken by some teenage girls on their way to a party, the song’s title was also chosen as the campaign slogan for interim DA leader John Steenhuisen’s campaign to turn his current position into a permanent gig.

In order to build on this momentum, Amapiano duo Mapara a Jazz, have decided to reshoot the music video for their hit song John Vuli Gate featuring artists Ntosh Gaz and Colano with a slight change; they will now include the young group of women who caused the song to go viral.

Although the young women are not the ones who started the challenge, their video is what made the song go viral last week.

The honour of starting the challenge belongs to a group of young unidentified men who made their way out of a minibus taxi at a filling station while performing the John Vuli Gate dance challenge in a Tik Tok video.

According to a Sowetan report, these young men were embroiled in a tiff with another Tik Tok creator named Limpopo Boy, after each party claims to have started the challenge. Mapara a Jazz did not want to be seen as picking a side and chose not to intervene.

However, they can not deny the impact that the young group of Mpumalanga women have had on the popularity of the song inspired by a line from 2005 crime drama film Tsotsi.

As of this week, John Vuli Gate is the highest new entry into the Shazam Global Chart this week at No. 46.

This is according to Shazam activity over the past week which came almost entirely from South Africa, where the track has quickly reached No. 1 on the national chart.

According to Apple Music, this is a debut entry to Shazam’s charts for Mapara A Jazz.

“We are so pleased to have our song John Vuli Gate become a major trend in South Africa. To have people Shazam our song around the world is a dream come true for us. People all over are taking part in the dance challenge of John Vuli Gate and loving the song. We are very happy to debut in Shazam’s charts and reach the Global Top 50. It shows people are really loving our music and want to stream it,” commented the artists.

(Compiled by Kaunda Selisho) 

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