Young people from around Joburg have been attending Spotify's Greasy Tunes throughout July as seen in this image. Picture: Supplied
The power and influence of youth is palpable throughout society but more so in pop culture as young people are the biggest taste makers when it comes to setting trends.
Gen Z, the generation born between 1997 and 2012, has inspired streaming platform Spotify to host a month-long party which celebrates South African music and food. New data from Spotify has been able to pinpoint what sonic pairings South African Gen Zs are whipping up at mealtimes.
“Spotify’s dedicated data team looked at the data for specific times of the day when South African Gen Zs were listening to music and were able to ascertain specific listening trends around mealtimes,” Spotify’s Sub-Saharan Africa Lead for Music Strategy and Operations, Warren Bokwe, tells The Citizen.
Spotify has been celebrating all things food and music at its Greasy Tunes pop-up which is combining some of South Africa’s most beloved street foods with some of its favourite songs and artists, throughout July in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
“We know from our data that Gen Zs are the age group most actively listening to local genres like Amapiano and Pan African music like Afrobeats. Greasy Tunes is about celebrating the very best of South African creativity whether it’s music, podcasting or even the creative combination of flavours in the food we serve,” Bokwe says.
Greasy Tunes first took place in the UK, however this is a first for South Africa. “It will run until the 30th of July, 2023. Spotify is intentional about the support it provides to artists and podcasters across the continent and regularly hosts events to showcase talent.”
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As much as Gen Z’s tastes have guided this movement Bokwe says Greasy Tunes is for everyone as evidenced in their line-up. “Creating hyper-local experiences on and off platform that reflect each market is hugely important to us. So in developing the line-up, we looked at a number of factors that are unique to the South African market, which included, but is not limited to age.”
Bokwe says they’ve created a place where people of all ages can come see their favourite artists.
“Culture is also such an important aspect of creativity, and being able to experience aspects of cultures that might be different to your own, or to see how people are expressing themselves, is so inspiring, irrespective of age.”
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According to the Spotify data, breakfast is the most important meal of the day – and it seems South Africans are taking this on board when it comes to their audio diet too.
Between the hours of 6am and 10am, they’re setting themselves up for success by consuming more Relaxing White Noise and Motivation Daily by Motiversity podcasts.
The energy levels shift as the day progresses. True to South African groove, and dance-craze culture, Mas Musiq’s Gangnam Style dominates at lunch time while Mnike by Tyler ICU, is the number one streamed track, at dinner time.
Spotify’s data shows that most Gen Zs have a strong appetite for international acts, but Bokwe says these behaviours often change. There are certain artists that have cross-generational appeal and others who appeal to a specific demographic.
“So while today the preference might be for an international artist, the very next day, the listening habit may skew to a South African artist. Our Spotify Wrapped data for 2022, which gives an overview of the country’s listening habits for the year, showed that the most streamed song of the year was local,” Bokwe says.
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