Actor and singer Ntobeko Sishi is trading places from being in front of the camera as an actor to a life behind the microphone. 

The actor, who’s known for his rebellious teenage role of Ntokozo Dlamini on Mzansi Magic’s hit telenovela Gomora, has secured a recording label deal which sees him exploring various persuasive melodies that he merges with his sultry vocals in his new EP, A Night in the Hills. 

The multi-hyphenated singer-songwriter opened up to Sowetan S Mag about how his love of acting taught him a great deal about empathy while music taught him honesty. 

“I can’t trade acting for music or vice versa, they all coexist within me. If I go months without writing a song, I feel like I’m dying inside… the same goes for acting,” said the 23-year-old actor.

“Delving into a character’s psyche is both exhilarating and draining that’s why a break is due. However, with music, I’m narrating my stories which are easier to do.”

Since he was young, Sishi would use music as means of escape. He explains that his music career had always been an aspect of him where he is able to tell authentic stories that reside within him.

“Music is what I live and breathe... it was something I used to do before acting became a thing,” he adds. “Yes, I enjoyed the stability of getting a monthly salary seeing that I was on a telenovela but one thing I noticed was that acting was kind of looting most of my time because I’d be on set almost all the time. 

“But now that I am signed to a record label, I can fully take on my music career… something I’ve been pushing towards all my life.”

As he steadily shifts the tide of getting the masses who love him for his acting skills to fall in love with his music, Sishi explained that his main aim is for his fans, along with music lovers, to understand the kind of singer that he is first. 

“I can’t describe my sound because I’m still finding it, however, future projects are going to help me narrow that down to a sound best suited for me. A lot of the time my music sounds more like a ‘ballet-sounding nostalgia’… something that feels like a memory that taps into your feelings and takes you back in time,” he said. 

“My music is not the most commercial R&B. There’s funk and pop in it, as well as trap and hip hop. There is also folk melodies which many classify as ‘white people music’ which I grew up listening to.

“Seeing that people have been throwing such comments towards me, I’ve decided not to run away from ‘my white people listening self’ but to enhance it because it’s an element that makes me a unique artist.”

Growing up in the Methodist church as a child shaped the way Sishi’s ear tackles various sounds. He speaks of times when he was fixated by the melodies of grown women of the church and the youth choir... something that remains dear to my heart.

“I look up to Kanye West a lot when it comes to music. He has been my biggest inspiration since I was a child. Yezzy knows how to infuse gospel tunes and melodies into his songs so effortlessly and I hope to do the same one day,” he remarked. “Drake, Frank Ocean and Michael Jackson also helped define how eclectic my sound should be.”

Sishi revealed that he believed his fans were ready for his music as he alluded to struggles with mental health and the honesty he approached with his songwriting. “I am vulnerable, I am bear in my music and my true fans appreciate that.”

Embodying the character of Ntokozo Dlamini was a dream come true love for Sishi. He, however, adds that fame was something that took him by surprise. “I had no inclination that all of this would happen to me so soon in my career because, at the time, I had recently graduated with my second degree,” he explains.

“At the time, I told myself that I wanted to be a performing artist but I had no idea how I was going to do it. I remember getting a call from the show’s producers telling me that they saw an audition of me from three years ago and they wanted me to audition for the Ntokozo character. 

“I was taken aback, I couldn’t comprehend what was happening but I told myself that it was God’s divine timing because there was nothing I could’ve done to see it coming.”

During the audition round, Sishii recalls remembers seeing Zolisa Xaluva, an actor he had only seen on Generation and Thembi Seete, who ended up being his parents on the daily telenovela.

"I was like to myself: 'Wait! What is this?? What’s happening? I'm seeing Jason and Thembi?' I then realised that this might be a big show that I’m now a part of," he exclaimed. 

"The show went on to become a phenomenon and it was so wonderful to work with people who mentored and guided me because I didn’t know what the hell I was doing at first but luckily for me, Katlego Danke told me something that I’ll never forget which is to “shut out the naysayers and just do my best”. 

While he describes his first job as "a dream" despite hectic hours on set, Sishii shares how grateful he is to have been a part of a show that made an impact on the way storytelling should be told on South African television. 

"I left the show having grown so much in my acting and how I portray a role. My most memorable moment on set was when we shut down Grayston Drive at night to shoot our very first scene where I introduced Ntobeko to the viewers," he said. 

"Another one is of me and Zolisa crying at the death of Langa played by Siyabonga Xaba. At the time Melusi had just found out that Langa was his son and now he’s lost him. Ntokozo also realised he had lost his half-brother.

"I also enjoyed my moments with Sicelo Buthelezi who played Teddy, Ntokozo’s best friend. We had such a wonderful brotherhood, we shared so magical scenes and I loved watching how the friendship translated on screen. 

"I haven't completely closed the acting door, I hope to one day embody the late great Hugh Masekela or the effervescent Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse in a biopic.