Born and raised in Cape Town, Gemma Fassie is a South African singer-songwriter on a mission to spread love, healing and inspiration through her music. In an interview with Nounouche, she speaks about her music with the measured confidence of someone who has found her path, even if that path wasn’t always clear.

Originally from Lavender Hill in Cape Town, the singer-songwriter radiates a quiet determination as she discusses her journey and newly released EP, “Island 22.”

“I’m a very free-spirited person,” she says, settling into our conversation. “I do enjoy going to the beach. I’m very outspoken in some ways, but I also like keeping to myself sometimes.”

This balance between being an extrovert and an introvert seems to define her personality and her approach to music– a thoughtful navigation between heritage and self-discovery.

A Name & A Journey

The Fassie surname carries immense weight in South African music, instantly calling to mind the legendary Brenda Fassie. For Gemma, this connection is both a blessing and a complex reality to navigate.

“Having the Fassie legacy backing me or being part of the Fassie legacy is something that I really think is like gold,” Gemma reflects. “I’m super grateful to be part of the legacy and to carry it on.”

Yet there is a complexity to her story that most people aren’t immediately exposed to. “I didn’t necessarily grow up with the Fassie family, I don’t really have much of that side to lean towards or to get inspiration from,” she explains. “People assume that I grew up with the family. So they assume that’s something that I was blessed with from the beginning.”

This misconception that she was “born into fame” is something she’s had to address repeatedly. While the Fassie name might open doors, Gemma’s musical identity draws heavily from her mother’s side of the family, who have been “very influential in my music influences and the background with music”.

Finding Her Voice

Gemma’s path to music wasn’t straightforward.

After high school, she spent eight months in Greece on a performance contract, an experience that would later inform both her artistic direction and the title of her EP.

“Before getting into teaching, I went to Greece for about eight months when I was 19 years old,” she recalls. “That was in my gap year. That was kind of me finding out what my actual hobbies are and also travelling the world.”

Upon returning to South Africa, Gemma was nudged into thinking about what career path she might want to follow. “My mom was like, ‘Okay, Gemma, you need to at least get some type of qualification,'” she says. This led to a TEFL course and two years teaching English online. But music remained a constant presence. She had released songs since 2020, but the pivotal moment came unexpectedly through social media.

“Bongani posted me on Twitter, and I went viral,” she remembers, still slightly surprised and grateful for the turn of events. “Likes of Black Coffee, Gigi Lamayne… so many different artists actually liked my voice and liked the video. They were like, Oh my goodness, the legacy continues“

That viral moment became a turning point. “I think that moment was when it switched for me. I was like, You know what, this is a sign that I should at least try it out. I don’t want to be in my thirties saying I should’ve, I could’ve when I had the chance.”

This ultimately led to Gemma thinking about her artistry and music more seriously, resulting in her taking a huge leap of faith and pursuing music as a career.

ISLAND 22: A Personal Sanctuary

The EP’s title, “Island 22,” carries layers of meaning that reflect both Gemma’s personal journey and her artistic vision.

“I just kind of wanted to pay homage to that part of the journey in Greece, which was kind of like the beginning of where it started,” she explains. “The beginning of me realising that I want to do music and take it seriously, a bit more than what I took it in high school.”

But the “Island” concept goes deeper than geographical reference. “I wanted to create this little, small place of my own, which is an island where I can start from scratch and bring everything that means a lot to me and people that mean a lot to me,” she says. “Create my own world where I feel safe and where I can express myself, kind of like an escape from the world where I can be honest with myself about my feelings and my experiences.”

The number 22 holds spiritual significance for her.

“In 2022, I was seeing the number 22 so many times, and I still see it up until this day. After researching what the spiritual number means as an angel number, it represents balance, harmony, spiritual mastery and the ability to manifest dreams into reality.”

Finding Her Sound

While R&B has always been Gemma’s first love, “Island 22” represents her venturing into new musical territories, particularly the fusion of R&B with Afrobeats.

“September was the first record that was Afro influenced,” she explains. “The producer DJ Radix, he’s the one that was like, ‘Let’s try merging your sound and my sound.’ And I think that’s how ‘September’ came about.”

This experimentation reflects her desire to connect with broader audiences while maintaining her core sound. “I wanted to try and incorporate African sound so that my people, the people that I see every day, can also vibe to it and relate to it,” she says. “Because amapiano is so popular, I have to find my place and find my sound within this big and vast genre.”

The EP still includes purely R&B tracks like Date Nights and What You Want that represent “still Gemma,” as she puts it, but the Afro R&B fusion has become an exciting new direction.

Connecting Through Vulnerability

For Gemma, the EP is more than just a collection of songs, it’s an invitation to emotional honesty.”

Because I was very vulnerable in each and every song, I really hope that from start to finish when they listen to it, they can also face their own emotions,” she shares. “Really be so vulnerable with themselves to realise that healing is not just something that happens overnight. It could take a week, could take months, it could take years.

“She hopes her music serves as a companion through this process. “I hope that through my music, I either heal them and they get to a better place, or I help them through the emotions and being fine with heartbreak and being vulnerable in that feeling.

“There’s symbolic significance to ending the EP with September, which represents new beginnings. “As we all know, in September, it’s the beginning of new things,” she observes. “It’s crazy how September is the last song, but it’s the beginning of something new, which is spring. In springtime, the trees get new leaves. So basically, it’s the beginning of healing.”

Looking Forward

Though “Island 22” has just been released, Gemma already has her sights set on what’s next. “I am thinking of doing a launch for the EP, like my own show. I haven’t had my own show ever in my life,” she shares with excitement. “I do have a couple of collaborations coming out this year as well.”

Her five-year vision includes award nominations, world tours, and creating more spaces for women in a male-dominated industry.

“There’s a lot of spaces that I’ve been in that are male dominated, and I’d like to either create a space where women are the producers or the engineers, just women doing everything.”

As for the legacy she wishes to create beyond the one she carries in her surname, that’s still taking shape. When asked what kind of legacy she wants to leave, she pauses thoughtfully. “Wow, I haven’t thought about that before,” she admits.

Perhaps that’s fitting for an artist still in the early stages of what promises to be a remarkable journey. For now, Gemma Fassie is focused on the present: creating her own island, defining her own sound, and inviting listeners to join her in a space of emotional authenticity and musical exploration.

“Island 22” by Gemma Fassie is now available on all major streaming platforms.