Add to playlist: the heartbreak post-mortems of Cape Town’s Rowlene and the week’s best new tracks

<p>The South African singer has been a memorable guest artist, but the unhurried, emotional tracks on new album Some Strings Attached show she’s ready for the spotlight</p><p><strong>From</strong> Cape Town, South Africa<br><strong>Recommended if you like</strong> Summer Walker, SZA, Shekhinah<br><strong>Up next</strong> Some Strings Attached out now</p><p>Rowlene Bosman learned to sing in a Cape Town school choir, and the discipline never left her: she is a precision vocalist in a scene that rewards volume. Most South Africans first heard her in 2018, delivering the hook on <a href="https://youtu.be/r64_50ELf58">Nasty C’s SMA</a> – she was the first signing to his Tall Racks label – and the featured artist circuit kept her busy for years. But while South African pop stampeded towards amapiano, Rowlene held her ground as a balladeer, writing slow, confessional R&amp;B in which heartbreak is examined instead of danced away. Her 2020 debut album 11:11, a set of aching, close-quarters soul songs, brought a South African music award nomination for best pop album, and three of her originals – <a href="https://youtu.be/Fb0HriOK_VY">Cupid</a>, <a href="https://youtu.be/rvSesjVffEE">Stay</a> and the Nasty C collaboration <a href="https://youtu.be/eV1EwULWbA0">I Need You</a> – landed on the soundtrack of Netflix’s SA teen crime drama Blood &amp; Water, carrying her voice far beyond home.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/aug/14/add-to-playlist-rowlene">Continue reading...</a>