Simoné Roets Debut Album has been Released!

Simoné Roets releases much-anticipated debut album

With four Afri-Indie nominations, she hopes the album will speak to listeners after developing the album over the last three years.

Fans of Pretoria’s vibrant music scene can finally hear the unique, authentic, and soulful Simoné Roets with the release of her highly anticipated debut album, Herinner My.

Roets said that the album was carefully selected to speak to her listeners’ hearts, with a range of sounds from acoustic to pop.

She made the bold decision to enter the Afrikaans music industry in 2021, and her original music quickly become popular on several radio stations.

Her music quickly made an impact, and she was nominated for an Aitsa Award in 2022 (Newcomer of the Year) and performed at the event alongside artists such as Elandré, Refentse, and Demi Lee Moore.

She has also been nominated for four Afri-Indie Independent Artist Awards this year, of which the winners will be announced this week.

“Herinner My”, the titular track, was the first song she wrote in Afrikaans while she was still living in Australia.

She decided that the title would be fitting because this is where her dream of recording an album started.

The album was produced by Jattie de Beer of Artistry Productions and consists of 11 songs.

“My target audience is people who love our language and stories,” she explains. “I wrote some of the songs myself, others with Jattie, and my mother was also involved in creating ‘Sondag P.M.’ and ‘Om Elke Hoek en Draai’.”

What she enjoyed most about the three years it took to put the album together was creating something out of nothing.

“Every note, instrument, moment, lyric, and melody are 100% original – it took a long time, but Jattie (and everyone involved) and I am proud of the final product. The friendships I made through this creative process are also very significant to me,” she said.

Her favorite track on the album changes frequently. Currently, it is “Hou Vas”, which is about the idea that fear (as an emotion) is a reality.

“The song was written with the hope of encouraging others – I think we can experience peace even in moments when we feel overwhelmed with anxiety and fear. It’s not always one or the other.”

To make things even more exciting, the artist has also just released a new single and music video. The single, titled “Skete” explores our ability (or inability) to live in the present moment.

The inspiration for the song came from the idea of whether we are the sum of our past experiences or if we can truly live in the present. In essence, the song urges listeners to embrace the present moment and not let past experiences hold them back from living their best lives.

She adds: “We must learn to move past our past experiences more quickly, because if we don’t, we may miss out on some of the beautiful things that life has to offer.”

The music video for “Herinner My” shares the artist’s musical journey, from her apartment in Brisbane – where the project started – to the studio where the album was recorded.

“It shows how we worked in the studio to complete the album. ‘Herinner my aan wie ek is’ (Remind me of who I am) is also applicable to my story and the fact that I am now pursuing music full-time,” she says about the video, which was filmed at Odyssey Studio in Lynwood Bridge and Artistry Productions’ studio, with Adi van der Walt as the producer.