Apple Music’s “Music That Moves Me” Features Mzansi’s Favourite Sports Stars!

Apple Music’s “Music That Moves Me” campaign launches today. The campaign offers a sneak peek at the music that fuels the fire of our most decorated sports personalities and the artists that provide the ultimate motivation for our premiere sports stars.

Mzansi’s top sports personalities have curated exclusive playlists featuring their favourite tracks for training, pre-match inspiration and post-match celebration. 

“Music That Moves Me” includes exclusive playlists from lauded cricketer and 3-times ICC ODI Player of the Year, AB de Villiers; beloved Springbok winger and Rugby World Cup winner, Makazole Mapimpi; Olympic gold medal swimmer, Chad le Clos; Proteas Netball player, Karla Pretorius; former Bafana Bafana and TS Galaxy soccer midfielder, Reneilwe “Yeye” Letsholonyane; Proteas cricket vice-captain, Temba Bavuma and choreographer and fit-fluencer, Nkateko “Takkies” Dinwiddy.

“Music has always been important in my life,” legendary cricketer AB de Villiers explains. “As I was growing up, music was always being played in our home and some of the classic songs on my list are favourites of my parents. Vocals are important as well… I have always enjoyed listening to the words, and trying to work out the deeper meaning of every song. My playlist is a combination of songs from different genres and different eras, and that’s how I love my music – it’s all great music that really speaks to me and speaks to my soul.”

“Music is a way many of us express ourselves, for me it motivates me when I train but also puts my mind to rest as I can go to a whole different place by just one simple song. It makes me relate to special moments in my life and takes me back to reliving those moments. It helps us as people to connect, I feel like I understand people so much better by knowing what music they listen to. Life without music would be like, well I don’t even want to think about that sentence ever being possible!” – Chad le Clos. 

 “My playlist is mostly South African music, besides the fact that the quality of music is great, I always believe in supporting home first. I also relate to some of the music as it’s familiar. My playlist is inspirational, fun and gets me through my training.” – Makazole Mapimpi 

“The first gospel song is me asking God to be with me and protect me from injuries and I’m asking for the strength to be able to get through the match.  The house music I chose helps me loosen up and forget a bit about the game I will be playing. The hip hop songs bring me back and help me focus and concentrate fully, to shut down any noise around me and listen only to the music. It also helps me move from a relaxed mode to a game-ready mode.” – Reneilwe “Yeye” Letsholonyane 

“Music gets my emotions going.  When I listen to music I get the feeling of joy, relaxation, dreaminess, feeling pumped, amusement and nostalgia. There’s nothing like a good upbeat song to pump you up for a match or to bring back memories.  Listening to music is part of my pre-match ritual and I see it as part of my game preparation to get me focused and pumped up.” – Karla Pretorius  

“I chose a mix of what I term good, trap and rap music. The reason for this is because every song has a different feel and energy to it and each one evokes a certain energy within me. I like the songs because of their beats, their composition and production – I don’t pay a lot of attention to lyrics in this playlist. These are songs that get me going anytime, especially when I need to start a heavy gym session. When you’re an athlete, you don’t always feel like going to the gym or starting an exercise session at home or wherever you find yourself, so the type of music you choose to accompany you into those sessions is always vital in making sure it keeps you in the groove and keeps you moving. The best part for me about music is when you’re feeling completely broken by a session and you want to end it before it’s meant to be done and then a certain track comes on and you literally feel like you could leap up from the mat and do an extra circuit. That’s really the reason why I chose these songs specifically.  Music needs to inspire you, no matter where you are or what you’re doing.” – Temba Bavuma 

“I love a good upbeat track. There’s nothing better than working out to music with beats that inspire you to get up and keep moving. These songs do just that and as a dancer they set a great vibe for my workouts. I also love how I can use them for different types of workouts where the pace is faster or slower. This is a mix of old and new songs that uplift me and make me feel great when I move.” – Nkateko “Takkies” Dinwiddy. 

Apple Music’s “Music That Moves Me” is the perfect accompaniment to achieving those New Year resolutions you’ve set for yourself, or to be enjoyed from the social distancing comfort of your own home.  

Listen to the playlists on Apple Music.

Nkateko “Takkies” Dinwiddy: http://apple.co/takkies

AB De Villiers: http://apple.co/ABDeVilliers

Chad Le Clos: http://apple.co/ChadLeClos

Themba Bavuma: http://apple.co/TembaBavuma

Karla Pretorius: http://apple.co/KarlaPretorius

Makazole Mapimpi: http://apple.co/MakazoleMapimpi

Reneilwe Letsholonyane: http://apple.co/ReneilweLetsholonyane