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He doesn’t enter a room with the swagger of a chart-topping artist. He doesn’t lead with numbers, awards, or brag-worthy milestones. Instead, he talks about love. About purpose. About light. As if these are the true measures of a life well-lived.
For J’Something — born João da Fonseca — music was never about stardom. It was about connection, community, and belonging, and ultimately, about building a home people could step into, a home called MiCasa.
“It’s not all about me. It’s about the message, the art, and the hope that it connects with people.”
Born in the Algarve, Portugal, J’Something’s story began long before the spotlight. His father worked in the hospitality industry, and when Sun International tapped him to open Fish River Sun in the Eastern Cape, the family moved to South Africa. João was seven, and he didn’t speak a word of English or any other South African language. He was just a young boy, wide-eyed and uprooted, suddenly tasked with rebuilding his life from scratch. But, he did it all with a smile, with his family standing behind him every step of the way.
Then came the name problem. “Most people could not pronounce my name,” he recalls. “I couldn’t really use my name as an artist if people couldn’t say it. So, I kind of had this idea based on what people would say: J’Something.”
“It’s also like a way to deviate the attention in a way, because it’s not all about me. It’s more about the music and the message and the arts that we share, and the hope that it connects with people.”
As in any standard interview, we asked him if he always knew he’d be a musician. He laughed softly at the question, “I don’t think we actually know anything. We all feel different things.”
As a kid, he’d sing for anyone who’d listen, but it wasn’t as innocent as you might think. J’Something, as a true businessman, would charge five rand for the show. He recalls how his life wasn’t mapped out — there was no vision board and absolutely no master plan.
“Music was a dream, but not an intentional plan I followed from young.”
The moment happened at a party at Radisson Blu, just outside the Gautrain, in Sandton. It started off as the kind of night no one expected to be significant, but fate decided otherwise. J’Something, who was working for Soul Candi at the time, knew almost no one at the party, but in a moment of boldness, he walked up to the DJ, Dr Duda (Sipho Philemon Mohahlaza), and asked if he could sing over the beats. Dr Duda said yes. Minutes later, a stranger with a trumpet, Mo-T (Moshe Kgasoane), joined in. A crowd gathered, people danced, and in the chaos of improvised magic, three guys became brothers.
Once their jamming session came to a close, people were asking them for pictures. “I was like, ‘What is going on? I don’t even know these guys!’” They exchanged numbers and each went back home, assuming their relationship would exist only as a fond memory.
“I didn’t give up. After three months of constantly begging Duda and Mo to get into the studio with me, finally, they said yes. The first thing we ever recorded was ‘These Streets’ in 2011, which became the song of the year. So, yes, you could say everything changed that night.”
One night around a fire, the trio brainstormed names. Nothing stuck until J’Something had an idea. “We were talking about how we wanted our music to feel like home to people, and I was thinking ‘home, home, home’. ‘Casa’ is Portuguese for home, so I said to the guys that we should call it ‘MiCasa’, my home. And that was that.”
The band is constantly inspired by house music, community, and the Portuguese phrase, ‘Mi casa es su casa’: my house is your house. “From the beginning, we wanted a space of inclusivity, a space where everybody’s welcome.”
“The name was our way of saying: ‘This is our house. And you are invited.’”
Thirteen years in, MiCasa is still intact — a rarity in music. Why? How?
“It’s the same principles that keep a marriage together: love, trust, respect, and commitment.” But J’Something says it is also all the external love they receive: the community, the people who come to their shows. “Just like in any relationship, they are committed to us, and we are committed to them.”
Continuing with the metaphor likening his band to a relationship, he tells us that “Of course, there are challenges and moments of friction,” but the band deals with those moments without explosions and egos, just brotherhood. “Thank God for those challenges, because it is what stretches us, and brings us back closer together. We deal with everything with a lot of grace, love, and respect.”
Before the fame, there was a girl he met through mutual friends — Coco. At the time, a relationship wasn’t on the cards. But later, their paths crossed again, and a whirlwind romance started: they spoke on BBM (BlackBerry Messenger), went on a first date, and never parted.
“I try my best to share how much I love this girl because I do. She often says we have been dating since our first date, and it’s true. We’ve been married for ten years now, and this girl, she feels like a real soulmate.”
Some of the band’s greatest songs emerged from this love. “I’ve written a lot of songs for her, but I’ve also written a lot of songs because of her. One of them is ‘Mamela’ and another, ‘Church Bells’, in which I actually write about our lobola.”
“I’ve written a lot of songs for her, but I’ve also written a lot of songs because of her.”
With roots in hospitality, J’Something opened his first restaurant, Something’s Cooking, in Pretoria. Later, he cofounded Artistry, a hub that supports storytelling, performance, and connection. “My wife and I created Artistry as a platform to showcase, celebrate, and preserve stories. We allow South African art in all forms to be celebrated. That’s what it has always been about. We have the theatre, listening bar, and rooftop restaurant. Collectively, it’s a multi-sensory experience.”
Ask him where he sees himself in five years, and he goes silent. “My religion is one day at a time.” He simply hopes for light, love, connection, and personal growth. And, if he experiences even a little bit of that, he considers it a life well-lived.
As far as the future goes, J’Something dreams big. “My wife and I do an event called Lover’s Rock, which is coming up again. MiCasa is also doing the second edition of a cruise called Friendship. We are also working on a massive project in the heart of Joburg, but I am not allowed to say more than that. And of course, we are always creating music.”
“When we stop dreaming, we might as well not have breath in our lungs. Dreams are plenty, and how lucky am I to continue to dream day after day?”
J’Something didn’t chase success. He was just a boy who loved music and lived life one day at a time. Now, he is a husband and a father too, and he simply wants to be the man who built a house, made it a home, and invited the world inside.
Listen on Apple Music:
• These Streets, 2011 — The breakout single.
• Mamela, 2020 — Emotional and honest.
• Jika, 2013 — A joyful crowd-pleaser.
• Church Bells, 2020 — Rooted in his lobola experience.
• Ter Mais, 2025 — A fresh release with Portuguese influence.
South Africa’s arts scene is no stranger to bold storytelling, but every now and then, something comes along that shifts the conversation entirely. This April, Unmute Dance Theatre is doing exactly that — taking its powerful, inclusive performances from local stages to Europe, and back again, with a message that’s impossible to ignore.
South Africa’s arts scene is no stranger to bold storytelling, but every now and then, something comes along that shifts the conversation entirely. This April, Unmute Dance Theatre is doing exactly that — taking its powerful, inclusive performances from local stages to Europe, and back again, with a message that’s impossible to ignore.
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