As a child, South African artist Nakhane (they\/them) was always cast as the lead in their school choir. But one year, the teacher decided to give the position to someone else. \u201cI was really upset. I went home and I was like, \u2018I didn\u2019t get the solo.\u2019 My mom looked at me and said, \u2018Are you the best?\u2019 I said, \u2018Yes, I am.\u2019 Then she said, \u2018Give me a pen and paper.\u2019\u201d Nakhane\u2019s mother wrote to the school and demanded that her child be cast in the lead or else they quit. \u201cLong story short \u2013 I got the solo.\u201d Recounting the memory, two things are apparent to Nakhane. While it was great for them to have that much self-belief, they realise it should have been an opportunity for them to \u201clearn how to take a fucking loss\u201d.<\/p>\n
Now, aged 35 and living in south London, the singer, songwriter, novelist and actor is working to temper their inner competitiveness. \u201cI can get ugly,\u201d they say, showing me the wrist fracture they got from playing rugby with some jocks during the second lockdown. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what it is \u2013 it\u2019s life or death. I have to win,\u201d they say with a laugh. \u201cEveryone\u2019s going to forget about it in 20 minutes, but I\u2019m not. The next time I see you, I\u2019m going to remember that you beat me.\u201d These kinds of anecdotes embody Nakhane\u2019s tenacity. Over the last 10 years and after overcoming obstacles such as conversion therapy and death threats, they have become one of South Africa\u2019s biggest music artists, whose fans include Madonna, Elton John and former collaborator Anohni.<\/p>\n
We are meeting today to discuss Nakhane\u2019s third album, Bastard Jargon, a pop, disco and funk-laden record signalling yet another departure for the multifaceted artist. Nakhane is wearing a blue bomber, with high cheekbones contoured \u201csharp enough to kill someone\u201d. They exude a soothingly self-aware disposition and a dry humour that is as entertaining as it is enlightening. Bastard Jargon features the likes of Perfume Genius, on the hedonistic, synth-filled Do You Well, and Nile Rodgers, who Nakhane says was a joy to work alongside. \u201cSometimes you can work with people and be tuned to believing that their way is the way, but [Rodgers] was like, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m here to help you find your vision. It\u2019s your album. You have to live with it for the rest of your life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Nakhane\u2019s need to be the best isn\u2019t simply about egotism \u2013 that much is obvious within minutes of meeting them. \u201cI\u2019ve always been trying to perform \u2018exceptionality\u2019 because my biological parents were not into the idea of having me.\u201d Nakhane was raised by their grandmother and later adopted by their aunt and her husband at age seven. \u201cMy understanding was that you got chosen to be adopted because you were exceptional,\u201d they say. \u201cI was always praised for being clever and talented. After years of therapy, [I realised that] I could never just be. That was never enough. Now, I\u2019m trying to come to terms with the idea that I\u2019m lovable, just being.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nakhane Mahlakahlaka was born in 1988 and raised in a fundamental Christian rural town in South Africa\u2019s Eastern Cape. They were academically adept, but it was always obvious that they were creatively inclined. \u201cMy father wanted me to be a chartered accountant or a lawyer. I said, \u2018No, I want to be an artist.\u2019\u201d Nakhane moved to Johannesburg, aged 17, and began performing in Cape Town\u2019s open mic scene. In 2013, they released their debut Brave Confusion, an acoustic guitar-heavy record that won best alternative album at the South African Music awards. Two years later, they made a track with South African house legend DJ Black Coffee called We Dance Again. It became an instant club hit. \u201cIt was massive. The expectation was that I would carry on making house music. There was this disappointment about the fact that I didn\u2019t. I took that in a little bit. But also I liked the idea of being oppositional,\u201d they say with a laugh.<\/p>\n
Instead, in 2018 they released the tender sophomore album You Will Not Die, featuring songs that Nakhane describes as \u201cdevastating\u201d. It showcased their operatic vocals on ballads containing intimate storytelling that explored their experience of leaving Christianity behind.<\/p>\n
When Nakhane was 19 they came out as gay, but after feeling shame about their sexuality underwent conversion therapy. \u201cAt the time, when I went into the church, I was strangely enough leaning into my queerness, but [I had all of this] conditioning as a child about how it was a sin and how I was going to go to hell. So when someone told me I should go to the church, it touched on all those things I was already so scared of. I wanted so badly to go to heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Nakhane eventually left the church, the journey to their true self wasn\u2019t as simple as they had imagined. \u201cI thought it was going to feel so free. I felt unhinged. I felt like I had nothing holding me because that was the thing that held every facet of my life. The question was, who are you? I had to start almost over from scratch.\u201d The aftermath of the conversion therapy is something Nakhane is still dealing with today. Recently, they were watching a TV series about a Christian cult and something clicked: they began noticing the similarities between the show and their own experiences. \u201cMy closest friends \u2013 I was told over and over again to let go of them in the church. That\u2019s what they do, right? Isolate you from those people so that you only depend on them completely? Maybe this was a cult.\u201d<\/p>\n
Organised religion is no longer of interest to them (\u201cIf your only tool is fear, you\u2019ve lost me\u201d), but spirituality still is. \u201cEveryone has a right to God or whatever you want to call it. How dare you think that you own [God]? I\u2019m sure God is thinking, I\u2019m so much bigger than this. I\u2019m not this boring.\u201d Since those dark times, Nakhane is getting closer and closer to their truest self. They came out as non-binary in 2021, an experience they say felt like unlocking a door. \u201cGender is big, wide, old and ancient. There\u2019s nothing new about it. There\u2019s nothing perverse about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to music, they have also tried their hand at other art forms: in 2015, they released Piggy Boy\u2019s Blues, a novel about a Xhosa (the second largest cultural group in South Africa) royal family, and in 2017 starred in John Trengove\u2019s The Wound. Despite favourable reviews, the film received a backlash from those back home in South Africa and in the Xhosa community for interlacing ulwaluko, the secret rite of passage into manhood observed by the Xhosa tribe, with homosexual scenes. Nakhane received death threats on the film\u2019s release, which prompted their move to London. When they arrived, they had expected London to be a \u201cvolcano of sensation\u201d, but instead found it anticlimactic. \u201cThe queer scene in Johannesburg is much more exhilarating. There\u2019s a sense of experimentation that doesn\u2019t exist here.\u201d<\/p>\n
They consider London home now, but also see the UK as a place that refuses to reconcile with its history and its current state. \u201cWhen I lived in Port Elizabeth, it was a British colony. British culture was something we learned all the time, how much better it was,\u201d they say. \u201cBut I do not aspire to whiteness or European culture. What I have been given in South Africa is so fulfilling.\u201d Still, they want to stress that they love living here. \u201cI\u2019ll tell you why. You know that old painting that you always wanted to see? You can go and see it. The band that would never come to Africa? You can go and see them here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bastard Jargon is the light at the end of the tunnel in many ways. It\u2019s about sex, morality, politics and identity, but it\u2019s also a project of joy, embarking on a new sonic and stylistic journey. The process of creating the album was different too. \u201cInstead of writing to chords, I would layer drums first. It was this sense of a new beginning.\u201d Lead single Tell Me Your Politik, featuring Nile Rodgers and Moonchild Sanelly, is uptempo, hyper-percussive and features South African gqom and kwaito. Nakhane had known since 2013 that they wanted to make a rhythmic dance album, but it wasn\u2019t until touring wrapped for You Will Not Die that the timing felt right. \u201cThat album was based on so much trauma. I just couldn\u2019t make that kind of music any more. I was exhausted from singing sad songs. The only way I was going to be creative again was if I swung to the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a level of stubbornness an artist must have in order to be great, according to Nakhane, who cites Erykah Badu, Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye as people who always followed their hearts. \u201cShabaka Hutchings [who announced on Instagram that 2023 would be his last year of performing publicly]. Am I mad that he is putting down the saxophone? Hell, yes. But if that\u2019s what he needs to do, who am I to argue?\u201d The idea of success is forever shifting for Nakhane. They\u2019re not interested in accumulating excessive wealth, because \u201cdo we need any more billionaires?\u201d Still, there was a time when their self-esteem was attached to quantifiable things, like money and fans. They are learning to let those kinds of ideals go. \u201cI want to be able to pay my rent, I want to be able to go on holiday. I want to be able to have a cup of coffee, but I always try to remind myself, I don\u2019t want to be a super-rich artist. I\u2019ve never seen one who makes anything worth noting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bastard Jargon is an opportunity for Nakhane to reach new heights and audiences. This \u201cexistential sex album\u201d leans more toward pop than past projects, but it\u2019s also their loudest and most queer. \u201cI always have to remind people \u2013 you know those queer people that are in your face and that you think are too much? I\u2019m just like them. I\u2019m not any better. I\u2019m never going to be a well-behaved token.\u201d One thing they know for certain is that they no longer want to compete with people who look like them. \u201cI had a conversation with myself that I shouldn\u2019t compete with other people, particularly Black artists, particularly Black artists from South Africa. I don\u2019t want to be the only Black, queer person in the room. I want us all to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nakhane\u2019s mix of hedonistic beats and operatic vocals have made them one of South Africa\u2019s biggest artists. They talk about their fractured childhood, conversion therapy, death threats \u2013 and making their queerest album yet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":28221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,31],"tags":[7,14,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-28224","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"category-music","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"yoast_head":"\n