This week, we’re reflecting. Some tracks look backwards to make sense of a chaotic past. Others push toward reinvention, finding new ground in the process. What connects them is a willingness to breathe. Let them sink in.
Hanna – lover girl
On “lover girl,” Hanna clocks emotional openness as power rather than weakness. Blending smooth R&B textures with a hip-hop bounce, the track leans into the intensity of loving deeply in a culture that rewards detachment. There’s confidence in the way Hanna approaches vulnerability here, turning devotion into something impossible to apologise for.
Bongeziwe Mabandla – Walila
Bongeziwe Mabandla trades tenderness for something sharper. Built around a simple guitar progression before unfolding into theatrical Afro-soul, this track wrestles with the slow satisfaction of consequence catching up with people. There’s a dark humour running through it too, with Mabandla leaning into his background in theatre to turn emotional reckoning into something strangely playful.
Tsholofelo – Past Two Years
Sitting at the emotional centre of her sophomore album Burning Bush, “Past Two Years,” traces personal change and survival with patience. Tsholofelo allows the song room to unfold slowly. Beginning in near stillness before gradually opening into a powerful vocal performance, “Past Two Years” bridges the jazz-informed intimacy of her earlier work with the richer indie-soul direction she’s been moving toward.
Amy Tjasink – Shadows Of The Sun
Written in the aftermath of her father’s life-altering stroke, “Shadows Of The Sun,” reflects on legacy. Blending indie-folk textures with African rhythmic influences, the song moves with warmth and openness, finding light without pretending darkness isn’t there, transforming personal grief into something hopeful.
Sio & Daev Martian – Liquor
“Liquor” sees Sio and Daev Martian slip back into sync with ease. Rooted in jazz and lo-fi soul, the track lingers in the emotional residue left behind after fleeting highs. Sio’s writing feels intimate without collapsing inward, while Martian’s production gives the song space to drift and dissolve, like smoke settling across a room.
Will Linley – Holding The Line
Will Linley continues his steady crossover into global pop territory with “Holding The Line,” a new single featured on the soundtrack for “Off Campus”. Built around the emotional push-and-pull that defines the coming-of-age drama, the track leans into Linley’s knack for writing earnest, emotionally open pop without overcomplicating it.
Donkerbaai – Sluk My Heel In
Funk-inflected rhythms and layered atmospheric production keeps “Sluk My Heel In” suspended somewhere between nostalgia and longing, continuing Donkerbaai’s ability to make music that feels soft around the edges but emotionally consuming underneath. Donkerbaai lean further that dreamy emotional pull that has emerged in their sound, exploring the strange comfort of losing yourself inside someone else’s world.
Billy Raffoul & Janie Bay – Hold It Against Me
Raffoul’s gravelly vocals lay a gritty yet vulnerable foundation for Bay’s ethereal delivery on a song about being desperately in love. Their harmonies interlock over swelling acoustic production, and “Hold It Against Me” transforms a plea for romantic surrender into something epic.
