Switched On: Nakhane

Multi award winning singer, songwriter, actor, and novelist Nakhane has been hailed as “a real star in the making” (The Observe_r) who “makes the dancefloor a place of tenderness” (VICE).

Nakhane's latest single, Tell Me Your Politik, features Nile Rodgers on guitar and a ferocious rap from fellow South African artist, Moonchild Sanelly. Mutually political and erotic, the song is a call to action, demanding that prospective lovers be ideogically aligned; a bold declaration that sex is a political act. With a polyrhythmic wall of sound echoing the sounds of South African Gqom and kwaito, it’s a stunning return to music for Nakhane after a four-year break.

Their previous album, You Will Not Die, garnered acclaim from Pitchfork, The New York Times, The Observer, MOJO and Noisey, and the adoration of fans like Madonna and Elton John, and collaborators such as Perfume Genius, ANOHNI and the aforementioned Nile Rodgers. Q magazine called it “remarkable; defiantly modern and unashamedly emotional” while Pitchfork wrote that the album was “an instant revelation on its own terms and strikingly intimate.” Madonna called Nakhane out as one of her two favourite artists and said their music influenced her 2019 album Madame X, and Elton John interviewed Nakhane on his Beats 1 radio show.

In their many guises in music, film and literature, Nakhane has been instrumental in challenging the status quo in conversations about gender and sexuality; steadily building a body of work of cultural importance that hits every dancefloor sweet spot.