Halfway through our conversation, Nomsa Mazwai, known by her stage name Nomisupasta, is laughing joyfully recalling her own cheeky and pointed song lyrics. She’s talking aboutWhat You Like, a song that takes aim at political theatre, public performance and the strange expectations we continue to place on democracy and she realises just how much enjoyment she is getting out of pulling those threads apart. “I love politics and I love satire,” she says.
“And so with this song I’m just asking you questions. Is this really what you like?” As in, is this really what you want out of democracy? This song is just one part of the album she’s preparing to release titledSurrender.
It’s a body of work that’s unfolding across music, conversation and public reflection rather than arriving all at once. Some of its pieces are already familiar. Two singles are out in the world, quietly doing their work.
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Others are still taking shape. What ties them together is a songwriting process that refuses to separate personal feeling from the broader conditions shaping life in South Africa right now. “Things are going amazingly,” she tells me, describing an album that will exist both as a vinyl available for purchase on her personal website and on streaming platforms.
“So my release of my album is in two forms.” The album Nomisupasta is preparing to release has been in motion for some time, even if its full shape is only now becoming visible. The first clear signal came with the first singleNext Week Tuesday, produced by Mr Porter with additional production from Teeba Forbes, who plays bass and guitar on the track. It was, as she puts it, the moment where things became formal.
Nomisupasta describes the song as a conversation with God, a way of articulating what kind of partnership she is calling into her life. “It’s me telling God exactly what my life partner is like,” she explains. “It’s a song about that Tuesday love, you know, somebody who loves you on a Tuesday.” She laughs as she unpacks it further, listing moments that feel deliberately unremarkable.
Sitting in the park. Watching a movie. Sharing popcorn.
There is also a deeper undercurrent running through the song, one that speaks to imagination. “It’s basically me describing to God: ‘This is my partner’,” she says. “God will manifest in the way that God chooses to manifest.
But at least I would have had my say.” IfNext Week Tuesdaymarks the beginning of the album’s public life, Njalo Njalo, the second single, sits at a different emotional register. The song features American rapper Rapsody and was produced by Madlib, a collaboration that carries both creative weight and personal meaning for Nomisupasta.
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