A debut offering traversing the traditional, contemporary and futuristic, Halo Yagami’s You Can’t Replace the Sun folds maskandi, Afro-pop and electro-soul into alternative R&B. “What I wanted to communicate with my production is that I’m like water,” he tells Apple Music. “I like to let the environment around me shape me, and show the different sides of my brain and heart.” Drawing from nature to title his album, Halo’s outlook is as refreshing as his exploratory sounds. “A huge side of the title [and cover art] is literal in the sense that everybody is chasing the bag these days,” he says. “We actually forget to look after ourselves, slow down and refocus. You need to come back down to earth. You still need the sun… you can’t buy that warmth.’’ Here, the singer-songwriter talks us through his album, track by track. “432” “This was produced by my friend Fiji Mageba, who I'm grateful to have met when I wanted a specific sound that speaks to me. You don’t always have to understand what I’m saying, and sometimes I don’t utter words clearly, because I just want it to be a sound. 432 Hz is the vibration of the universe; it’s that undertone of the world. So she’s tapping into my universe and we become one frequency.” “Cuddles” [Halo Yagami & Hurricane Dan Fischer] “There’s an element to this that’s upbeat in a sense. I was going through the transition of quitting my job in Cape Town and coming back to the boys in Joburg. I was basically doing something to stay afloat but had no time to do what I wanted. I couldn’t wake up in the morning and think of a single creative idea. It was getting hectic. I’m back, so everything’s looking up, we’re no longer crying and we’re above water. I just need her now. This is really about that one person.” “Miss My Baby” “I made so many songs about this person without realising it! I was basically in different universes and I’m using different times that I just wanted to get back to her. I wanted something fresh because I like trying and inventing stuff. I’ve always been intrigued by my own bpm where I try to find new pockets. That thing people call weird? That’s perfect.” “Qoqoqo” “I used to be a fully-English artist, then people around me were like ,’Why don’t you just play around dawg?’ ‘QoQoQo’ is one of those songs where I was really finding my feet with my vernac side. I was falling deeper in love with Afro-pop and kwaito simultaneously. I wanted to communicate that side of me. I have all of these things inside me and it's not a put-on. I was just saying, ‘Yo, I’m hot and they can’t deny it now. My drums knock so open up!’” “Last Night” [Halo Yagami & Marcus Harvey] “My friendship with this guy is amazing ‘cause he made me feel comfortable being myself. I don’t need to compromise or dial anything down. Our sounds aren’t really generic, so he made me feel like I could carry on, ‘cause he was doing his thing. I made this when Marcus was gonna release his EP, where I produced two tracks. It was great exchanging the energy from my spot, going all the way to Alex and actually being in the same space. I was playing a lot of stuff but when I got to ‘Last Night’, he started with the melodies and vibes and we had a record right away. He gave me a beautiful verse—a great balance of text and emotion.” “Tings A Gwaan” “‘You don’t have to post that—it feels like you’re rubbing it in my face.’ That’s where this song came from basically. She’s glowing and I can see her posting pictures—but it’s not for me. This is me accepting that, I guess. I act like I’m not fazed but I really, really thought we had something. I was in my feels here. I really enjoy Afrobeats with my entire heart, ’cause it allows me to play, to make people dance and to talk about my feelings at the same time.” “Amahloni” “I keep saying I’m alternative R&B but there’s this maskandi thing in my voice. I think I have that tone and only realised it when I started growing up. It’s actually funny. [The duo] Blaq Diamond and I were actually staying in the same building before they got signed. We’d known each other before and it was beautiful to see them shine. Ndu [Mdletshe] called me to studio and there was a full band and everything. I had fun writing this. It’s not really about being shy—it’s suave. Schoolboys be like, ‘I’m shy’, but you know they’re not.” “Scefe” [Halo Yagami & DoxThe_Maverick] “Look; love is nice and it’s beautiful, but a tad much of something can be suffocating.” “Nyamazane” “I wanted to capture a ‘get away from your problems and run towards freedom’ vibe here. I feel like this song shows a lot of where I come from. Those maskandi songs my aunt was playing when we were going from Ulundi to Eshowe came back in this song. It was embedded in me, so I like to tell maskandi narratives as well. When I say, ‘Haibo khuzani, kungena amanzi endlini’, it’s because my mother’s house actually leaks when it rains. The Durban floods were just crazy, so that was something that hit me when I was recording this song. I need to run faster so I can get us out of that.” “Tolikela” “This is literally about translating what my heart is saying. I feel like it’s not cool to love anymore, but my heart still wants to. Regardless of what’s going on in the world, I still wanna spread love and want people to fall in love. It’s still worth it.”