Nanette’s third studio album was inspired by a moment of profound personal loss. “I had just lost my aunt,” she tells Apple Music, “but my life had to carry on. On the day that I was featured on Apple Music’s Alpha [playlist] with Elaine and Nomfundo Moh, that was the day my aunt passed. And just the duality of that day alone: That was one of my biggest achievements, but my biggest loss also happened that day.” The inevitability of both joy and pain, and navigating their contradiction, is a constant across Painfully Happy. In it, Nanette layers introspective songwriting into a rich mix of vintage R&B, jazz, dance, reggae and more, all in service of creating a project that is both deeply personal and universally resonant. Below, she walks us through Painfully Happy, track by track. “One Night” “‘One Night’ puts me in an old-school movie where I am being courted by a really chivalrous man who is just putting out all the romance there is, and I only have one night to accept his call. So, I wrote a dramatic story of only having one night to show someone how much you need them or care for them. I wanted to start the album very passionately, and I felt like ‘One Night’ gave me the feel that I needed.” “Suddenly” “‘Suddenly’ is about when you somewhat discover that you’re in love with someone who you should not be in love with. When friendship becomes more, but you’re not willing to accept that it’s more than friendship now. ‘Suddenly’ is one of those songs that carry the attitude of being ‘painfully happy’ so well because you’re telling it like it is. And sometimes the way it is isn’t always the best—but it’s the way it is.” “Make It Dance” “I wanted to make a song, and the scene in my head that I had was me and my love interest sitting in a nice apartment and Full Moon by Brandy is playing—I make a reference to that. The mood is an R&B night; it’s very ‘Sundays are for lovers.’ There’s wine, it’s warm. It’s about showing love to my love interest and telling them that it doesn’t matter what we went through before—tonight is when things change.” “Real” “I love R&B that makes me want to dance and that speaks about love that’s contrary to the current dating scene. The song talks about how you only have one chance to make love work right. If you decide that there’s so many fish in the sea and you can just live however you want to live and not give your all to someone who is clearly trying to give your all to you, then you’re going to lose out on that opportunity to have actual real love. You might never get the chance again. The song is about accepting that the world is not as small as you think. You might never get the chance to connect with someone in the way you’re connecting, and you’re just taking it for granted.” “Silent Killer” “This is a song that addresses toxic and abusive love. I had the inspiration to write it after listening to ‘Man Down’ by Rihanna. In the first part of the song, I speak from the perspective of the woman. She’s telling her mother, as a corpse, that she was killed by her lover. In the hook, ‘Mama, I met a killer/He said he was a healer/Why did he lie to me?’ In the second verse, I flip it, and the gun is now in her hands, and she has to then explain to his mother that she has ended his life. I was trying to address something that is prevalent in our society: abusive relationships. And just looking at pain in uncomfortable ways, which was important for me in this project.” “Abazali” “‘Abazali’ speaks to the grand South African story of Ubuntu, and I really wanted to make a song that would connect all generations and make everybody feel seen in the room. The song was inspired by ’80s South African music, specifically South African jazz, fused with funk. Christer did a great job on the production. Baby S.O.N was also involved in the main hook melody. And it was fun for me to add additional compositions as well with the guitar.” “JJK” (feat. Baby S.O.N) “I love to make people dance. So, I wanted to tackle dance in a different way than I have. Mathandos [producer] played me that beat, and it was really different. At the time, I was watching an anime called Jujutsu Kaisen, which gave me so much energy to make the song. And the beat was also so lively, it just took me to another world, another planet. And Baby S.O.N was able to come on from the perspective of the male counterpart. I wrote this song as a dedication to my best friend. The story is every girl knows how it feels to have their best friend break up with their first boyfriend. It’s really terrible; the heartbreak is bad. So, you are the only one who has to cheer your girl up.” “Bad” “‘Bad’ is another song for the ladies. It’s inspired and driven by women. I wrote ‘Bad’ about an artist writing about a muse. I speak about this girl who’s just so mysterious and beautiful, and she captivates everybody that she comes across. And it’s like she knows that she holds that power. So, the song speaks to the one who might be dubbed a vixen, but actually everybody wants a piece of her, everybody wants to get to know her.” “I’m Not Psycho” “This is a theatrical song. I asked myself, ‘If I were to make music that would fully represent Harley Quinn and would play in a Harley Quinn movie, what would it sound like?’ So, I made this song from the perspective of someone who might be deemed less than sane, but actually they’re very intelligent and rational. If you think about Harley Quinn, she had a PhD in psychology, so it’s not like she didn’t know what she was doing. But she made all those decisions, blissfully, for love. And I wanted to really question that. Can we really call that person psycho, or are they just in love?’” “Money Can’t Save Me” “This was my first time trying reggae. I wanted to address how hard it is to live life from the perspective of being a Black woman who is striving to make it every day in South Africa. Money can’t really save you from some things. The song also speaks to how—from a general perspective—money can’t save us from morality. It can’t save us from a lack of love. We will still need love whether we have money or not. And if we lack that, then what do we have really, if we lack love and community and all of this stuff? If we have to buy that, too, what have we come to as a society?” “How Much Can You Really Take” “I was in a perceptive state, and I wasn’t really doing well in that state because I just kept thinking about every little hate comment I’d ever received. I haven’t received much hate, now that I think about it from a very clear-headed perspective, but when I was stuck in that storm of being insecure and not being sure of myself, it took only three, four, five, 10 people to make me—not ‘lose it’—but to make me feel some type of way. And ‘How Much Can You Really Take’ is me letting go of that.” “Letting U Go” “We close off the album like a feather landing softly on the back of a bird. It was hard for me to finish this song because the song is about finally letting my aunt go now that she’s passed. And what’s so crazy is that a couple of years back, we had a conversation—it was me, her and her daughter—and she was speaking about how, if she ever passes before she planned to, we must not go to her grave and all of that stuff. She was giving us instructions. And she looked at me specifically, and she was like, ‘And I know you believe in ancestors and all of that stuff, but once I’m gone, I’m gone. I need you to let me go.’”