Acclaimed muti-disciplinary South African artist NALEDI has released “A Joyous Time of Year (Christmas Time)”, the second single from her upcoming EP “Darkness, My Old Friend” which will be released in February 2026. “A Joyous Time of Year (Christmas Time)” offers a soulful reflection on experiencing Christmas alone in a new place, far from the comfort of home.

“With this song, I was reflecting on what Christmas means to me as an African person, and especially as an African person living in the United States”, she said. In particular, she was thinking about her first US Christmas in 2019. It was her first away from home and her first time not spending the holiday with her family – which is a very important time for bonding . At home Christmas feels completely different. They are all outside, swimming because in South Africa, the day falls in summer as compared to the US when it is in winter.

NALEDI. Picture supplied

“I couldn’t think of a Christmas song written by an African person coming from that perspective”, she notes. “And the first Christmas I spent in the US, I felt so lonely. It was super cold out, and I didn’t have a big community at that point. So for me, the song was exploring the juxtaposition between that end and what reality of my Christmases look like now”, she added. “A Joyous Time of Year (Christmas Time)” continues the rollout for NALEDI’s upcoming EP, “Darkness, My Old Friend”, which explores the emotional realm of loneliness and its nuances.

“Loneliness and aloneness are two different things, and the record talks about both”, she explained. Loneliness is more like that negative connotation of just feeling sad and feeling like all one has in their thoughts and feeling a bit overwhelmed by them. Aloneness is trying to neutralize that feeling of loneliness and operating from a different place, but can still make something of what it means to be in this world. The single is available in all digital media platforms.