Cover star interview: South African amapiano artist Khalil Harrison

What motivates him

I just choose to do what I do, and I don’t look at someone else and pressurise myself, or [try] to compete with them. I choose to be me and do what my mind tells me to do. I started music because of a friend. Being around that friend every day just unlocked something that I didn’t know I had. As I stayed with him, and even when I left and heard he wasn’t doing well and was into drugs, it hurt me a lot. So I wanted to carry this no matter what. I just want to do this thing and make it happen, because I know that this bro would’ve wanted me to do it proper.

How losing his mother at a young age shaped him

I’m grateful for everything that happened to me, because I feel like I wouldn’t be where I’m at today without it. I wouldn’t have learned to focus and be serious. Respect, also. That taught me you can grow up in a very hard space, but as you grow up, you must remember that parents are there to bring you to this earth—but tomorrow, it’s about you. You’re the one who has to take over.

A song that changed his life

It’s ‘Jealousy’, because even today, in a new year, it feels like that song is actually starting again. We made it in 2022, dropped in 2023 and still, in 2025, this song is running the world. It’s the song that made me realise that actually, we are doing something.

The making of his album, Uzwile Bathini

It took me one year and maybe a few months to actually finish [it] and make it happen. A lot of songs were removed. I love what everybody did—they all gave me the energy I needed to make a project. They were there for me. They were like, ‘Okay, it’s his time to create something; let’s gather together and help him.’ Shout out to the whole Baby Blue team. I wanted to drop it in December but they were like, ‘No Khalil, drop [it] next year. Right now it’s December; everybody is looking for a hit to dance to, and the competition is high. Everyone is dropping. Every big artist, they’re all dropping. You don’t want your project to get swallowed.’

This interview was compiled by Apple Music’s Africa Now Radio with Nandi Madida. Listen to the full episode here.