Local crooner, Jimmy Nevis, is never afraid to push boundaries when it comes to his music. His latest single ‘Hey Jimmy’ saw the star continue to explore his musicality unlike ever before and on new single ‘Magenta’, Jimmy continues his journey of experimentation with a brand-new bop.
With ‘Magenta’ Nevis explores a more divine approach with the theme and discusses the inspiration, saying “‘Magenta’ is about reaching that place of euphoria. I think it also has a spiritual side to it. For me, it’s about the journey to paradise, whatever that may be.”
The track was written in LA by Nisha Asnani, Jimmy Nevis, and Michael McEachern and came together organically and rather quickly. “We started talking about Lionel Richie and how his music just takes us to a happy place. Eventually it started to feel emotional and we just let it happen. This song is all about the feeling,” Jimmy tells us on ‘Magenta’’s writing process.
From writing to recording, ‘Magenta’ has had an evolution of its own, with Nevis and his team developing what would be the sound for this song. Recording took place on two continents which gave it an interest twist. “This song has been recorded with so many of my friends. The vocal takes were done in both LA and SA. Nisha is one of my friends who I love working with. We have a similar approach to writing and conceptualising music. Michael McEachern and I wrote and produced this track – It started out as an electro-pop track but then ended up having some afro influences. I wanted it to sound a little bit closer to my home.”
With the release of the single, comes a visually beautiful music video that captures the beauty of the Cape’s nature. The music video was filmed by Daniel Mpilo Richards and Newton Stanford, and Nevis had shot three possible music videos for the single, but this was the main one that captured ‘Magenta’ for him.
“This video means so much to me on so many levels. The music video was shot in the Cederberg at Cape Nature’s Algeria Campus,” Jimmy tells us. “The video explores this journey between myself and another spiritual side of me. It’s also open to interpretation. Most of the video happens at this incredible waterfall which I have been going to for the last 3 years – it’s one of my favourite spots in the world. It’s also the location where I host my annual Camp-Out Festival with Cape Nature so it also feels like I got to capture a very sacred space.”
Listen to ‘Magenta’ here
