South African musician, actor, and filmmaker Nakhane has shared a bold new cover of UK chart-topping house track “Killer”, first released in 1990 by British DJ and producer Adamski with vocals by Seal.

“Killer ‘25” is Nakhane’s first new music since their 2023 album Bastard Jargon, which featured collaborations with Perfume Genius, Nile Rodgers, Shabaka Hutchings, and Moonchild Sanelly. Since then, Nakhane has released their directorial debut with the acclaimed B(L)IND THE SACRIFICE, which recently screened at Sundance Film Festival, and won rave reviews for their performance in the title role of a musical reinvention of Hermann Hesse’s 1922 novel Siddhartha.

Writing in a press release, Nakhane says: 

"'Killer' has always represented a particular moment of transformation for me. It's a song about rebirth and consequence – themes that have followed me through my life as both musician, filmmaker and writer. This version isn't just a cover; it's a conversation between past and present. It’s about honouring our ancestors, both by blood and practice.”

In the accompanying video, shot on an iPhone 14 and with a Canon EOS camera, Nakhane is stripped down almost to nothing in the countryside outside of Manchester. “My objective with the imagery of my releases this year has not been about beauty or desirability,” they explain in an Instagram post. “For me, it’s been about relaying a feeling, a mood, an atmosphere, which opens up questions to the viewer.”

Citing the Frantz Fanon book Black Skin, White Masks as their inspiration, Nakhane says that they wanted the video “to capture what I could not articulate with words,” adding: 

 “The body, the black body, my black body [was] not captured to entice or titillate, but to be a thing of horror. Here I was, in very close proximity to an Anglican Church, in whitest of England, performing for myself: disgust, horror, pain, sadness, the macabre. I watch the video now, having spent almost 8 months editing it, with pride; because for the first time I was in total and utter control of how my body was to be seen.”

Watch the video for “Killer ‘25” below: