South African artist and singer-songwriter, NALEDI, has released her single Aliens, the first single from “Darkness, My Old Friend” arriving February 6, 2026.

South African-born vocalist, composer, and storyteller NALEDI opens a new chapter with “Aliens,” a spellbinding meditation on belonging and the boundaries that define it. The song transforms the cold language of the immigration system into something human, reflective, and defiantly alive.

The spark came while navigating the U.S. visa process, when she first encountered the term “alien non-resident.”

“I thought, I’ve never been called an alien before,” NALEDI recalls.

“What does it mean to be alien? Who gets to decide who’s an alien, when really, we’re all just visitors here?”

Set against luminous harmonies and understated jazz phrasing, “Aliens” distills that experience into a larger meditation on empathy and coexistence. It is a song about seeing the humanity in one another, and a reminder, as NALEDI puts it, “that we’re all just stewards of this planet, meant to leave it better than we found it.”

The track marks the first release from her forthcoming album “Darkness, My Old Friend”, a project that explores solitude, displacement, and spiritual renewal through a contemporary jazz lens.

A rising voice in the global jazz landscape, NALEDI’s artistry bridges continents and traditions. Born and raised in South Africa and now based in New York City, she has performed at venues including Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and Artscape Theater.

A graduate of both the University of Cape Town and the New England Conservatory, she has studied under icons such as Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dominique Eade, and Jason Moran. Her work as an educator and advocate, from leading workshops for over 15,000 students to founding The Dreaming Girls Arts Foundation, underscores her belief in music as a force for collective transformation.

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