Ed's Letter: What a year, yoh!

What a year, what a year! While I have counted more wins than loses, it has felt as though Mercury has been stuck in retrograde throughout 2024. An optical illusion of a year — Heita, GNU! Hola, second Donald Trump presidency! I have spiralled out of control more times than I care to count, but we are still standing. “I’m focused on the near and never what’s in the rear,” Big Sean once rapped. 

I’m the version of Chris Martin in the music video of Fix You and my universe is stuck in reverse. My location pin at the moment? I’m waiting for Arrive Alive to come rescue me — I’m stuck on the side of a road after a car breakdown. You never know with the unpredictable 2024 weather; it might just start snowing at any moment.

Listen George, I condemn your viral retail rendezvous. Just like your wife and the rest of the internet, I too want to know, “George, where is the shoe?” But I have to say, that dumbfounded expression of yours, after having been caught with your pants down — my brain has been stuck in the same loops of “Yoh” the entire year.

Too many tabs are open on my internet browser — there are more than 20 and four are frozen. There is music playing and it happens to be Fix You by Coldplay once again. I think the music is coming from one of the frozen tabs, because I’m stuck on the verse, “When you try your best, but you don’t succeed. When you get what you want, but not what you need. When you feel so tired, but you can’t sleep. Stuck in reverse.” Someone re-lubricate the cassette tape (sorry Ma2K), can’t stand the high-pitched squeaking and whining.

Perhaps that’s why Good Luck, Babe! by Chappell Roan is the anthemic hit of 2024 (congratulations to Roan on her six Grammy nominations). It’s not just her self-awareness and the juicy lyrics about her tumultuous lesbian love affair that has made Roan’s song a hit. There is an emphatic feeling awakened in the final seconds of the song as Roan faintly and repeatedly belts out, “You’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling.” That slowed-down tempo, followed by the pitch dropping by a semitone and finished with Roan singing an octave lower, is devastating yet ethereal. If there was ever a sound to capture my year, that would be it. A complete meltdown.

As I barely hang on, waiting in anticipation for 2025 — battered, bruised, overwhelmed, and fatigued — this festive season I choose to wait out the storm. To recharge and elevate my spirit, I will reconnect with my inner child by watching holiday films. I dearly miss being curious about my feelings, loosening up, and practising joy. Growing up in Limpopo we (my cousin Kgothatso Mathibela and I) used to have a holiday-film marathon, which opened us up to receive love, kindness, grace or joy. We are returning to that tradition. Some of our faves were Home Alone, Die Hard, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Love Actually. I will be adding a new feel-good to the watch-list — The Holdovers, directed by Alexander Payne with stellar performances by Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph in her Oscar-winning performance.

On rainy days, I also enjoy curling up on my couch with a cup of coffee and re-watching my favourite queer-romance films and series. Always guaranteed to leave me feeling crisp on the outside and soft on the inside like the yummiest marshmallow treat are Young Royals; Heartstopper; Moonlight; Call Me by Your Name; Cobalt Blue; Red, White & Royal Blue; A Moment in the Reeds; and God's Own Country. I will also rewatch my favourite film of 2024, Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers with Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist. 

To get you in the groove for the festive season, we have curated a buoyant Celebration issue anchored by fresh-faced musicians Filah Lah Lah and Lordkez, plus Skeem Saam actor Thabiso Molokomme. Fashion designer Mzukisi Mbane takes us through his holiday plans in his new home and the addition of Zion and Levi to the Imprint ZA family. Travel with me on a spiritual trip to Maison Courvoisier in Jarnac. Love is in the air with Miseducation actor Buntu Petse marrying varsity sweetheart Londa Mavundla — the couple just announced they are having a baby too. Then foodie Mpumelelo Dhlamini takes us through picnic-friendly recipes for an outdoor Christmas Day to remembers. 

To quote rapper Big Sean once again, “Look, all I gotta say is, what a year, what a year. I decided now that every year is our year.”