SPIJØNGET

Three years since the release of his Your Absolutely Right EP,{{Cite web|url=https://hypemagazine.co.za/2019/03/29/bylwansta-drops-new-spijonget-chapter-one-ep-listen/|title=ByLwansta Drops New 'SpijØnget: Chapter One' EP|last=Staff|first=HYPE|date=2019-03-29|website=Hype Magazine|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-04-02}} ByLwansta went on an involuntary hiatus from releasing music, citing external pressures and anxiety as reasons that lead him to overthink his writing process,{{Cite web|url=https://www.okayafrica.com/bylwansta-spijonget-chapter-one/|title=ByLwansta's New Must-Listen EP 'SPIJØNGET Chapter One' Sounds Like Happiness|date=2019-03-29|website=OkayAfrica|language=en|access-date=2019-04-02}} leaving him unable to write and release any new music.{{Cite web|url=https://koolout.co.za/?p=23562|title=STREAM: The Sobering Podcast feat. ByLwansta (S03E01) [Audio]|date=2019-02-04|website=KOOLOUT|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-19}} As a result, ByLwansta would shift his focus from writing to producing in 2018, and he would spend his breaks from freelance design creating beats and experimenting using FL Studio.

In February 2018, ByLwansta met bassist Giyani Shangase at a show in Durban. Curious about when ByLwansta was planning on playing live with a band, he suggested that they get together in the week for a rehearsal with 2 other musicians, Jaedon Daniel and Byron Thambu,{{Cite web|url=http://www.movehiphop.co.za/website/website/?p=5208|title=Video {{!}} ByLwansta at Zakifo – Move Hip Hop|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-02}} thus forming the band NORMVLLY Busy.{{Cite web|url=https://www.zkhiphani.co.za/icymi-bylwansta-drops-his-debut-album-the-spijonget-series/|title=ICYMI: ByLwansta Drops His Debut Album, The SPIJØNGET Series|last=Mandisa Ntsinde|date=2019-04-01|website=Online Youth Magazine {{!}} Zkhiphani.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-02}} ByLwansta hosted a show in Cape Town with the band, as part of his NORMVL Agenda concert series,{{Cite web|url=https://www.slikouronlife.co.za/blog/15058/at-bylwansta-takes-to-cape-town-on-this-normvlagenda-documentary|title=Watch: ByLwansta Takes To Cape Town On This #NORMVLAgenda Documentary|website=www.slikouronlife.co.za|language=en|access-date=2019-04-02}} his first performance in the city. During their last rehearsal before the show, ByLwansta and Jaedon began to freestyle a melody and a chorus that would become a song called "STAY NAKED", which they would immediately perform at the show hours later. The following day, the band created and recorded the song at the Red Bull Studios.

Returning to some unfinished beats on his FL Studio, ByLwansta began to work towards completing Chapter One of The SPIJØNGET Series. Chapter One was released independently in March 2019, following his move to Johannesburg earlier in the year. "KICKSTAND", the EP's third track featuring PATFROMTHESLUMS, was released with French electronic music label, Kitsune Musique as a single.{{Cite web|url=https://www.maisonkitsune.com/mk/artiste/bylwansta/|title=ByLwansta|last=Kitsuné|first=Maison|website=Maison Kitsuné|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-08}} This would become ByLwansta's second opportunity for exposure to the European music scene after his appearance on COLORS in 2017.

ByLwansta would spend the rest of 2019 touring the project in Europe and in the United States. He would unofficially begin working on Chapter Two in August, where he met German electronic music producer Robot Koch{{Cite web|url=https://www.pop-kultur.berlin/en/modules/goethe-talent-residency-bylwansta-robot-koch/|title=Goethe Talent Residency: ByLwansta & Robot Koch at Pop-Kultur 2019|website=Pop Kultur|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-25}} to create music commissioned by Pop-Kultur Festival.{{Cite web|url=https://texxandthecity.com/2019/06/bylwansta-is-headed-back-to-europe-for-a-month-long-residency-in-berlin/|title=ByLwansta is headed back to Europe for a month-long residency in Berlin|date=2019-06-26|website=Texx and the City|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-25}} He would officially begin working on Chapter Two in October, after having "lived Chapter Two first before writing about it - and reflecting on it in the music".

ByLwansta announced that he was done recording for Chapter Two on 18 December via his Instagram, and soon began to roll out some of the project's visuals, namely a picture of two African Lilies on a black background, following it with various photos of gardens and bushes of the African Lily. He eventually revealed the EP's cover art on 24 January.{{Cite web|url=https://texxandthecity.com/2020/01/bylwansta-drops-release-date-and-cover-art-for-spijonget-chapter-ii-and-the-mans-becoming-a-master-of-the-build-up/|title=ByLwansta drops release date and cover art for SPIJØNGET Chapter II and the man's becoming a master of the build up|date=2020-01-29|website=Texx and the City|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-08}} A week later he revealed the first single would be his collaboration with Robot Koch, on a song titled "THE BIKE SONG".{{Cite web|url=https://www.okayafrica.com/bylwansta-the-bike-song-listen/|title=ByLwansta Recounts a Robbery in New Single 'The Bike Song' from Upcoming EP SPIJØNGET (Chapter Two)|date=2020-02-10|website=OkayAfrica|language=en|access-date=2020-02-25}}

The title is a term coined ByLwansta, an acronym for Stop Postponing Ideas & Joylessly Øverthinking Newly-Generated Expressions & Thoughts, it's synonymous with "fuck it, just do it".{{Cite web|url=https://www.slikouronlife.co.za/blog/15555/part-one-of-at-bylwansta-s-spijonget-series-is-here|title=Part One of ByLwansta's "Spijonget" Series is Here|website=www.slikouronlife.co.za|language=en|access-date=2019-04-02}}

Inspired by his creative block and his inability to get past his overthinking, the term appeared in his mind as a response to a question he was asked by his then girlfriend about an episode of The Legend of Korra they were watching together, responding simply with "SPIJØNGET".

ByLwansta would go on to apply this new found rationale to his music, returning to four of the most complete song ideas that he had initially dismissed, hoping to finally part with them as what he would ultimately dub as phase one or chapter one of the SPIJØNGET.

{{Track listing

| title1 = STAY NAKED

| length1 = 4:02

| title2 = IT'S LATE

| length2 = 4:56

| title3 = KICKSTAND

| length3 = 3:53

| title4 = THE HOMIE

| length4 = 5:36

| total_length = 17:47

| extra1 = {{hlist|Jaedon Daniel|Giyani Shangase|Byron Thambu}}

| extra_column = Producer(s)

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| extra2 = {{hlist|ByLwansta}}

| extra3 = ByLwansta

| extra4 = ByLwansta, Kimosabe

| writer1 = Lwandile Nkanyuza

| writer2 = Nkanyuza

| writer3 = Nkanyuza

| writer4 = Nkanyuza

| note1 = featuring NORMVLLY Busy

| note3 = featuring PATFROMTHESLUMS

| note4 = featuring Kimosabe

| headline = Chapter One

}}

{{Track listing

| title1 = HOW 'BOUT NOW?

| length1 = 4:14

| title2 = NIGHTCRAWLERZ

| length2 = 4:08

| title3 = THE BIKE SONG

| length3 = 3:01

| title4 = OKAY, FINE

| length4 = 3:34

| total_length = 14:57

| extra1 = ByLwansta

| extra_column = Producer(s)

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| extra2 = {{hlist|ByLwansta|Sakhumzi Mngomeni}}

| extra3 = Robot Koch

| extra4 = {{hlist|ByLwansta|Jaedon Daniel}}

| writer1 = Nkanyuza, Dlamini

| writer2 = Nkanyuza, Nkanyuza

| writer3 = Nkanyuza

| writer4 = Nkanyuza, Langa

| note1 = featuring Lungelo Manzi

| note3 = featuring Robot Koch

| note4 = featuring ZULO & Solo Ntsizwa Ka Mthimkhulu

| headline = Chapter Two

| all_writing =

| all_lyrics =

| note2 = featuring Kimosabe

}}{{Track listing

| headline = Chapter Three

| extra_column = Producer(s)

| title1 = PRETTY STARS

| length1 = 03:07

| writer1 = Nkanyuza • Alenzo Molefe • Elizabeth Grant • Marshall Mathers

| extra1 = Al da 3rd

| title2 = WHITEBOARDS

| note2 = featuring Thato Feels

| length2 = 03:55

| writer2 = Nkanyuza • Thato Maduna • Siviwe Nkanyuza

| extra2 = ByLwansta

| title3 = ESTBLSHD

| length3 = 03:00

| writer3 = Nkanyuza • Nkanyuza

| extra3 = Kimosabe

| title4 = ASMR

| note4 = featuring Alisha Rosa, Some.Unique.Individual and Rāms

| length4 = 04:21

| writer4 = Nkanyuza • Robyn Alisha Peacock • Phemelo Moipolai • Katlego Tau

| extra4 = ByLwansta

}}

Notes:

• "STAY NAKED" features additional vocals from Sanele Balintaba
• "IT'S LATE" contains an interpolation of "Trouble Sleeping" by Corinne Bailey-Rae
• "KICKSTAND" contains an interpolation of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin
• "THE HOMIE" feature additional vocals by Kimosabe
• "OKAY, FINE" contains an interpolation of "STAY NAKED" by ByLwansta

Sample Credits:

• "STAY NAKED" contains a dialogue from Episode 9: "My Two Favorite People" from Adventure Time

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Category:2019 debut albums

Category:Hip-hop albums by South African artists