“I remember recording, writing and producing the Subliminal album in my bedroom closet,” Capetonian pop veteran Jimmy Nevis tells Apple Music of his 2012 debut. “I made a studio booth using egg cartons and an old mattress as soundproofing panels. Everything was self-taught (which is evident from all the general noise sounds you may hear in the album). My Roland XP-30 was in full use and my songwriting book was full of ideas and metaphors. This album was a love letter to my imagination, exploring the weight of love and relationships of a 20-year-old. I probably used every pun I could think of—and that's what also led to the title of the album, Subliminal, because the lyrics were so layered.” As the body of work that saw him pivot away from journalism studies, Subliminal not only kicked off his career but changed his life. “I remember feeling like I was inside of a dream,” he explains. “It changed the way I saw the world around me. I took band members on their first flights ever, was able to put people through school, I was able to inspire people in a very real way that i couldn't fully comprehend at the time. I'm not a fan of rollercoasters, but this one had my eyes closed and my hands up in the air.” Here, he reflects on key tracks from the album. ”Heartboxing” I wrote this song in my kitchen in Athlone, while I was writing an assignment on the 27 Club. I was so inspired by the idea of addiction and ended up writing this track, not knowing that i'd be writing one of my biggest hits ever. The beat was super stripped down and there was hardly any production. Once I played it for my label at the time, I kept saying, ‘It's not finished yet’, but they loved it as is, and so we pretty much went along with the demo version of this song. After we released it on the radio, it hardly did anything. We were even preparing for another single release, but then the music video came out and everything changed. ‘HB’ became one the most played songs in the country that year and the rest is history.” “Elephant Shoes” “This was my first single—it was a happy-go-lucky track that I wrote and produced in January 2012. After I finished having it mixed and mastered, I personally dropped it off at local radio stations and wrote about myself in third person—I basically pretended that Jimmy Nevis was going to be the next best thing. Two weeks later I got a call from KFM; they loved it and they were going to play my song. I quickly started a Facebook artist page and then started creating my own community of fans and followers. Shortly after that I got calls from record labels across the country and the song was playing nation-wide. It was during this time that I signed with Rude World Records and then David Gresham Records.” “Balloon” “This was the last song I recorded for the album. I produced it with a kick sound that was actually made by Ameen Harron. This song was so special because it showed off my range as a writer and a vocalist. We were fortunate to get Kwesta on the remix, which just blew it up even more. To this day, this song remains a favourite to my fans around the world. The music video for this song was also just so cinematic and full of creative expression.”