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“This is not America!” These are the words that were uttered to me and the rest of the Jaykatana’s Heaven Made tour attendees.
I was just wearing my mascara, eye lined myself with rhinestones, wearing an all-black outfit with my piercings and others were wearing baggy jeans, hoodies, skull caps and the big Balenciaga shoes.
Late 2025, people used TikTok to share their makeup looks and outfits that many South Africans are unfamiliar with. Instead of liking, admiring, celebrating art and encouraging something we have never seen before, they criticised and used their famous quote; “This is not America!” Others were even criticised for celebrating Halloween.
That was when I realised authenticity, being whimsy, individuality and self-expression in South Africa comes with gossip, side eyes, judgements, criticism, being misunderstood, being accused of things and being excluded.
Maybe this isn’t America after all
If you’re someone that listens to the likes of Erykah Badu and align with her style and practices. I urge you to go out in public, wearing your headwraps, do some facial art with spirals and ankhs on your forehead, put on your evil eye necklace, burn incense, meditate, do some yoga, connect with nature, manifest and listen to how they will accuse you of practicing voodoo.
For the Alt people, dress in all black, wear heavy eyeliner, get as many piercings and tattoos as your heart desires and be told this is not America.
South Africans need to understand that culture never stays stagnant. It evolves with time. Everything we consume like music, clothes, language and the practices are all products of migration, trade and cultural exchange. Back then before colonialism, African communities used smoke and herbs for healing prayers and to communicate with ancestors.
The hairstyles people have on, the music we listen to, our practices and all that stuff is extracted, influenced and inspired by something. Why is it so hard for you guys to see that the kids are bringing back our old practices but in a more advanced manner?
Proof that this has nothing to do with America
TikTok and Instagram content creator Chulu, whose videos and pictures feature fashion, incense and facial art says her style is inspired by the music she listens to. Beyond that, she surrounds herself with nature and meditates. She spends time with people who ground her.
When asked about her neighbourhood’s reaction to her expression, she said, ‘They’re just shocked.’ Some people call her a fairy, and her man told her, ‘I never knew fairies existed until I met you,’ which still has her blushing till this day.
What makes her proud and unashamed to express herself is her inner child. During her childhood, she didn’t know how to express herself until she was healed enough to do it.
For the whimsical South Africans, these practices are not performances to please anyone. They are personal practices of healing, peace and self-discovery.
Chulu does not paint her face to imitate and please anyone. She does not meditate, connect with nature and surround her mind, soul and body with people that ground her to make statements that would impress people. She does these things because they bring her peace, they helped her heal and they allowed her to give her inner child the freedom it was once denied.
The ‘This is not America’ has become a common famous quote to respond to anything that people feel it falls outside societies expectations. The use of incense and eyeliner do not mean young South Africans are abandoning their culture. It is evidence that they’re learning to define it for themselves.
And maybe this is what unsettles a lot of people. This generation does not ask for permission to be whimsical.
In rejecting the shame, young South Africans are not becoming less African. They’re simply becoming themselves fully.
