Yesterday, the music world was shocked to hear that South African supergroup Die Antwoord would be disbanding in September of 2017. In an interview with Exclaim!, Ninja revealed that, “Die Antwoord dies on that day. It’s all over. I feel beautiful about it. I’m not scared of the end. I’m a Ninja. I’m not scared of death.”
What appeared to be a very direct and straightforward admittance of their upcoming break-up, however, has now been called false by both Yolandi and Ninja. In an Instagram post uploaded to her account late Friday evening, Yolandi said that the statement about their impending departure “is a lie.”
“All we said was next year we will be working on our 5th final DA album & then continue to shoot a DA feature film. DIE ANTWOORD FOR EVA.”
Ninja continued the sentiment in his own Instagram post, saying that the duo is “. . . never gon stop making music, and art and videos and moviez ever… and we alwayz gonna be poppin up fresh in da flesh 2 bust live DA showz here and dere… but only 5 classic muddafukn DA albumz gon get made in dis life time… den we fuck wid sum udda shit. [sic]”
This is where the situation is beginning to get very confusing. Even though Yolandi said that the break-up claim was false, she said that next year will see the group working on their final album in the next breath. Given how dedicated she and Ninja are to their aesthetic and characters, it could mean that while they won’t be producing full length studio material as Die Antwoord after the next album, they might continue to pursue other ventures such as films, alternative media, or even music under the guise of a side project.
But with seemingly conflicting claims from her and Ninja on the subject, we still feel uncertain as to what 2017 will actually look like for the duo.
Check Yolandi and Ninja’s full Instagram posts below, and stay tuned as more information surfaces.