A portmanteau of her first and middle names Monique and Amelia, London’s R&B singer-songwriter MNELIA is ready to reintroduce herself with a renewed boldness. Cutting through the lockdown noise with her breakout single ‘Say Yeah,’ MNELIA’s distinctive dulcet tone paired with the sharp vulnerability of her pen carved a lane of her own.
MNELIA’s R&B is reflective of her life in more ways than one, bends in multiple directions and taps into her London influences; the singer-songwriter weaves in elements of Afrobeats, drill, hip-hop and more seamlessly in her music. She is also incredibly relatable, her music always coaxing us into singing along. We’ve said “yeah” to fellas that we want, cried along when our exes “caused the exodus to our trust”, gave our crushes “a degree in Fine”; all with an assortment of features from Joyce Wrice to Kwengface.
Since her debut, MNELIA has hosted her own episode of R&B Chill on BBC 1xtra, and performed on some of music’s biggest stages including Wireless and Reading & Leeds festivals in 2022, and SXSW festival in 2023. In February of this year, she achieved a 12 million-stream milestone with her hit single ‘Say Yeah.’ And it’s only the beginning.
After the release of 2024 singles ‘Heaven’, and Love Island soundtrack-approved ‘My Man,’ which is complemented by the Janet Jackson ‘Got Til It’s Gone’-inspired visuals, MNELIA is gearing up for her boldest era yet. We caught up with the R&B artist about living a more confident life, personal evolution, choosing closure and much more.
This year you released ‘Heaven’ and ‘My Man,’ and it feels like we're in a more elevated era of MNELIA. Are the songs reflective of this period of your life?
I feel like evolution is definitely the theme. I had to shed some skin, which was nice. My support system came around when I dropped Closure Tapes, they were always there to give me a hug and they truly understood how I felt. But now it's like okay, I'm here and I'm ready to write more songs about how real life looks, but write them in the most honest way possible. With ‘Heaven’ and ‘My Man,’ I’ve had those songs for a while so they weren't as in-depth as I feel currently, but they're still reflective of how I'm so determined for this new season of my life to be far more edifying and happy.
That's what it sounds like. ‘Heaven’ sounds like you are stepping into a more joyful part of your life.
Yeah, I mean the decisions haven't gotten any easier, but the perspective has gotten clearer. I'm able to look back on my life and not regret the strength I needed to have.
You tweeted that your son thinks that you're the best singer in the world – I say let him cook because we can hear you using your voice in new ways in your new music. Is vocal evolution something that you've been working on for this next chapter in your music?
Definitely. I’m just trying to sharpen all my tools right now because music means more to me now than ever before. Before I was doing it for the sake of it, but now, music means everything to me and it does everything for me. So, I’ve decided to pour into it what it pours into me. In every part of my life, music exists. My son loves music, my parents love music, when I go out with my friends we’re listening to music. I write music, I sing music – it's the centre of my world and I just wouldn't have it any other way.
In ‘My Man’ you can hear elements of that Amapiano log drum, but then ‘White Lies’ sounds a little bit more like Drill. Even though it’s all still R&B, you can hear different sounds coming together in a cohesive way.
I’m a London girl! I've grown up with the privilege to have a little bit of everything. So I try my hardest not to run away from inspiration, but instead to dive into it. I had a phase after ‘Say Yeah’ where I was a bit scared to do that but life just doesn't feel like that anymore. I really want to be bold and honest about who I am so that others are encouraged to do the same.
‘My Man’ was recently featured in an episode of Love Island. How do you feel about your music being on such a big platform?
Absolutely insane. Love Island is my best friend’s favourite show so when I heard it, it felt like a full circle moment.
What was your vision and what did you want to communicate with the music video for ‘My Man’?
First things first, I love love. It's not just the love outwardly – yes, the song is about a specific love interest – but there's also an element of being able to be confident within yourself to say ‘You know what? I love a man!’ It’s a difficult task when you've been hurt before. I tried to lay my journey with love on the table with Closure Tapes so in the evolution of me being able to find a new perspective on love, it's so nice that ‘My Man’ is my first statement on it. I'm declaring my love publicly: she's confident, she's bold. Being a Black woman, it's very difficult to just do that freely so the whole aim with the video was to be able to translate a boldness and a confidence in Black beauty and Black love. And I couldn’t have done it without my amazing team.
I love your TikToks. I think that the way you promote your music online is refreshingly human because you're just being yourself. Is being authentic with your fan base an important part of your artistry?
It's been a journey for me to be able to get to a place where I'm comfortable to come on the internet with no makeup, shabby hair and have a real conversation. I lived in a shell of myself for a really long time. As a teenager, I was not a confident girl and I used to bounce around looking for compliments and for people to make me feel better about myself. So now that I'm able to do that for myself, I just so badly want to share that energy. My only aim is that one day they feel just as confident because it's a hard process. I did not want to be as honest in my music because I cared a lot about what people think and I still do, but everyone's got insecurities. If God's given me the gift, I'm gonna use it.
Do you feel like making Closure Tapes and generally evolving has given you closure?
Closure is a choice. You’re accountable to your choices. So you get to decide for yourself if you want closure or not. If you're depending on the other person, then you haven't done anything for yourself. You've allowed them to decide how the situation goes. You're not always going to be blessed to have a person that's empathetic enough to be like, ‘You know what, I hurt you, I'm sorry.’ I don't think I understood that until recently, when I saw how the project resonated with other people. Artists have a responsibility to pay attention to their art and recognise why it invokes these emotions in people. And music always speaks to people's feelings, I’m always so curious to hear what listeners think. Like what does music mean to you?
Music is such a great form of expression. I'm a very emotional person.
Same. This is a safe space.
I grew up in a very open and fun environment but also quite an emotionally repressive one. It was very much like ‘okay, you felt that now and don't feel it again.’ So I found music was a great way for me to find avenues for all the different parts of myself, and also connect with different people and their cultures. If you and someone have the same favourite song, then that's something you share that's tangible enough –
– And no one can take it from you.
Exactly. And it's kind of like time travel because you can also listen to music from the 60s and connect with it, and feel like ‘oh wow, someone my age at that time felt this way and now we have this in common’. And it's just nice to have something colourful, because I have synesthesia so I hear music in colour, so it's like something to have that adds colour to my life.
How does it feel to be God’s favourite?
You’re God’s favourite! I can’t sing!
Being able to sing doesn't make you God's favourite. Sometimes it's like, why do I have to be the stronger soldier? Why can't I just enjoy the music? Why do I have to make it?
You get to be the vessel for something that's otherworldly. And that's pretty cool.
But you're the vessel too. As a person that digests it, I need you. As much as you feel like you might need the artist, we artists need you.
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