MNEK has been under the radar of the critics for a while now and it comes as a little surprise that the young, London-born artist shot to fame as quickly as he has. Uzo Emenike, aka MNEK started making music as early as 9 years old and signed his first publishing deal when he was 14! A few years later and MNEK is one of the most sought after musicians on the scene with collaborations that include The Saturdays (on two Xenomania-assisted singles) to Rudimental (Spoons); from Duke Dumont (Need U (100%)) to Little Mix (album highlight, Nothing Feels Like You); from Bondax (All I See) to Kylie Minogue (Feels So Good); from Shadow Child (Climbin’ (Piano Weapon)) to Tieks (Sing That Song) to a certain Madonna (on a collaboration with Diplo for her new album, due in 2015).
Thursday night the young man treated his hometown to a party at trendy club XOYO. EF was there to see what the fuss was all about.
We arrived at a packed venue just in time to see MNEK take the stage. Luckily as XOYO isn’t too big we were able to find a good spot to enjoy the sold out gig. MNEK got on stage and kicked off the show with a short intro then moved to Every Little Word. Straight away we were impressed by MNEK’s vocals and stage presence and his dedicated fan base seemed to agree with us. Until The End came next, the beautiful tones of the track got people dancing and really into the mood of things to come. We loved the badass bass on the track and its 90s vibes.
Other surprises of the evening included a few covers with MNEK adding his own special twist to them. Magic by Coldplay sounded soulful and Lumidee’s Never Leave You was given a refresh, which we very much enjoyed. Ready For Your Love kicked off and XOYO turned into a club with everyone dancing and jumping about including MNEK, who had some cool moves to share. The song transformed into a version of Need U 100% and again the crowd went crazy. Suprises of the night didn’t end there with old friend Sinead from Rudimental appearing on stage to perform Baby with MNEK. The night ended with MNEK’s powerful track Wrote A Song About You, which sounded beautiful.
It is fair to say that MNEK knows how to throw a party and we were delighted to be invited. We loved the artist’s blend of rnb and house. MNEK is a very talented young man with a bright future in front of him. Watch out for him in 2015.
