After years spent shaping the sound of up to date pop from behind the scenes, MNEK is stepping again into the highlight.
The South London singer, songwriter and producer has introduced his long-awaited second LP, ‘BULLDOZER!!’, alongside the discharge of its first single, ‘REVERSE!!’ – a swaggering, club-ready assertion that marks the start of his first full album marketing campaign since 2018’s ‘Language’.
The report is due later this 12 months and has been described by MNEK as his “most sure piece of labor” up to now.
Constructed from the DNA of UK underground membership tradition and early-2000s R&B, ‘REVERSE!!’ finds MNEK reconnecting with the sounds that knowledgeable his musical upbringing. The singer has described the monitor as a playful, “up-tempo membership report” that has already been examined on dance-floors over latest months, the place its reception helped affirm the path of this new period.
The accompanying video, directed by Douglas Reddan (Say Now), doubles down on the monitor’s kinetic power, inserting MNEK centre-stage in a shadowy underground automotive park as body-popping dancers and basic sports activities automobiles transfer round him in sync with the track’s club-ready pulse.
Watch the tremendous slick clip beneath:
With ‘REVERSE!!’ already producing widespread buzz throughout social media, the arrival of ‘BULLDOZER!!’ feels important for causes that reach far past the launch of a brand new album cycle.
For greater than a decade, MNEK has steadily turn out to be probably the most influential figures in British pop. His fingerprints are all around the trendy chart panorama, whether or not by way of songwriting and manufacturing work for artists together with Beyoncé, Zara Larsson, Little Combine, FLO, Jax Jones and David Guetta, or by way of his personal catalogue of club-pop data that helped broaden mainstream perceptions of what British pop may sound like.
In some ways, MNEK’s profession mirrors the evolution of UK pop itself. Rising from a technology formed equally by R&B, storage, grime and digital music, he has persistently blurred style boundaries whereas championing Black British musical traditions. Lengthy earlier than the present resurgence of UK membership sounds throughout world pop, MNEK was incorporating these influences into data that felt each commercially accessible and culturally particular.
His influence extends past manufacturing credit. As probably the most seen overtly homosexual Black males working on the highest ranges of pop music, MNEK has turn out to be an vital determine for illustration inside an business that has not all the time provided house to artists occupying a number of marginalised identities. By means of initiatives supporting LGBTQ+ songwriters and thru his personal music, he has repeatedly challenged assumptions about who will get to exist inside historically masculine areas similar to grime, storage and membership tradition.
That theme seems to proceed all through ‘BULLDOZER!!’. Talking about ‘REVERSE!!’, MNEK has framed the track as a part of a broader exploration of UK dance music’s heritage, whereas concurrently queering and reimagining a few of its conventions. In latest interviews, he has spoken about bringing “aptitude” into areas typically perceived as hyper-masculine, drawing on the grime and storage tradition that surrounded him rising up in South London.
The timing feels notably apt. British pop is more and more trying inward, rediscovering native membership sounds after years dominated by worldwide developments. Artists throughout the spectrum are embracing storage, home, jungle and dirt influences, making a panorama that feels uniquely suited to MNEK’s return. Few artists are higher positioned to bridge the hole between underground tradition and mainstream success.
If ‘Language’ launched MNEK as a formidable solo artist in his personal proper, ‘BULLDOZER!!’ arrives with the burden of an already-established legacy behind it. Since his debut album, he has accrued GRAMMY and BRIT recognition, continued to put in writing world hits and cemented his repute as one among Britain’s most reliable pop architects.
Now, with ‘REVERSE!!’, he seems able to remind audiences that the architect can nonetheless be the headline act.
‘BULLDOZER!!’ is about for launch later this 12 months, with MNEK scheduled to debut materials from the venture at a string of Delight and pageant appearances all through the summer time. Obtain / stream ‘Reverse’ right here
Tell us your ideas on MNEK over on CelebMix socials now!
