After years spent shaping the sound of latest 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 file is due later this yr 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 observe as a playful, “up-tempo membership file” that has already been examined on dance-floors over latest months, the place its reception helped affirm the course of this new period.
The accompanying video, directed by Douglas Reddan (Say Now), doubles down on the observe’s kinetic vitality, putting 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 music’s club-ready pulse.
Watch the tremendous slick clip under:
With ‘REVERSE!!’ already producing widespread buzz throughout social media, the arrival of ‘BULLDOZER!!’ feels vital for causes that reach far past the launch of a brand new album cycle.
For greater than a decade, MNEK has steadily grow to be some of the influential figures in British pop. His fingerprints are all around the fashionable 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 information that helped broaden mainstream perceptions of what British pop might sound like.
In some ways, MNEK’s profession mirrors the evolution of UK pop itself. Rising from a era 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 international pop, MNEK was incorporating these influences into information that felt each commercially accessible and culturally particular.
His affect extends past manufacturing credit. As some of the seen brazenly homosexual Black males working on the highest ranges of pop music, MNEK has grow to be an necessary determine for illustration inside an business that has not at all times supplied house to artists occupying a number of marginalised identities. Via initiatives supporting LGBTQ+ songwriters and thru his personal music, he has repeatedly challenged assumptions about who will get to exist inside historically masculine areas akin to grime, storage and membership tradition.
That theme seems to proceed all through ‘BULLDOZER!!’. Talking about ‘REVERSE!!’, MNEK has framed the music 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 wanting 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 collected GRAMMY and BRIT recognition, continued to put in writing international hits and cemented his status as one in all 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 ready for launch later this yr, with MNEK scheduled to debut materials from the mission at a string of Satisfaction and competition appearances all through the summer season. Obtain / stream ‘Reverse’ right here
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