Single Review: MNEK – ‘Every Little Word’
2 min read
Sporting the freshest of Fresh Prince flat-top ‘dos and an irresistibly pun-ifiable moniker (Apologies, but “Pain in MNEK” or “Stick MNEK out for you” are pretty low-hanging fruit), 19 year old London singer/producer Uzoechi Osisioma Emenike first came to the world’s attention with an appearance on Rudimental’s single Spoons, the first to be pulled from their 2013 breakout Home record. After focusing more on production and writing for everyone from Little Mix to Kylie Minogue since his 2011 debut single If Truth Be Told, MNEK returns with an absolute sonic boom in the rubbery electro-funk of Every Little Word.
Hot damn is it refreshing to hear talkbox and vocoder back in pop music and MNEK is an absolute wizard at both. The influence of ‘80s funk and soul is evident across the board in Every Little Word and while it’s a little unclear whether the nod to Bobby Brown’s Every Little Step is deliberate or not, it doesn’t really matter as Emenike has hit the nail on the head from a vocal, instrumental, production and songwriting standpoint and any other respect you can imagine.
The integration of human feel has always been one of the main factors that separate the good electronica artists from the great ones and on the song that sorely deserves to be his breakout solo statement, MNEK completely and utterly delivers. It’s a painfully sexy groove underscored by the stickiest, squelchiest bass and synth sounds this side of 1984, cute glockenspiel and backing vocals but then there’s his silky-smooth, impressively nimble voice taking Every Little Word to that next-level place most producers will never reach. Uzoechi has that same quality the young Craig David exuded when he first broke out in 2000 but with the added credibility of writing and producing his own tunes and an intangibly “cooler” vibe about him (Sorry Craig, it’s baton-passin’ time mate). In other words, MNEK is an annoyingly talented 19-year-old with a maturity that belies his years.
MNEK deserves a long and fruitful career as an auteur of heavyweight lovemaking jams and is already well on his way to doing so for himself and some of the biggest names in music. It feels like he’s one of the best-kept secrets in music at the moment so do yourself a favour and hop on the bandwagon before he worthily becomes one of the biggest wunderkind game-changers of 2014.
