An emerging artist from north west London performed live at the Apple Store on Regent’s Street on Thursday 26th September.
Rising R&B star Mnelia, 26, showed off new material at a free event at the venue having just returned from a recording and promotional stint in California.
The evening consisted of a Q&A session where she charted the extent of her career trajectory followed by a live performance featuring familiar hit songs.
During the Q&A Mnelia spoke candidly about her childhood growing up in Stonebridge Park listening to an eclectic mixture of music genres ranging from reggae to Westlife.
As a youngster, she had considered a career as a UN peacekeeper, an idea borne out of her empathetic nature that appears throughout her music.
She touched upon the eureka moment as to when she decided singing was the route she wanted to take in life.
She said: “Piano was my first passion but my year nine music teacher overheard me sing and told me that this was something that I needed to pursue.”
Mnelia also discussed other watershed moments in her career.
Her most recent ‘pinch me’ moment came in the form of a text message from Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock, inviting her to join her on tour next month.
Both women will tour the UK and Ireland with dates and venues confirmed on both Mnelia’s and Leigh-Anne’s respective Instagram and Spotify pages.
Mnelia, who has previously performed at the flagship music festival Wireless 2022, has since taken further steps to establish herself onto the UK R&B scene with the release of her latest singles Starsigns and My Man respectively.
She had major success in early 2020 with the release of her popular single Say Yeah’which amassed over 12.5 million streams on Spotify.
When asked what her ultimate career goal or dream opportunity would be, she said: “Growing up in and around the Wembley area, a sell-out arena tour at Wembley would be a real full-circle moment.
“Even to be here performing at the Apple Store on Regent Street feels incredible as I nostalgically remember a time when me and my friends would go into this store after school and window shop because we couldn’t afford to buy anything.
“We would take pictures on their iPads, then login to our Facebooks, upload the pictures we took and then leave the store.
“So being here tonight feels so special.”
Her sense of resolve comes from her underlying love and passion for it all.
Music is her personal way of leaving her mark or footprint on the world as she propagated the message that everyone has something unique to contribute:
She explained: “Music is an ethereal experience, whether making, listening or simply being in the presence of good music.”
“The solution to anything is always love. I bet if you weren’t around, the world would be a very different place.”
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for the artist however, who said she was now in a season of rejuvenation.
She said: “This time a month ago, I hit a stumbling block in terms of being so caught up in the cycle of always wanting more.
“But having had the time to since reflect on everything I’ve achieved so far and the love I have around me from my friends, family and my three year-old son; I now feel more than content.
“Going into this new season and beyond, my new tagline will be to ‘do, don’t think.’
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