Largely produced by British producer Charlie J Perry, throughout Konyikeh’s debut EP there’s a sense of plaintiveness and liturgy, all while she ruminates on her sorrows track by track and, in doing so, carves out a space to transcend them. Born in London and raised in Essex, Konyikeh makes soulful music with striking lyrics and, it can’t be stressed enough, that voice. You might recognise her distinctive vocals from her evocative moment on-stage at the BRITs in 2022, performing alongside Dave, as the opening soloist, during his astonishing rendition of ‘In The Fire’ – but now, the 23-year-old is getting ready to continue to step into her own light, quick to point out that: “It’s been a long time coming; it’s been a journey to get here.”
While her family were not musicians themselves, Konyikeh grew up with music always being played in the house. She recalls her parents taking her to see classical music at the BBC Proms, and hearing musical theatre, Jennifer Hudson’s Pocketbook, her mum’s Destiny’s Child CDs, opera; “It was all to really expand my palate.” she explains. Of Cameroonian and Jamaican heritage, Konyikeh started to play the violin aged seven, latterly alongside classical singing and piano. She remembers long car journeys with her mum going to Woodbridge, where the violin shop was, listening to the Kenyan Boys Choir on CD. “It was beautiful,” she recalls, “It exposed me to traditional African music, harmonies and stuff like that.”
Konyikeh became a music scholar at a prestigious school in West London, then on Saturdays she would go to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where, for ten years, she would play violin, piano, perform in the orchestra and chamber choir, alongside learning music theory. In these spaces, she was told to play with emotion, and to draw out her most intense feelings when performing: it’s something which Konyikeh seems to have channeled into her own work one decade later. Still, she felt uneasy within her identity, she explains: “Going to a very white girls’ school, it was only later I really connected with my heritage.”