British-born Nigerian singer and
songwriter MNEK landed one of the
six coveted special award edition
covers of Attitude magazine to
celebrate 2016 Attitude Awards.
The 21-year-old Grammy-nominated
talented artist, real name Uzoechi
Emenike has been named as
Attitude’s ‘Breakthrough Award’
winner, having written his first
record for The Saturday’s at the age
of 15 and contributed to Beyoncé’s
earth-shattering album Lemonade.
In the interview, he described
coming out to his Nigerian parents as
a work in progress admitting that
while it was tough, his parents have
been supportive.
“ “It is always quite tough
when it comes to talking to
your family about it and
being like, ‘OK, so I am gay’.
My parents are supportive. Of
course, it’s still a work in
progress. They’ll say, ‘it’s just
a phase, it’s just something
he’s going through right now’.
You never really know the
best way to make them
understand, so you just have
to live your life anyway.”
Apart from Beyoncé, MNEK has also
written hits for Madonna as well as
dominating the charts with his own
songs, Never Forget You and Ready
For Your Love. The rising star also
shared his experience on working
with Beyoncé.
“She is really sweet and
really cool, she was really
conversational. She was also
really sharp. She is that kind
of person, she is sassy and
sweet, but then she can come
out with something really
quick as well.”
MNEK is one of the few openly gay
black British celebrities wants to be
the role model he never saw growing
up in south London.
“I want to be what I
didn’t see on TV and I want to
inspire. Not to say that it
means you have to be this
pristine image. I’m a mess
and I enjoy being a mess, and
I enjoy being publicly a mess,
too, so I don’t want to have to
be this role model, but more
so just if you see yourself in
me then that’s really great
because I never saw myself in
anyone.”
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