"I really like upbeat songs, I like empowering songs, because when I was feeling at my lowest, those were the songs that kept me going, those were the songs that made me realize I had power within me."
Tuesday 4 June 2024, Canterbury High Street, United Kingdom
Who are we talking to? Manta
Who is the interviewer? Hyla
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HYLA: What are you passionate about?
MANTA: So I'm passionate about music and performances, and I'm an artist and my name is Manta.
HYLA: What type of music do you make?
MANTA: I make pop/R&B music that is Afrobeats infused. So I've always been drawn to pop and R&B because I sing some of my main genres and then I still am in the process of figuring out how to merge it with Afrobeats, because Afrobeats is the genre that my country makes, Nigeria. So I still want to have a sense of who I am and also what I grew up around. I want that to reflect in the songs that I make.
HYLA: Who encouraged you to go after music?
MANTA: When I was nine, you know, the first person that ever told me I could sing was my grandmother. I was in my room singing this song really loudly, not thinking anybody was there, but she was in the room beside me. So when I left the room and I went outside, she was like, “What song were you playing?” I'm like, “What do you mean? I was singing.” She's like, “Really, that was you?” I'm like, “Yeah, that was me.” And she was like, “You sing really well.” And then I was like, “Yeah.” I didn't really believe it, because everyone's grandma says they sing well (laughs). So she was really the first person that planted that seed in me that I had a talent and since then, you know, it's been progressed. I've had more people tell me that they like my voice. Then I also recorded myself and I liked how I sounded. I'm not too bad, I would say so, yeah.
I wouldn't say there was anyone that encouraged me per se. You know, I saw great performers and I saw amazing concerts and I was inspired to do that and to replicate that. And along the way I've had people like my grandmother and my brother and my secondary school girlfriend (laughs) encourage me to pursue my dreams. Especially my brother Ari. He believes in me, sometimes more than I believe in myself, and I didn’t think that was humanly possible, but he sees the vision and he just understands me and that also is a daily reminder from him to keep going.
HYLA: Describe the moment you realized your passion was music.
CHIMA: So in August 2019, I was on a rabbit hole and just watching a lot of really great performances and it was just so exciting to see the crowd interacting and, you know, the artists singing a song and pointing the microphone to the audience, and then they completed and singing with so much energy. There was just something about the production, the lights, the dancing, the energy and the transfer of energy that just made me feel so alive and I just said to myself I have to do this before I die. And I just got hot. I got, you know, I was tearing up. I was in a state that I never been in before and it was so spiritual for me and I said, “What is this feeling?” I've never felt this way before, for something so strongly, and it was almost like a lightning bolt, like I feel like I was struck by lightning and since that day, I've always thought about music. Every single day, since that day, I've had that in mind and I haven't, you know, given up. I still have that same resilience that I've had since that day.
HYLA: When we were last talking, you said one of your inspirations was the BLM movement in America. Can you talk more about that?
MANTA: Yeah, so in Nigeria we didn't see it as a problem in America or a problem in a different country. We felt for Black people universally because in our country we had our own form of police brutality, which resulted in the End SARS movement and protests. So during that time I was so inspired by the music that was being played at protests. These were songs talking about police brutality and racism from the 80s and 90s and 2000s and I felt that that was so inspiring. That music was a universal language that we could all relate to.
You know was something that kept us going, and even the less political ways like TikTok. TikTok came about in the pandemic and people were singing, were releasing these new songs that would go viral and we would all listen to them and dance to them and just let loose in our homes, and it was such a great time to have an outlet of peace in the crazy times that we were in. I thought that was so inspiring. I really realized that music is such a powerful thing and I wanted to be a part of that narrative.
HYLA: You said that the type of music you make tends to be energetic. Can you describe that, what that means and also why you make that.
MANTA: I really like upbeat songs, I like empowering songs, because when I was feeling at my lowest, those were the songs that kept me going, those were the songs that made me realize I had power within me. Something about the energy and the beats and the drums of really fast-paced songs that I just love. I just think, you know, it kept me empowered, it kept me inspired, and I just want to replicate that and hopefully do that for people before and after me. And it just puts me in a great mood. When the sun isn't shining too much, literally when the sun isn't shining I play these really powerful grimy songs that make me go, “Yeah!” You know, it makes me feel empowered, makes me feel fantastic. So that's the type of thing that I want to replicate.
HYLA: How do you feel when you perform?
MANTA: It's actually so funny because I love performing in my room but because I've only done it a limited amount of times. You know I've been nervous on stage, as one is when they start out, but I still find it the most exciting part and still the part that I'm the most nervous about, you know. So hopefully I get to a place where that's the one I'm championing for it the most and that's what I'm looking forward to the most. But right now, although I, like I said, I got into music because of performances and just performers, right now it's still I'm still finding my feet in that one, but it's something I do want to develop and make my brand and my performances.
HYLA: Any rituals before you perform?
MANTA: Before I perform, I don't eat anything because I'm too nervous, so I drink water. I do warm-ups which I should be doing weeks before (laughs), but I do it all like in that day, an hour before. I just calm down, I pray, I talk to God about the performance and I just chill out before everything and I try to let loose on stage and hope for the best. That's what I do typically.
HYLA: How does it feel to think about the future?
MANTA: It feels scary and insightful at the same time. Scary because, you know, life is dynamic. No one knows what's going to happen tomorrow. So I do have my hopes and my dreams and I hope that they fall through.
So I try not to cloud myself with too many doubts and the what if it goes wrong? I try to say what if it goes right, you know? And, it's also what keeps me going, because I have so many goals and I write them down every day. I have so many things that I want to accomplish and so many things that I would love to do and the message I want to put across. So I'm really doing it for my future self. You know, sometimes I meet people and they say I'm doing it for the kid I used to be when I was younger. But I don't relate to that. I do it for the man I want to become like. I see every single thing that I want and I see so clearly. So I'm doing it for him in order to get to that and that's what keeps me going every day.
"I try to say what if it goes right, you know? And, it's also what keeps me going, because I have so many goals and I write them down every day."
HYLA: Do you want to share any of the goals that you have?
MANTA: I would love to win a lot of Grammys. Not in a vain sense, I just want to win grammys, but it's something that I have on my list, you know. I think it's for music excellence and hopefully I want to excel musically and excellently, so that's why that's on my list. World tours. I really want to go on a stadium world tour. That's very important to me. Multiple world tours and, most importantly, I want to be recognized as an artist and not a musician.
You know, I think an artist is someone who is able to reflect the times and talk about significant issues that go on in the world and represent that through their music and, you know, give groups of people the audience that they don't usually see in mainstream media and music, but they do deserve. So I would love to be the best artist that I can be and I just would love to have fun doing it. So I hope to be around in the industry for as long as I can. You know, I would love a 30 year long career for as long as I can possibly go. So that was it.
HYLA: That's good, very good. What's something you're excited about that's happening in the near future?
MANTA: I'm excited for people to see me as I see myself and I think daily it's slowly unraveling, because I only started telling people that I sang in October of last year, so in October of ‘23. That was when people really knew that I sang and I wanted to be a musician. Before that, I really kept it to myself.
HYLA: Why? Shyness?
MANTA: I wouldn't say I was shy. So after my incident in 2019, I took four years of a lot of thought and my thought was you know, know, because I told myself it was something I wanted to do and live by and die by. I really was asking myself, “Do you really want this?” Because the moment you decide, there's no looking back and I hate to waste the potential. I hate giving up.
MANTA: So I really literally took four years to kind of plan my career out, my stage name, what my fans would be called, what I wanted to achieve. I kid you not, I have all these written down like so many details, like I have all my albums written down, the concepts behind them, the names. You know what I want to dress like. But, most importantly, I took four years to really ask myself, “Is this really what you want?” So this is what you're going to have to do through the good times and the bad times. So once I finally made that decision last year, I posted a video of myself covering a song by The Weeknd and when I was uploading it, I was like, “This is it? Once you press post, everyone will know that you sing, and now you have to do this forever. Are you ready for that?”
I said “Yes.” I press post, and everyone was like, “Oh bro, I didn’t know you can sing. What's this? I didn't know.” Now, because I made that decision, I have to live by it. I guess I did that because I'm pretty shy, sometimes I'm reserved, but I can turn it on and off. You know, if I need to be outgoing I'll be ongoing, but more naturally I guess I'm a bit more reserved. So it's really the decision like okay, if I do this and if I blow up, am I ready for that impact? Am I really going to sacrifice my sanity? I never want to like have two or four good years, then get sick of it and give up. I want to do this lifelong. So I guess I use those four years asking myself every day is this something you want forever?
So obviously there's been ups and downs, but I think because I had that foundation of keeping it to myself for four years. I also did it, so no one would doubt me. I guess then it was in a pretty premature stage. So I think if I told people especially because I wasn't singing in public and I wasn't, you know, as open as I am right now I guess people would have put their doubt and their fear on me and I would have probably died off. So those four years I really protected it and I kept it sacred to myself. So now I guess no one can talk me out of it because I've had it with me for so long.
"I still find [performing] the most exciting part and still the part that I'm the most nervous about, you know. So hopefully I get to a place where that's the one I'm championing for the most and that's what I'm looking forward to the most."
HYLA: Do you think it's important for like artists of any like medium to do that, to like be secure in themselves?
MANTA: I do, yeah. But sometimes I don't know about four years, I took my time (Laughs). But you know, I do think you have to know why you're doing it. You have to do it for yourself first. Even sometimes, like when I'm having convos with people, I want to tell them all these things, but I'm like this is pretty premature. You know, just wait a bit until it's a bit more certain that you can talk about it. So yeah, your efforts and your actions also speak louder. So I was doing all this stuff. I was singing in my room. Thinking about all these things, my stage name and just everything. So now it's like I'm slowly executing all those ideas that I've always had.
HYLA: What are you working on currently?
MANTA: Right now, I’m working on my debut single. If you’d asked me in December, I would have thought that I’d have a single released by February, but this is now June and it’s still not released. However, that’s only because I switched. I was going to release something then I changed my mind because it’s not as upbeat as I wanted. So now I’m currently working on a really up-tempo song that I think is a stronger first release than the one I initially had planned. So I've written the full song. I'm currently working on the instrumental and the hardest thing, like I said, is just execution, because I have an idea of how it sounds in my head but sonically getting that on the system can be a bit of a challenge. So that's where I'm now, so hopefully, inshallah, by September I have that song released, and you know I've already shot the cover art with Danté, who's an amazing photographer, and yeah.
HYLA: Do you have a philosophy when it comes to your art?
MANTA: I was just saying like you know, Fela Kuti, an Nigerian musician who birthed Afrobeats, said music is a spiritual thing and I completely agree with that. You don't play with music. That's what he said, and I do agree with that because the way I felt it was so powerful. You know, obviously in life I would love money. I'm also passionate about film because I used to direct. I used to make films and direct live plays at my school, so that's also my interest. I also did a bit of acting, but none of those things made me feel as hot and as excited as music did.
It was something that I had a goosebump all over my body and I was like this is such an out-of-body experience and clearly this should mean something. You know, I can't just ignore it and I feel like I'm being a disservice to myself if I ignored it. So I'm trying to follow that and I guess that just proves to me also that it's not money driven or it's not fame driven, because they're just something. It was something I just couldn't escape you know, it wasn't like a passion, it was like it was in me, like I would say you know, film is a passion. I do film now. I love film. You know acting, I can do acting, directing. I do directing, the things I'm passionate about. But it's just nothing compared to how I feel when I write songs or compose songs or sing songs and make music and it's really different.
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Photographers: Dante Richardson & Paolo
Photo editor: Dante Richardson
Photoshoot Assistants: Hyla Etame, Vanessa Mbeko, & Jolanda Oruni
Interview editor: Hyla Etame
