Konyikeh is on the rise

Releasing her debut EP Litany last year, Konyikeh captured attention and imagination with her soulful and diaristic laments, sonorous soundscapes playing out under her timeless voice. Signed to the independent FAMM label - founded by Jorja Smith’s manager - she debuted with immediacy and grace. But her rise is founded in years of classical training, from music scholarships to national choirs, her disciplines spanning violin to trombone. “Looking back, I was actually doing a lot,” she laughs.

Born in East London but raised in Essex, Konyikeh spent more of her time in the capital than she did at home. Taking a music scholarship in West London, which gave her access to free music lessons, she spent her Saturdays at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in Barbican studying violin and piano. “I started that at eight years old and I did that for ten years,” she says. “I always loved The Barbican. They’d always have really cool exhibitions on, so I could go during my breaks and it was very interesting.”

She credits her parents for enforcing her early love of music, igniting her passion for a broad range of genres from the BBC Proms to musical theatre, alongside her mum’s Destiny’s Child CD. “It's like exposure therapy, exposed to loads of different things,” she laughs. “My parents are in finance but music was a big thing, especially with my mum. They were just like, do anything. If you want to try anything, do anything.”

Starting her tuition from the age of seven, “which actually is kind of late in the classical music world,” she says, she also took classical voice lessons and learnt the trombone at school. She was part of the National Youth Choir and the National Children’s and Youth Orchestras.

Despite her deep involvement in the arts, both in the classical world and at school, she had a sense of otherness and displacement. “I would be the only black face in those spaces,” she says. “In my year at school I was the only black girl. You just don't see black people in these spaces at all. It was a very interesting experience to go through.”

After devoting so much of her youth to classical music, she decided against pursuing the violin into adulthood and instead opted to study academic classical music at Sheffield University. “I was there for two years and I dropped out because I got a record deal,” she says. “Uni just wasn't for me, but Sheffield was a really good uni. They were really supportive and even though it wasn't as racially diverse, they approached all of the subjects with a lot of respect. Out of all of my education experiences, I’d say that was probably the best one.”

Her journey to signing with FAMM took a series of serendipitous turns. On her gap year before attending Sheffield, Konyikeh had begun working on her own music, experimenting with GarageBand and setting up a Soundcloud account, mostly for her friends’ enjoyment. While studying, she continued to write. Most of the tracks that make up Problem With Authority, out today, have their roots in the stripped back setup of her university dorm room.

Adamant she wasn’t going to make it as a musician, she took up artist photography instead, hoping to stay closely involved with her passion. She was working on a shoot with ENNY, also signed to FAMM, and kept in touch with the label’s creative director before eventually sharing the link to her music. The songs found their way to label founder Zubin Irani, who reached out to Konyikeh directly. “We met at this little Colombian restaurant and it was just the best dinner ever,” she says. “He went to the boys' version of the school that I went to, so we related on so many levels. When I was picking what label I wanted to go with, I was like, this is the right fit for me. I've been very, very lucky with the people I've met.”

Another stroke of luck came around the same time. Connecting with Dave’s management team to discuss her photography, they found the link to her Soundcloud via Instagram. It was the same week she attended a music industry networking event, at which one of the rapper’s managers was speaking. “I met him and then he developed the relationship over the next couple of months,” she says. “Then I was at home, on the phone to my friend, eating Chinese food in my kitchen, and I got the call.”

Joining Dave on stage at the Brits in 2022 for his epic and arresting performance of “In The Fire,” it launched Konyikeh straight into the industry’s sights. “It was an amazing opportunity, but I only really sang four lines,” she laughs. “It's funny, because someone from my school actually works in music, so he was there. He was at a table with his label. He's like, ‘Did I just see you on stage?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, lol.’”

Released the following year, her debut EP Liturgy was both moving and mature, blending modern neo-soul with timeless songwriting. On new EP Problem With Authority, she continues to grow her practice, bringing in broader influences and building characters through her narratives. “I wrote a lot of these songs even before my first EP was released, so I could kind of work in a backlog. I just like to know that these are songs that I have before I move on to the next thing,” she says.

On first single “Sit Down,” the first time she ever wrote with a producer, she paints vivid imagery over a subtle bed of soulful hues and jazz-staccato beats, while EP track “Chan Chan (Freestyle)” is an intimate stream-of-consciousness musing over the Buena Vista Social Club original. Across the EP, the one constant is Konyikeh’s rich and commanding but emotionally-intoned vocal, both effortless and impactful. She takes cues from classic blues to Cuban fire. “I've just always loved old-school Cuban music. I think it’s just the dexterity and the music is so passionate, I just love it so much. I could listen to it all the time,” she says.

Absorbing inspiration from the sounds around her, the tracks on Problem With Authority act as a snapshot from the moment she created them, imbibed with an audacious capability. “I'm very, very influenced by what I listen to,” she says. “I listen to a lot of US female rap. I wish I could rap.”