Rising: Elmiene is preparing for the next chapter

“I don’t know what’s happening,” British-Sudanese singer-songwriter Elmiene says with a chuckle over Zoom. “I was very much sleeping on a sofa at university and then suddenly people were like, ‘You’re the next Stevie Wonder.’ I don’t think I am, but if you say so, I’ll take it.”

The rise (and rise) of this softly spoken 21-year-old has been brisk by any measure. In 2021, a video of him covering D’Angelo’s Untitled (How Does It Feel?) went viral, prompting UK funky legend Lil Silva to get in touch. It didn’t take long before they were in the studio together, working on About Us – a standout from Lil Silva’s critically acclaimed album Yesterday Is Heavy. During one of those sessions, BBC Radio 1 DJ Benji B, working in the studio next door, walked in for a chat with his friend Lil Silva, and instead had his attention grabbed by a song Elmiene was playing: the smooth, quietly percussive Golden.

“A week later, Benji B texted me on WhatsApp,” Elmiene explains. “He was like, ‘Yo, I can’t stop thinking about that song. I’m working with Virgil [Abloh] right now on this Miami show. Can I use the song?’ I was like, ‘Shit, yeah, cool.’” Abloh’s tragic death just days before that final show lent a poignancy to the track’s lyrics, with some even reading them as an ode to the late fashion designer – a notion he’s quick to dismiss: “The song was never intended to be a tribute.” What is indisputable is that Golden took Elmiene’s career to the next level.

Before the Abloh show, Elmiene had a hard time even envisioning music being a major part of his life. Now he has co-written for Stormzy, over 109k followers on TikTok and has even logged studio time in Los Angeles studios with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake. “That sort of freaked me out,” he exclaims, still surprised. “I used to watch their music videos with my cousins and now they’re in front of me.” Through it all, he remains grounded. “I would have been painting fences,” he says, earnestly. “I had a plan for myself that I was very content with: I was going to get a security guard licence and then just  do odd jobs.”

On his latest EP, El-Mean, the artist gives expression to the reflective mood stirred up by the path his life has suddenly taken. The five-track project leans into the classic R&B Elmiene grew up listening to – think D’Angelo, Prince – albeit with a light touch that heads off accusations of pure nostalgia. Before I Take a While is limpid and mournful, Elmiene’s smooth vocals meshing with his guitar licks and vibes; single Why (Spare Me Tears) channels haunting and heartsore; while Endless No Mores, with its lived-in melody and soothing guitar picks, is custom-built for late-night Uber rides. “It was very much a mourning of the life that I saw for myself before music came on the scene,” he says.

Having recently headlined Hoxton Hall, he’s already working on another EP, which, to him, paints a clearer picture of his future. Whereas the last record laments a life that wasn’t to be, Elmiene hopes this latest project sets the agenda for the next chapter – a kind of coming to terms with his current reality. Or, in his words, an exploration of “knowing that this is definitely the path that I’m on, but how do I manoeuvre this the right way”. Now the dust has settled, you sense that the real work is starting – and Elmiene is more than ready to hunker down and get on with the task in hand. “My head has finally kind of laid the cement on the fact that this is my life,” he laughs, “and possibly for a very long time.”

Soundtrack for: Ruminative soaks in the bath
File next to: Masego, Daniel Caesar
Our favourite tune: Endless No Mores
Find him: @elmiene