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An email from MNEK

On February 5 2009 we received an email from a 14-year-old singer/producer called MNEK. We’d seen him knocking around online before that, but his email was a very good one.

“I’m unsigned so there’s none of that press release bullshit,” he said. He said some other things too, like “I’m inspired by Calvin Harris, Sam Sparro, Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Whitney Houston, Usher, Anita Baker and loads others”, and “if I were ever to be signed I’d love to work with Calvin Harris, Xenomania, Pet Shop Boys, Max Martin, Richard X, Sam Sparro or Bless Beats”. All the sort of stuff that gets us ringing the Popjustice bell when it arrives in an email. It was unlike most of the emails we get sent and the music was better than most of the music we get sent, and we’ve sort of stayed in touch on and off over the last two and a half years. We’ve featured him a couple of times on Popjustice, too.

Last night he sent us (and a few other people, we assume) another email. There’s a slight whiff of ‘Team MNEK have realised he does charismatic emails so let’s get him to sort of do his own sort of anti-press release emails to people’ to this one, but it reminds us of the first email he sent us in 2009.

Here it is.

We love that the Brian Higgins quote is in the style of a job reference.

Here’s that video. It’s good stuff.