Manana Mends
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My lash lady layers another 12mm extension onto my natural ones as the last notes of Little Things lower into silence.
When I’m ill, you’re what I take/Breath of fresh air when I suffocate…
Manana and his stack of vocals taper off. My eyes are closed, ears are open and I sense, from the stillness in the room, that the feeling of being stifled by the smog of songs that has been the soundtrack to South Africa in mid-2024 is being lifted in real time.
We’re listening to the album from start to stop and Little Things is smack bang in the middle of 16 tracks. I ask my lash lady and the brow babe who works with her what they think of Manana’s debut album, Our Broken Hearts Mend, so far.
“[Redacted to protect the innocent] sings well but his voice does all the talking for him,” I hear the brow tech say. “But Manana,” she pauses, “he sings well too but he is just way more lyrical.” My lash lady adds: “Yeah, Manana just shows that South Africa has more to offer the world than amapiano.”
Who’s Gonna Make You Feel The Vibe
A few weeks later, I’m recounting this experience to Manana on a warm Jozi day where his Grapetiser is cold, his omelette hot and the tomato sauce he douses it in is entirely unnecessary. He’s unbothered by this condiment crime, and my opinion of it, anyway. Just like he is with being described as one of the songwriting saviours of popular music.
“I’m fortunate to be a part of an interesting class of artists who are not necessarily in the amapiano genre,” he tells me. “I get to lay a foundation for a lot of younger artists who will do better than me but I don’t feel the pressure to think regionally. The internet has opened up the world for us. The same internet my songs live on has Burna Boy from Nigeria, Adele from the UK, Anitta from Brazil… so outside of language there is no real divide.”
The eSwatini-born artist who is a part of the Drakensberg Boys Choir alumni has been making r&b and soul music for himself and writing across genres for others — think Usher, Sauti Sol, Uncle Waffles and more. His relationships-centred trilogy and a dance EP not only house interesting songs but carry interesting song titles. First there was In the beginning was the end (2020), followed by But could the moments in between (2022), and Comma (the EP from 2022) and now, Our Broken Hearts Mend (2024).
His body of work reads like a question: In the beginning was the end but could the moments in between, our broken hearts mend? The rhythm and rhyme is an ode to old English he grew up believing was a mark of good literature and poetry. The sentence made up by his work was decided when he began conceptualising his second project and the flow is i) the onset of delusion in a relationship, ii) ignoring red flags in favour of periodic laughs and Netflix and Chill as well as iii) repairing damaged hearts individually.
“The mending of the heart isn’t necessarily about the mending of the relationship,” he explains. “I always tell people if you’re in a relationship, ending up and dying together is successful. But being ok alone is also successful. People think being single well isn’t as good as being in a relationship miserable. So the ending of a relationship, for me, doesn’t mean the eternal breaking of a heart. There is breaking but you can mend and end well alone.”
Pursuing ending well is found in Waste Your Love, which is “like an assessment of self during heartbreak” he says, and its avoidance is evident in If We Move (featuring Ariza) where he sings “wait a minute, and by that of course I mean a thousand million”.
“If We Move is supposed to be [about] when you're in bed and it’s time to go to work but you really don’t want to. The sentence ‘wait a minute’ is either you’re about to realise something or that you’re saying wait, like trying to snooze the alarm and let’s not go anywhere. When we were writing that song, the picture we had in our minds was trying to freeze a really dope moment. For me, writing is trying to capture a moment — whether heartbreak or joy — and make it last forever. So every time you listen to that song, you go back to that moment. It’s kind of been the theme of my songwriting.”
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Sweet Days That The Good Lord Gave Us
Echoing his lyrics on Align (Sorry) — “I been working on Fridays/Going all through the night” — on a Friday night, we pull up past the driveway of a home where he’s filming live renditions of three songs including the bossa nova-esque A view with a beach outside (Interlude).
He’s invited his nearest and dearest to break Portuguese rolls (and chicken) and add an audience element while he and his band perform. It’s like Tiny Desk in a palace and there is a closeness tying together what feels like his chosen family.
“Weeeee don’t usually do this often,” says a friend and fellow singer, “but he often does.” He’s referring to Manana consistently aiming to swap out the rigmarole of a regular rollout for something new for his fans. With the trusty Grapetiser by his side — he promises me the sugar doesn’t affect his vocal chords — after a take, which he rates a 10 out of 10, he cheeses and tells everyone “Ey, that was niiiice, I’m not going to lie.”
From observing him, it appears Manana’s in his element. Like he’s been having conversations with Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. It makes me think of Anything, off the Comma EP, where he thanks God.
“I worked on that project with two producers and we were talking about how they are two big powerhouse producers but they’re also feeling like ‘there is so much I still need to do’. We believe that our talents and gifts open spaces for us but forget our contexts had nothing to do with those talents and gifts. We didn’t choose the families we’re born into or what city and country we’re born into. All of those things are points of gratitude for me.
“You can be as arrogant or self-confident as you want but you can never say you did anything because of your talent. It’s not true. I always say in any dope situation I am in, it’s by God’s grace. Being in a happy marriage is by God’s grace. Being in this industry is, honestly, by God’s grace. I do work hard and I do try to show up but I also know things could have gone horribly wrong and are out of my control. I’m still far from where I want to be but I’m fortunate to be here right now.”
And so are we.
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