Damon Albarn loved my work ethic and he loved my music, reveals Moonchild Sanelly
IT’S big, it’s blue, it’s made of wool – and she calls it her “Moon Mop”.
One of the first things you notice about Moonchild Sanelly is her “hair”, often worn with lipstick and eye make-up to match.
“It literally grew as my career grew,” she tells me via video call from her home in Johannesburg, in reference to the mop’s seriously impressive dimensions.
But I soon discover there’s much more to this trailblazing South African, who — in no particular order — can call herself singer, mother, poet and fashion designer.
Sanelly, 40, is known in the UK for her wild live shows, including TEN performances at last year’s Glastonbury Festival, and her association with Damon Albarn, either through Gorillaz or Africa Express.
She worked with Beyonce, featuring on My Power from the American superstar’s 2019 soundtrack album The Lion King: The Gift.
And she hooked up with breakthrough British star Self Esteem (Rebecca Taylor) for one of last summer’s best-loved songs, Big Man.
“It was ridiculous how well we clicked. We were baddies,” says Sanelly of that collaboration.
“She was going through her own situation and then, when we met, the work just started flowing and we were speaking for each other. It was beautiful.”
Now Sanelly is back with her vibrant, life-affirming third studio album, Full Moon, recorded on the road in Malawi, Sweden and London.
Her music embraces South African house music, Kwaito and its sub-genres Amapiano and Gqom, and is described by her as “future ghetto funk”.
Let’s just add that Port Elizabeth-born Sanelly conjures up a mesmerising combination of dancefloor-primed beats, scuzzy basslines and snappy choruses, all underpinned by her hip-hop and jazz sensibilities.
‘I am not limited’
“I can make any genre,” she affirms. “I have fun creating music because I am not limited.”
But before we dive into Full Moon, she gives me a quick run through of how her patented Moon Mop evolved.
“When I was in high school, I put food colouring in my hair every holiday because I didn’t have dye,” she recalls.
“Then, when I went to varsity (the term a lot of South Africans use for university) in Durban, I turned my hair red and kept it that way for seven years.”
Around 2011, despite coming up with it first, she found herself being ridiculed after her red-dye look became an “in-thing” for other artists, including Rihanna.
She says: “I remember, I went upstairs and shaved everything!”
The transition to greenish blue, best described as teal, began when Sanelly moved to Johannesburg but was visiting a friend back in Durban.
She says: “My friend had a lot of wool and she said to me, ‘I know you’re going to have fun with this.’ So I went home and made my mop — it was as simple as that.”
As for getting the Moon Mop patented, Sanelly adds: “Because I’d seen with the red that people had been watching my storyboard, I needed to find a way of protecting it.
“I called my lawyer and said, ‘David, they’re going to steal my idea again.’ He was like, ‘I believe you Moon,’ so he got all the papers to cover it and here we are.”
We move on to Sanelly’s new album, the follow-up to 2022’s Phases, which she likens to “an arrival” at the point in her career that she’s always been striving for — finally finding her “whole self”.
“It’s called Full Moon because I feel that I’ve shared things that I’ve never shared on other albums,” she says. “Phases showcased all my sides, the different phases of the Moon, and this one is all those parts of me being in unison with each other.
“It’s the ultimate, what I’ve always wanted.
“It comes with a lot of forgiveness, of letting go, of being comfortable with being vulnerable. My full moon moment.”
Commenting on the album’s exuberant sound, Sanelly decides: “Future ghetto funk is just me having fun. There are no real limits to it — as long as I feel good.
“With this one, I think it explores more of my pop side, which was my intention.”
Next she dives into some of the songs, starting with an opening track, which celebrates her favourite food.
“Scrambled Eggs is my flex, because I don’t spend my money on (fast-food) chains.
“When I first started touring, I was at places where I couldn’t afford breakfast, so for me, it was my luxury. I eat avo(cado) scrambled eggs all day, every day!”
Sanelly turns her attention to Big Booty, which, she says, “is a love letter to my booty”.
“It’s had my back through thick and thin and it helps me shake the world.”
Growing up in a musical family was super-cool because it was the norm
Moonchild Sanelly
Another key track is overtly sexual Gwara Gwara, which has been employed on the official soundtrack for EA Sports’ FC25 game.
Sanelly says: “Gwara Gwara is basically because I’m such a flirt. The deepest story about that one is that I had to learn how to say f* you to a bunch of d*s who wanted to hit it.”
For this irrepressible artist, it has been quite a journey but music has played a big part in her life from an early age.
Her mother’s a jazz singer, her brother’s a hip-hop producer and her cousins are dancers.
“Growing up in a musical family was super-cool because it was the norm,” she says.
“At my grandma’s house, it was gospel. At my mother’s house, it was hip-hop and jazz.
“Everyone loved to dance and, on Sundays before church, it was like a giant celebration as we danced and harmonised.”
Though Sanelly had the opportunity to join gospel groups, the ensemble mentality just wasn’t for her.
“I never wanted to blend in!” she exclaims. “I wasn’t created quiet. I always wanted to make sure that I would shine.”
I can report that Sanelly is a woman of many talents who shines a brilliant light on whatever she does.
At university, her focus was on poetry and rap. Later, she ran a clothing line.
She says: “The fashion helped me get to do gigs and that started to build my profile.
“But music is my primary focus. It’s my entire life.”
‘Genre is chilled’
Sanelly has to juggle her music career, and all her other pursuits, with being a mum to three daughters.
“I’m like the father who goes out and makes the money,” she continues. “I’m a provider and that’s a position I’ve been in for a long time.
“But, with the support system I have, I’m pretty fortunate. I’m definitely not alone.”
She’s also part of a sweet spot for South African music and says: “The scene is ridiculous. The kids are going overseas when, in the past, they weren’t. Especially because of online, they don’t have to go through gatekeepers.
“The genre is chilled and there are all these dance moves to go with it — people with bottles on their heads, balancing acts. It’s a real vibe.
“You might not sleep because it can be explosive and energetic but it can also be beautiful and mellow.
“You can sit down to it, you can dance to it — it’s changing the world. You can pretty much find a party every day.”
Although South Africa is where Sanelly’s heart lies, she was able to spread her wings by recording in three other countries.
In the first two of those places, far away from big cities, she got to indulge in her favourite hobby — angling.
I haven’t been fishing in the UK but I’d love to.
Moonchild Sanelly
She says: “In Malawi, if I just couldn’t write any more, we’d go fishing. In Sweden, same thing. If we got a block, we’d go fishing. It was freezing but we found a fish and a snake.”
But when it came to sessions in the UK, it was what she calls a very “city” environment, not surprising as she was based in the teeming capital.
Sanelly says: “I haven’t been fishing in the UK but I’d love to. It’s like going on a date for me.
“When people ask me, ‘What do you want to do?’, I’m just like, ‘I want to go fishing or I want to go to a gun range,’ I’m pretty good with guns.”
For Sanelly, coming to Britain is of special significance because she grew up listening to pop from these shores.
“It’s crazy for me to go there now,” she admits. “And it’s super-ridiculous how well I’m received. It’s so heart-warming and I feel it is exactly where I belong.”
Being able to work with artists such as Damon Albarn, Self Esteem and Ezra Collective makes perfect sense to Sanelly.
Otherwise, she considers it would be like “an American artist coming to do traditional Kwaito music in South Africa and just f*ing st up”.
She adds: “I’m always exploring new stuff, always bumping into sounds and other artists.
“I live freely — to be the artist I am.”
This helps explain why Damon Albarn was so attracted to working with Sanelly on projects close to his heart.
The collective he co-founded in 2006, Africa Express, visited Johannesburg in 2019 to make an album with local artists.
Felt really comfortable
One review of the resulting EGOLI stated that “Moonchild Sanelly seems to steal every track she appears on” — including standout I Can’t Move, also featuring Albarn.
Sanelly remembers the sessions well: “I wanted to work with whoever was working with Damon and I was thinking, ‘I’m going to show off.’
“Any session he was in, I would just come in. He loved my work ethic, he loved how I work, he loved my music and he loved what I was doing with my art.
“He posted a picture with me and him and the moon shining behind us.”
Sanelly was thrilled to be on the 2020 Gorillaz album Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, lending her distinctive tones to With Love To An Ex.
“My first fashion show after school was to the Gorillaz album, I had it on an iPod,” she says. “When I was in the UK, I went to Damon’s studio and we recorded. I didn’t know what it was for but I felt really comfortable with him.
“Then I got a call to say the track had made it on to the Gorillaz album.”
Since then, she has appeared on stage with both Albarn projects, including an Africa Express shindig in Mexico last spring.
Next up for Sanelly is a UK headline tour in March finishing at London’s Village Underground on the 26th.
Your chance to see the Moonchild shine.
MOONCHILD SANELLY
Full Moon