Soft-spoken, gentle, affirmative, bold, rebellious, fair, elusive, lush, and exuberant. These are some keywords Google should link with MOONGA K, the candid connoisseur of serenades. Whether or not MOONGA is a fanatic of soccer, his latest offering, IV, completes a catalogue hat-trick of evergreen music bound to colour the stages his presence will grace for decades to come.
MOONGA K has had a whole lot going for him recently. Off the back of a slew of radio chart-toppers and his first-ever SAMA nomination for Best Engineered Album of the Year (thanks to his recent EP, CANDID), he’s just dropped yet another offering – this time a bite-sized four-track EP that might be his best yet.
Fresh off his coming-of-age neo-soul/pop funk masterpiece CANDID, IV comes as a four-leaf clover of an immersive soundtrack to breaking free. MOONGA aptly gets out of his head riddled with concerns about the political nuances of Blackness and his self-worth in relation to romantic pursuits for an upbeat and fun record that is carefree, commanding, and embracive.
With a keen taste for world-class soundscapes, Moonga enlisted an array of eclectic producers such as James McMillan (from the UK), who has worked with Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston, Phonikz, and John Lundun. Also, not forgetting his CANDID co-writer/producer Greg Abrahams. This stellar selection of producers curated a rhythm-rooted, jazz-inflected R&B soundscape complemented by synths, tapping percussion, crooning lyricism, well-honed acoustics and bare-boned vocals.
Having filled the cup of self-validation as noted in “honeybee”, “i AM (interlude)”, and “WHOLE (interlude)”, MOONGA has transformed into a flirtatious crooner. One who carries unbridled confidence and a craving to pour his abundant love into his music, as noted in the sequencing of “my mind”, “right these wrongs”, and “with you”.
Quotes such as: “I may fall so short / but look at me I’m big tall / and you know I’ll rise again”, and hooks like: “I just wanna be wrapped in your room of / touch and fantasy / filling up your world / I just wanna be sweat up on the walls now” take us into the renaissance of romanticism. With that said, a score of hopeless romantics, myself included, have been dying to feature such in our TikTok and Instagram stories and reels.
The energetic curtain call “up” calls every piano key, 808 kick, horn, and bouncy melodic chord to close the EP with an encore call to vibrancy. Daring the muse he has been having vivid dreams of loving the way they deserve, Moonga searches every nook and cranny of his piercing falsetto and produces a climatic burst of vocal inflexions that mirror this newfound self—love and freedom.
Whether you are a seeker of justice or self, learning to love, or seeking someone to love, there is a MOONGA K for every journey of loving self, others, and the betterment of society overall. And with all this timeless music, baby, all I see are everlasting royalties ahead.
