Today we’d like to introduce you to Nkiru Emelle

Hi Nkiru, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

My name is Nkiru Emelle. I’m 24 years old. When I began my relationship with music, I was only a baby. To sing has always been an unfettered aspect of my life. My mother would sing Igbo hymnals and christian rock; my father had a collection of pop and disco cds that I would paw through for hours; every sunday throughout my life I would join my tribe in my church to sing, and for as long as I can remember, I have never been shy to open up and sing my song. When I was 8 years old, my father passed on the tradition that all his children would play an instrument. By this point it was clear I had a crush on music, I sang every song I could remember and wrote playful melodies in my notebooks; I sang so much my siblings would tell me “Who sang the song? Let them sing it!” I started with the violin. I dabbled in the recorder, and the flute. Eventually I landed on the piano. It took me some time to commit to her. I began with classical lessons, accompanied by a short stint in ballet classes, but my soul longed to sing a song special to me, and dance a funkier dance. So I did. I auditioned for a Disney Channel role in the 4th grade- I got a callback but I never went. Thank God! I sang in school and church choir since maybe the 1st grade; by end of middle school I had switched to a private piano and vocal tutor; by high school it was an integrated aspect of my schedule along with band and drama club and extracurricular digital photography classes and a film class at the local college. I was completely enamored with music by that point. Music in every sense. In performance, in a movie, in a commercial, in a video game, in an anime, or a TV show- I became completely obsessed with our consummation. It is something I feel consumes me not in a way that I’m being torn to shreds and eaten alive it moreso a quickening that spreads through. I struggled to balance it with my other talents in sports like hurdling for track & field; and by college I struggled to balance that love with even my academics, both that I had always succeeded in maintaining performances above average. But I was firmly in love, and wanted to marry myself to the arts. I majored in Film and minored in Jazz Voice and Piano at Howard University; it was a magical time in my life, but two years into school I was beckoned to leave, and I just threw myself totally into it. It’s not like I ever made a specific choice to be a musician; it is apart of me. It takes over every aspect of my being, my senses, it is such a hedonistic way of life. Before I left, I got to experience Sunday Service with Kanye’s choir; it inspired and emboldened me to make the decision to leave school when I couldn’t afford to pay for it anymore. I started interning with a local arts and entertainment company in Maryland, OnleVibez, that gave me access to performing, styling, artist relations, events, and begat a lot of my development as an artist. I recorded music with my peers at school and started putting it out on Soundcloud. My voice reached a friend in London that gave me the beats to some of my very first stylized songs. Over the course of 2019-2020, I bounced around between school and home, making trips up to New York as often as I could, making music with the musicians I’d meet along the way. By summer 2020, I moved to Brooklyn, and started putting out music on other DSPs as well as Soundcloud while promoting them on my social media. It really comes from a place of genuinely being proud and having fun with sound, I love to share my accomplishments, and I feel very accomplished every time I figure out something new I can do with my talents. One mixtape, titled In My Telfar, brought my relationship with music to a whole new, far more deep, arena. Cleopatra is the first song I produced myself in Logic; I made it with the help of my brother who makes beats and would send me the very first ones I used to sing on when I started sharing my songs. I was so proud of it, my friends liked it too, so with the help of my brother we made a music video of us dancing at the park with our Telfar bags. When I made the mixtape and tagged them, I didn’t think anything would come of it. The mixtape cover was me stepping into a petite Telfar tote, so I thought to tag the brand. When they followed me, and started engaging with my posts, I thought it was so cool! When they posted my music video for their bag drop, I couldn’t believe it! When they invited me 5 months later to model for their converse collaboration, I was floored. It is so shocking to me at times that anyone can see me, that anyone notices me. I’m simply myself; but those few moments led to years of my collaborating with Telfar Global on campaigns, getting to meet prolific musicians like Questlove, Kanye, and Fat Joe, getting signed to a modeling agency, from featuring my vocals on songs of local rappers to signing off my first sync licensed song, performing in New York, starting a band, becoming a dancer, leaving my agency and standing as a free agent, then signing a distribution deal, all while collaborating with high caliber musicians, photographers and designers from all over the world. I’ve made some songs, some with known people and some with unknown people. I’m learning I will always make songs. I don’t think I want to be a world famous pop star. I don’t think I want to be an unknown bar musician either. I still don’t quite know what I want to create with music; I just know I want to make it, and that making it has led me into a romance that I will one day write an epic about, because it has been quite the journey.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

Absolutely not! I’m learning that making music is a call to express, like, my humanness, as in; it is an unadulterated expression of what my experience as a human has been. My relationships with my family and some friends have strained along the way. My mother is sick and chasing my dreams keeps me far from her, especially now that she’s going home to Nigeria for care. I have struggled with housing, with abuse; I’ve struggled with self love and self care. I’ve struggled with how to position myself in the politics of entertainment. I’m considered beautiful; but I know the ridicule of my darker skin. I can sing, but who cares? He wants to work with me, but what does he really want from me? Why did they get paid and I didn’t? How can I get paid more? Who will take a chance on me? Should I get noticed more on social media? What is my ethos as an artist? Do I really want this to be my full-time career? I’ve put it all in the music. The road seems a lot smoother to me now thankfully, but those bumps are still there, held in little raised scars across my body, in the stress acne scars on my chest. I don’t think this road will ever be easy for me, but at the end of it I truly believe I’ll have smooth sailing.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?

I produce and sing songs. I model and muse. I dance and I perform. I specialize in being myself, and that in being myself I am able to seduce many. I think I am known for my eyes. Or maybe my simile, or hopefully my voice. I am most proud of fit modeling for Riccardo Tisci and singing “Woo” by Rihanna really loudly in the hallway so he would remember me. I’m also embarrassed about it, but I believe in myself and I think my belief in myself sets me apart. I’ve been praised for my optimism although I can be pretty depressed. My work is simply to live my life, and make something beautiful of it for myself, and for others.

How do you define success?

I am dancing, and everyone who has lifted me up that I may use these legs underneath me are dancing too, in this life and the next. As long as the people I love are smiling and dancing, I’m successful.

Pricing:

• my model rates start at $1000 and go as far as $15000. I am worth every cent.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nkiruemelle.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/nki.eme
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/naijacat
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@nkieme?si=JaqOamXEL83gGII2
• Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/16eXa2JMtuzTTP636

Image Credits

@uhh.jean

Jeanette Williams