The Many Phases of Moonchild Sanelly

Photographed by Aart Verrips.

Moonchild Sanelly is an astral force, a bolt of blue-haired love, and a femme power beaming down upon us and guiding us through our nightly hijinks. The rising star just dropped her new album Phases. She weaves us through the hyper-local scenes and sounds of her youth with styles like Amapiano, Kwaito, Gqom, that, like Moon, have spread far beyond South Africa. Concurrently, the record also encapsulates the ever-burgeoning global sounds movement that sees pop stars and fans crossing languages, beats, and cultures with ease.

Over 19 tracks, Phases tackles love, loss, female empowerment, and toxic relationships, hitting like a soundtrack to the journey many have us have taken over the past two years. The record covers serious ground from Moon’s unique perspective. Phases is delicious, delirious, and damn danceable, and it’s about to be the soundtrack to your sweaty summer nights.

We caught up with Moon to talk Phases and why she loves saying f*ck you to a plate of dicks.

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Congratulations on the release of Phases! We’d love to hear from you what the core takeaway is from the project? From detailing heartbreak to encouraging a liberated lifestyle, how do you want listeners to interpret this double LP?

I represented different women and hopefully the ones that it's made for connect to the different songs, especially because it has multiple genres, and its always about liberation. I've tapped into more than one type of woman. I'm not shunning anyone that is not doing anything seen by society as acceptable in their hustle cause it's an adventure sport having a vagina.

We can definitely sense a rebellious streak throughout the album, it’s something we feel ties every song together and makes it unique. This concept of following your own path and not making yourself smaller for others is important, especially for artists that want to present their truest forms. How have you found this is perceived by the industry, have you ever felt backlash to it?

I think there is more of that in my country but the world seems to be just eating me up. I guess I was born where I was born but I was born for the world. That works out really well for me cause I feel like I'd lose my mind if I had to do what I'm told to do or what’s supposed to work. I don't necessarily create blindly but there are some things that I'm definitely conscious of like hooks. That's so you're a part of the story and the performance, especially when I'm live. My biggest thing is hooks, they are my way of being able to just play around and still involve people by connecting to the stories. After all I'm just a storyteller  and every beat is where I get to express it.

You’re already an icon in South Africa, and your global influence is catching on which we’re extremely excited to see. How does it feel to bring your signature ‘future-ghetto-funk’ sound to the international masses? Can you explain how this sound was formed?

It feels good. I formed the sound back in 2007 back when I was making my album at the time. I called it "Time Traveller's Playlist". I guess by the name you can also tell that I was playing around with a lot of sounds as well. I remember my first song that I created where I knew where I was going, was "Red Eye" where I was literally just in studio and I had this vision. I literally had a picture of this whole thing playing out and then I explained it to someone I was working with Catalyst, a producer. Fortunately for me he understood what I was saying and made the beat and I was just like, great, because I wasn't even necessarily exposed to electronic music at the time to have had a reference. Future ghetto funk has got very strong influences of kwaito and hip hop which is a huge part of my background and upbringing. Jazz too. The future is basically the dish of all those ingredients and that's how future ghetto funk was born.

Phases has some powerful collaborations, from the likes of ‘Strip Club ft. Ghetts’, ‘Cute ft. Trillary Banks’, ‘Soyenza ft. Sir Trill’ and more. Can you give us the backstory to one of your favorite collaborations? How did the relationship come to be, and how was it working with them? How does your creative process change when you’re working alone versus working with another artist?

I really love and appreciate everyone that is on the album, they're super super special. One of the people that I worked with for the first time, and a super fuck with them, is Stokki Monster cause she's a beast. She produced two songs on the album and where she took it from the time we record the stuff to where it ends is just ridiculous.  Even I had pleasant surprises when I finally had the final projects. And just having her work with me is fucking trippy. It was fricken cool cause she's limitless. You don't know what to expect which I think a lot of the times is what people say about me as well. I love being surprised and I love being challenged as well. So when Stokki plugged me it was fucking amazing.

We’ve been following your music videos closely as well, from racing cars to being a covid news anchor, you’ve taken on many roles! It’s safe to say that Moonchild Sanelly is an all encompassing audio-visual project. How important is this stylistic element to your music? We’ve heard you create your own looks as well, can you dive into how your background with fashion influences your persona as a musician today?

Fortunately for me in varsity, I studied fashion design so being able to express myself and bring it to life is something that I've always been able to do. That's definitely help me set myself apart from the rest because I'm basically my reference and I don't like things that have been done. I like things my way in my time as well. So in as much as my music is not in a box, my fashion is also not in a box. I think a lot of it is about liberation as well, owning your body and knowing that sex is not a size. So I guess when the music translates into the clothing it's all a part of the Moonchild expression. Sometimes I express on a cloth and sometimes I express on a beat

It would be great to learn about some of your past and current influences. You’ve worked alongside some legends in the industry, Beyonce for one. Who are some of the voices that guide you daily?

Beyonce (chuckle), Doja, Cardi, Meg. The bad bitch pussy power beasts. Even with the descriptions of what I do, there's those kinds of girls that exist in the world, which I feel makes the mission even easier when there's so many more women who are about pussy power and pussy popping. These are the people I listen to all the time when I have to play music and when I play music. Muni Long - I love her song writing. She's a badass. Letta Mbuli and Caiphius Semenya because of their timeless songs and they are bad ass song writers and I think it's something that's not spoken about enough. It's ridiculous because a lot of the times the legends die poor and we've got these living legends that are still at it. They play a massive part in the music business. For me, I like looking at things like that as well. Tina Turner- her control is ridiculous.  Beyoncé- relevance and the power of reinvention, growth and not letting ego be your enemy but always having your ear on the ground and that automatically means working with young people as well. So you can look at it as giving an opportunity but it's also beneficial because all the generations from the time she existed know who the fuck she is and that's fucking magical.

A major theme throughout Phases (and your career as a whole) is female empowerment and sex positivity. There is so much work that is still to be done to make sure biases are squashed and diverse representation is widely encouraged. How do you feel women are still being pigeonholed in the industry today, what are some things that have worked for you to ignore the naysayers and those who try to silence others for being who they want to be?

I think in general as a women you develop a way to say "fuck you" to the plate of dicks after making a hit. They always try to a point where it's very memorable when no one tries it. I feel like there's a level of self belief where you won't be manipulated into a situation like that especially when you know. Boys in power will try take advantage.  You will go through those experiences. You just gotta develop a way  of saying fuck you with a smile to the plate of dicks.

Many artists wish to instill change on the world with what they create. What are some of your ambitions as an artist, and with Phases specifically? Do you think that your ambitions have changed since your breakthrough work?

Oh absolutely! There's so many more women that own their bodies now who all had the same things rejected just a couple of years ago. So there's some level of desensitization to that, Phases is meant to contribute to that. Like if you listen to "Too Late", that's a song that could literally be a bad bitch who is always working, wants good service, consistent service and scheduled service and no drama. We have no time for that in society, for women, you know to be a side chick. I guess that's why there's polygamy, so you can look at it that way. So you can own it. So it's not me shunning, it's just an ode to side chicks.

Songs like "Bird so bad", I say it's pretty dark because you have those moments where you just want to escape but you don't necessarily want to die. But I don’t eliminate or judge people who go through suicidal thoughts and have depression. I was experiencing what I was experiencing and it wasn't necessarily to that extreme but it doesn't eliminate feeling that way in every magnitude however you see escape as. So that's what connects all of us, that it's okay. But it never really ends in tears. The hopeful part is always consistent.

Songs like "Favorite regret", it's crazy cause everytime I sing it and I'm overseas I start my set with it and it feels like a prayer because I'm literally singing what I'm doing as I'm doing it. It's trippy.

"Undumpable" is like "I'm going no where" and someone would have called you a psycho and a crazy bitch and be like it's okay also because it's what I experienced. That's what came out of what I was experiencing with you, through you. And it's okay that's also a part of you. I guess it's about celebrating all the unpopular parts of the different shades and phases of a woman.

Music can heal, and has the unique ability to do that across cultural lines, which is why music is a global language. Can you share a couple songs from your life that you recommend our readers should know about?

I'd recommend "Undumpable", "Favorite regret", "Bird So bad", "Demon", "Over you" and everything.

Outside of me I'd recommend Letta Mbuli's discography. Brenda Fassie definitely. Weekend special.

When my mom passed, I sang "Hopeful" by Twista and Faith Evans. That's all I sang all day. (Sings it)

Thanks for taking the time to chat with us today, and congratulations on this fabulous project. Anything else you’d like for us to know before you go?

Thank you for the love. Thanks for having me. Stream the album. It's popping, it's ridiculous. Get it. Get it. Get it. I promise you there's gang gang songs that I can connect to the world cause I'm a conscientious writer.