IM at 10: 5 Things We Learnt From… Malika (Interview)

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For our second conversation to mark our 10 year anniversary, we spoke to Malika. This artist is important to IndustryMe not only as an artist whom we have covered, but also as a former writer. Her column allowed her to showcase their thoughts on the music scene, and we always enjoyed reading what she had to say.

Following the viral resurgence of ‘Go‘, we sat down with this artist a few weeks back. This was ahead of what is set to be a busy summer. Here are 5 things we learnt from that conversation…

There could be an amapiano version of ‘Go‘ in the vault

When we discuseed the direction of the new Rudimental and Kairo Keyz remix, Malika listed some other genres it could have been. One of those is amapiano, but sadly no one recorded a verse for that version. We hold out hope that some day, we’ll be grooving along to that version in a club or a rave.

Afrobeats/amapiano are distant cousins with funky house

The resurgance of the track has been driven by nostalgia, which has also impacted other tracks like Kyla’s ‘Do You Mind‘. Another factor for Malika, was the links between funky house and Afrobeats/amapiano. We came to a consensus that the genres were distant cousins, each with its own cultural drum patterns, and that funky house is distinctlyEnglish.

Partnership with Relentless benefits both parties

With ‘Go‘ now signed to the iconic Relentless Records, the song could take on a new lease of life. Malika explained that she is ‘renting the song’ to them, whilst still owning the rights and being an independent artist. That way, both parties benefit; the song can go places, and something that is important to U.K. culture benefits greatly.

Malika is a busy person (and needs more sleep)

This is someone who is certainly busy right now, but that isn’t a bad thing. She spoke about writing new music, filming a documentary about pivotal women in U.K. music, and being a businesswoman. With all this and the resurgence of ‘Go‘, Malika is not getting much sleep, which she is missing. However, we can’t wait to see and hear what comes out of all this work, music or documentary-wise.

Female dance vocalists are still not getting the credit and representation they deserve

One thing we previously chatted about was female dance vocalists and how they didn’t get the credit they deserved. A few years on, Malika still believes that this is the case. While these artists have more control over releases and access to information, she made a very valid point that the industry changes when people get smart. While it is nice to see artists like Jazzy and Clementine Douglas do well, there is still a long way to go to improve things for women in the dance music scene.

Malika is on Instagram, Threads, and TikTok. Read more interviews here and stream her music below. Also, head to our YouTube later for the full interview.

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