Features : After years living in Nigeria, Lucianne finds her way back to music

After making a name for herself as an actress, Lucianne is turning her focus back to music with her upcoming EP Intro, set for release in August.

The British-born Nigerian musician, raised in Hackney, East London, has been performing since the age of 11 and found great success in the Nigerian film industry, where she starred in films such as Three Thieves.

But she was already an accomplished music artist, starting her career as Luci Monét. Now known simply as Lucianne, she released a debut single, “More,” under the new name this spring and the official music video has already garnered more than 350,000 plays on YouTube alone.

“I moved to Nigeria for a couple of years and started doing some acting. It was during that period that I found myself,” she says. “They say to know where you’re going you need to know where you’ve come from. Going back home gave me a renewed vision and helped me to understand my purpose and journey.”

Her new five-song EP is like a diary through song, and it’s aptly named because the project serves as a reintroduction to the world after her personal rebranding, which includes the use of her real name. Musically, it’s a mixture of Afro soul and Afro pop and reflects the 90’s R&B that influenced her growing up.

“I grew up listening to Destiny’s Child, Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men and you can definitely hear it in the melodies of the music but my culture is African so I always had thad sound in the home with my parents playing music,” Lucianne says. “Moving back to Africa, I was literally in the heart of it all and you can definitely hear the African sounds in the lyrics I’m using, the choice of words and the order of words. You can hear it in the rhythm with the drum kick. It’s a nice mix of that African kick mixed with R&B melodies and harmonies.”

Lucianne will release her next single, “Te Amo,” on July 8. While “More” was inspired by pandemic lockdowns and the start of a relationship where you want more of someone you love but can’t have them fully because you can’t leave your house, the new single depicts a later stage in a relationship.

“It’s what every relationship goes through at times where, as a woman, you’re saying to the guy: listen, you are not giving me what I need,” she says. “I need your attention, I need you to show me how much you actually want me, how much you’re feeling me. It’s basically either love me or leave me.”

Fans can expect a whole new body of work to come after the EP and towards the end of the year. Lucianne will also be performing live throughout the summer in the U.K. In addition to being an artist and actress, she’s a wife and mother and also owns her own record label, RIV Records, and her own football club in Africa, Atlantic Business FC.

Make sure to stay connected to Lucianne on all platforms for new music, videos and social posts.

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