In Rotation: Sekou

When a 21-year-old British-Ivorian kid from a rural Leicestershire town called Ashby-de-la-Zouch steps to the mic, you don't expect a bottom-heavy baritone that sounds like it was fermented in a 1970s soul session. That vocal tone got Sekou Sylla signed to Good Soldier Records at just 16 years old. He went viral on TikTok, played the BBC Music Introducing tent at Glastonbury in 2022, and eventually became the youngest artist ever nominated for the BRITs Rising Star Award in 2024. He even caught opening slots for SZA and FLO. For a minute, the industry tried to box him in. The early formula was simple: put the kid in front of a piano, let him belt out emotional ballads, and watch the tears fall. It worked, but it was a trap. Too many young R&B singers with massive voices get chained to the ballad stool because producers are terrified of f***ing up the mix with a heavy groove. Sekou deciding to ditch the tragedy, embrace his love for dancing, and pivot to vibrant, uptempo R&B on his recent EMI/Republic mixtape In a World We Don't Belong Pt. 2 is the smartest career move of the year. You hear that evolution immediately on the single "Love Language." The bassline actually matches the weight of his vocal tone. He recently told the press he just wanted to express how he feels as a 21-year-old boy, and you hear that unpolished energy in the drum programming. He even spent time working on Justin Bieber’s upcoming SWAG album, proving his pen game is catching up to his vocal chords. The momentum is translating stateside. College and independent radio stations from Pittsburgh’s WYEP to Salt Lake City’s KRCL are spinning him heavily. Spotify just slotted his track "Does She Know" at number 11 on their YAMS playlist. He is taking this new energy on the road, hitting Summer Sonic in Japan and Rock en Seine in France this August, before capping the year with a December 14th headline show at Koko in London. This is the exact moment an artist figures out who they actually are. Hear it down below.