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Next Wave #1075: Morgan Munroe

In Association With Vero True Social

Morgan Munroe is painstakingly diligent. Her eclectic sound that welds together tones of jazz and R&B combined with her emotional maturity that is established through her lyrics creates an alluring blend that fits well alongside her well-versed vocals.

Morgan Munroe was destined to sing, “My mum says I basically came out of the womb singing.” Growing up in Leicester, Morgan moved to London in 2019 to pursue music. She found that “it was harder to kind of gain understanding and gain a community of music people, but once I got that I don’t think there’s really much difference at all.”

During lockdown, Morgan found herself without a job and in need of a way to pay rent, so she started entering Instagram competitions as a way to supplement income. As a result Morgan won £7500 worth of home studio equipment in an SB:TV competition as well as being highlighted on DJ Targets BBC 1Xtra IG live series. “I went and did a couple of live competitions on Instagram and got so nervous, I came off shaking… That was also a big motivation for me just to prove to myself that I can perform on Insta Live.”

With lockdown already proving to be a time of immense productivity, Munroe dropped her official debut EP entitled ‘Layer 0.5′. The project, which was originally released back in 2018, faced issues with songs being taken down, so when COVID hit Munroe took the opportunity to remake it. ‘Layer 0.5′ introduced Munroe’s smooth vocals with tracks such as ‘Mama Taught Me’ displaying her stunning vocals leading a soulful backing.

Morgan’s latest project entitled ‘Elvira’, is named after Michelle Pfiffer’s character in the iconic 1983 film Scarface. When asked about the choice of the title Morgan responded that Scarface is one of her favourite films and that “everything just fell into place.” Films appear to be a key influence in Munroe’s creative process. She explained that she is a “big movie head”, even the final track of the project is entitled ‘Voldermort’. Those influences bleed throughout ‘Elvira’. On opening track ‘End Game’, what begins as a soft trap-like beat, ascends into a glistening spy-esque soundtrack guided through the well-versed vocals of Munroe.

Lyrically ‘Elvira’ is complex. The tracks comment on relationships and love, but Munroe flips the script instead focussing on a female narrative and portraying empowered women. “There’s a lot of feminine and masculine energy, there’s a lot of strong independent women vibes and empowerment.” She further revealed that “sad songs where the girl is pining over the guy and crying, that’s not me, that’s never been me… I want songs that say you might get treated badly by guys, you might go through shitty relationships, but you’re still coming out of it a better woman and a big woman and a stronger woman.”  

Morgan’s sound is hard to pinpoint. Elements of a multitude of genres make up her discography. On ‘Elvira’ it feels like this concoction of genres has been polished. Munroe noted that tracks like ‘Endgame’ “starts off like lo-fi trap, and then it turns into this sort of cinematic classic jazz influenced piece.” She finalised her thoughts by saying, “I am still developing my sound, but now I feel like I’ve got it down to a tee.”

Morgan Munroe has one simple ask when it comes to her music, sit and listen to it. She observed that “I feel like a lot of the time with singers the words get lost in the melodies and the music, and I like to say I’m not a rapper, but I’ve got bars. So I want people to really listen to it and take it in.” With the release of ‘Elvira’ imminent, fans better prepare themselves to listen to Morgan Munroe at her finest.

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‘Elvira’ is out now.

Words: Abbie Aitken

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Source: https://www.clashmusic.com/next-wave/next-wave-1075-morgan-munroe

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