nude Moonchild Sanelly Nudes EP

Moonchild Sanelly strips it back with new EP ‘Nudes’

International gqom singer Moonchild Sanelly speaks about her new EP and its inspiration to liberate women.

nude Moonchild Sanelly Nudes EP

Musician Moonchild Sanelly has released her latest music in the form of an extended play (EP) Nudes on 11 September 2020.

The EP came out under the artist’s new record label, Transgressive Records.

Moonchild is also excited about working with the widely popular and iconic British virtual band Gorillaz, who recently announced a new project. She said she will be a part of this alongside Sir Elton John and other international artists.

Moonchild says she wants her music to inspire and liberate women around the world.

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OUT NOW!!! #ThundaThighs #Bashri ffm.to/nudesep ???

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Who is Moonchild Sanelly?

Moonchild Sanelly is a versatile gqom artist, songwriter and performer who was raised in Port Elizabeth.

She was featured on Beyonce’s The Lion King soundtrack in 2019, as well as more recently on the song My Power for the American superstar’s Black is King short film.

Moonchild is famous for her infectious energy and her signature blue hair which she has patented.

She is the pioneer of her own musical genre which she calls “Future Ghetto Funk” – a blend of hip-hop, jazz and kwaito. She says her musical family upbringing inspired this genre.

 “I grew up with a lot of kwaito because my cousins were dancers, so there was always kwaito music playing on the weekend,” said Moonchild.

“My brother was a producer so there was a lot of hip-hop happening in the house and my mom came from a jazz background. These three genres were genres I couldn’t escape at all.

“Everything else then gets strung by the electronic sound I like, usually the synth and everything else that comes with it.”

How fashion influences Moonchild

Moonchild attended the Linea Fashion Design Academy in Durban and says her history with the academy has helped her to create her own image.

She has performed at the Sound Festival Primavera in Spain in 2018, and at Coachella in California in 2019 cementing her as an international artist.

The ‘Nudes’ EP

The artist says Nudes has been a sexual liberation project two years in the making. It includes the hit singles Thunda Thighs, Where De Dee Kat and Bashiri.

“This EP is to just change that negativity attached to bringing women down by showing off nudes,” she said, referring to boyfriends who post naked images of their ex after a break-up.

“It’s illegal, it’s not cool. Basically, this is a part of all the liberation. I tell girls not to send nudes,” she said.

In Bashiri, Moonchild creatively comments on infidelity by taking on a role of a woman with a cheating husband.


“I am playing the character of a woman in church whose husband was trifling, he left her and then came back,” she said.

“But because she’s been tithing, she thinks it is the blessings of Jesus. Meanwhile, she hasn’t gone to check if this person came with diseases or to get relationship therapy.

“It’s like taking ownership of things you can change physically and not always blaming it on the spiritual power when there are other things you can put on that.”

The creative process

Moonchild outlined the creative process behind making Nudes.

“The processes were so different because I would have a week in Cape Town. Then I’d have a session there and then I would get beats from [somewhere else].

“It became about having so much music that had so many different processes and purposes coming together to make a project.

“Now I’ve got time to focus on my album as well especially after signing to a new label – Transgressive Records,” she said.

Moonchild the social activist

Moonchild regards herself as a social activist. She posted a video on her Instagram page in April where she pledged to make and deliver masks to vulnerable people.

She is also passionate about children and educating them on owning their individuality.

“I want children to question when they’re being violated,” she said.

“Most of the time, a lot of things happen because there’s no one who’s telling you what it’s supposed to be like.

“The conversation is [not being had] at home, even on the radio it’s not necessarily there.”

Moonchild said she would be a psychologist if she were not an artist. That’s because that would allow her to raise awareness of important societal issues as she does through her music.

“I use music to teach lessons and to make people sing along to conscious things without feeling sad. When people connect and resonate, it’s the best way of moving a song because everyone can relate.

“We’ve gone through the same stories, but in different times and in different boxes.”