CLASSIC CONVO: British Soul Sensation Elmiene’s Wild Ride
British neo-soul phenom Elmiene is still pinching himself over his meteoric rise to fame, as he revealed during a candid chat with Majic 102.1’s Madd Hatta this week.
The 24-year-old Oxford native went from complete unknown to international recording artist practically overnight after his D’Angelo “Untitled” cover exploded on social media. “I posted it at 9pm, and by 6am the next day I was seeing all this crazy stuff,” Elmiene told Hatta. “Emails from Universal being like, ‘What’s good? We want to have a meeting with you.'”
But here’s the kicker – this wasn’t some calculated career move. Elmiene admits he had zero formal training and was content being a “C-grade” student who thought he’d end up as a security guard. “Everything in life was that – bare minimum, get by,” he confessed with refreshing honesty.
The turning point came when his English teacher forced him into a poetry competition. That runner-up finish sparked something, leading to his deep dive into soul music history. “I’m obsessed. I’m a massive nerd. Everything I like, I need to know everything about,” he said.
What makes Elmiene special isn’t just his silky vocals – it’s his humility. Despite working with legends like Raphael Saadiq and No I.D., he still carries himself like that kid from Oxford discovering H-Town for the first time.
“I just want to be part of the legacy of soul,” he explained. “If someone can say Stevie Wonder led to whoever, and then that led to D’Angelo, and somewhere in there is Elmiene – that’s my goal.”
His new mixtape “Heat the Streets” drops September 5th, with a full album slated for February. For a guy who “accidentally” became a star, Elmiene’s future looks anything but accidental.
Check out my Classic Convo with Elmiene when you click below.
