Following her A COLORS SHOW performance of ‘Wild Ride’, Xenia Manasseh shared stories of her musical journey in an exclusive interview as part of Spotify and COLORS’ collaborative series showcasing exceptional Kenyan R&B talent. The artist from Nairobi and lover of life, learner, adventurous soul, and courageous trait best describes her and her musical career.
Xenia Manasseh remanences a lot of her musical memories from childhood just because everyone in her family does music. The biggest memory was during family gatherings which by now its a tradition that it must end with singing. Her grandfather played a pivotal role in her now career as he taught her how to play songs on the piano, this formed a basis of music love and understanding.
The support Xenia Manasseh got from home and her entire family was the biggest push of her doing music professional as she knew that she made different music and she was worried that it wouldn’t be accepted in the Kenyan music market space. In addition, her uniqueness in making music from an early age spearheaded her critical decision of diving fully into music as a professional.
Xeniah Manasseh and Lisa Oduor featured in Colors X Studio.
Studying in the US to Xenia Manasseh put her in a space to create like a machines and this was just a big stepping stone for her to develop and furbish what she has been doing from an early age – music. The US has the best music schools in the world but as a tradition in the Kenyan education curriculum after secondary school one is required to apply to several different colleges or universities. Xenia Manasseh only applied to two universities in the US as she spent the whole of her high school thinking she was going to study law specifically entertainment law because it entitles a bit of music, but she ended up at Berklee College of Music.
Xenia Manasseh pin points her uniqueness and her trusting her instincts – believing that there is nobody like her or nobody who thinks like her – , relying on that has brought her to where she is now in terms of her career. This has greatly reflected on her pen game on which she added that, her approach to writing for everybody is the same and everything comes from within which helps in expressing her feelings or even those she had been in session with.
According to Xenia Manasseh, R&B is so rooted in love and the explorations that comes with it more than any other genre and for this reason so many people gravitate towards R&B. Xenia Manasseh music builds sound capes and she uses her voice to create a whole world of music for her and her listeners too. Reflecting on her new album, Xenia Manasseh started that the album was drawn from personal experiences as it talks about how she felt and honesty is the only way she can really connect to music.