From studying at Berklee College of Music to bringing East African sounds to the global stage, emerging artist Malaika Gray brings her fresh perspective to the music space. Here, she lets us in on her musical journey, blending cultural influences from Tanzania and South Africa, and collaborating with Marioo on her debut release.
GLAMOUR: Congratulations on your musical debut! What does this moment mean to you personally, and how does it feel to finally introduce Malaika Gray to the world as a recording artist?
Malaika: This moment means so much to me. Imagine everything you have dreamed of since you were a little girl finally coming to fruition. It honestly feels out of this world, and I am still wrapping my head around the fact that it is all happening for me.
I am genuinely so grateful. I have spent so much of this journey thanking God, thanking my family, and thanking my team for believing in me and putting so much time, energy and effort into this. There are so many people who have poured into me, encouraged me and reminded me to keep going, so being able to finally share the music feels like a very emotional full-circle moment.
Seeing people accept me with open arms as an artist has been so beautiful. I had dreams of this for so long, but you never really know how people are going to receive you when you finally put yourself out there. To see people connecting with the song, supporting me and wanting to hear more means more than I can explain.
I cannot wait for people to hear more of my music and see more of what I can do. My goal has always been bigger than just releasing songs. I want to put Tanzania and East Africa on the map and take it to the world — Tanzania to the world. It is surreal to think, “Wow, I really did that.” It makes me emotional, and I am so grateful for every part of this journey.
This is only the beginning for me, and I feel incredibly blessed to finally introduce Malaika Gray to the world.
GLAMOUR: You were born in Australia, raised in South Africa and are currently studying in Boston. How have these different cultural experiences shaped the woman and artist you are today?
Malaika: I was born in Australia, I am Tanzanian, I was raised in South Africa, and I am now studying at Berklee College of Music in Boston. All of those experiences have given me a deeper understanding of the artist I want to be and the kind of person I want to become.
Growing up, I listened to so many different types of music. My mom is incredibly connected to music and culture, and through her I was exposed to music from all around the world. I feel like I have genuinely listened to music from so many different places at this point, and that has made me very curious about sound, people and culture.
Then moving to the United States and studying at a music school surrounded by even more people and cultures has continued to shape me as a musician. Every environment I have been in has given me something different. South Africa gave me a huge part of my upbringing and identity, Tanzania gives me my cultural roots, Australia is part of my story, and Boston has challenged me to grow creatively and professionally.
I think being surrounded by different cultures has taught me how differently people can see and experience the world, but it has also shown me that there is always something human that connects us. As an artist, when you tap into that shared human experience, that is what allows you to connect with people from so many different backgrounds.
I love being able to take all of these cultural experiences and translate them into something tangible through my music. It is exciting because I do not have to choose one part of myself. I can take everything I have experienced and allow it to become part of my sound and my story.
GLAMOUR: Your debut single, My Fever, blends Afrobeats, Bongo Flava and R&B. How would you describe your musical identity, and what do you want listeners to feel when they hear your music?
Malaika: My musical identity is quite complex, but at the same time it is very simple. At the end of the day, I am a Tanzanian artist. I make Bongo Flava and Afropop, and Afropop has always been something I really wanted to explore as an artist. I also love singing soul and R&B, which are sounds I have always connected with and that have influenced me vocally.
I think my music is going to continue to grow because I am not someone who wants to put myself into one box. I want the foundation to always feel like me and feel connected to where I come from, but I also want to be able to experiment with different sounds and influences.
With my music, I want people to feel in tune with themselves and to relate to it on a personal level. Even if it is a fun song, I want there to be something in the lyrics that people can connect with. I love when a song can make you dance but also have a lyric that stays in your head because it reminds you of something you experienced.
For example, I have a song called “Language,” which is about not being loved in the way you want or deserve to be loved — about two people having different love languages and struggling to understand each other. I want people to be able to hear a song like that and interpret it through their own experiences.
Ultimately, I really want people to feel when they listen to my music. I want them to connect with it in whatever way feels most personal to them. Whether they are heartbroken, in love, confident, celebrating or simply having fun, I want there to be a Malaika song that meets them in that moment.
GLAMOUR: My Fever has a romantic, sensual and intimate feel. How important is it for you to embrace femininity, vulnerability and sensuality through your music?
Malaika: Embracing femininity is incredibly important to me. For me, femininity is also about feeling empowered as a woman and being completely in touch with yourself. I think there is something very powerful about allowing yourself to explore all of the different sides of who you are.
I love making sensual and sexy music that makes you feel like, “I’m that girl.” I want women to listen to my music and feel empowered, beautiful, confident and incredible. And I want everyone to be able to connect with that feeling — regardless of who they are.
For me, sensuality is not just about being sexy. It can be about confidence, vulnerability, desire, self-expression and being comfortable in your own skin. I want to be able to explore all of those things without feeling like I have to apologise for them.
Music can become such a personal experience. I want people to hear my songs and feel like they can achieve anything, that they are beautiful, that they are powerful, that they are capable of love and that they can fully embrace themselves.
That is what femininity and sensuality mean to me: being comfortable enough to tap into all of those different sides of yourself. I want my music to make people feel more connected to themselves, because I think that is where real confidence comes from.
GLAMOUR: Collaborating with an established Tanzanian star like Marioo on your very first single is a major introduction to the industry. How did the collaboration come about, and what was it like sharing creative space with him?
Malaika: Marioo has been one of my favourite artists for years. I have followed his music since songs like “Dear Ex,” and I have always loved his writing and the way he creates music. So getting to do this with him on my very first release is something I am incredibly grateful for.
The collaboration came about through my family and people in my circle — my mom’s close friend Ommy Dimpoz, who is also an artist in the industry, and the producer Abbah Process. We all went together to Marioo’s rehearsal for a show he was preparing for, and afterwards we had a conversation about the song. Marioo had also followed me on Instagram previously and had seen some of my singing videos, so we started talking about the idea and everything came together naturally.
What means the most to me is that he believed in me at a time when I had released nothing. I did not even have an Apple Music profile or a YouTube profile yet. He really helped take me from zero to this moment, and I am so grateful for his support and for the trust he placed in me.
We also have really good chemistry. Through writing together and spending time together, we became friends and had a lot of deep conversations about music and life. I think that helped our creative chemistry, which you can really see in the music video. There was a level of comfort that made the collaboration feel very natural.
I loved his writing style, and the actual writing process was so easy because we both move quickly. We could have an idea and immediately build on it. We understood how to bring our individual styles together and make them feel like one. I honestly loved working with him, and I am excited to work with him again in the future because he is incredibly talented.
GLAMOUR: The single explores romance and emotion. Are you naturally a romantic, and how much of your personal experiences and understanding of love find their way into your songwriting?
Malaika: I am naturally a romantic person, although I can actually be quite awkward when it comes to romance and love. Sometimes I struggle to express myself romantically in real life. I am much better at expressing family love, friendship love and platonic love. I think I express romance much better through songwriting.
Heartbreak has also taught me a lot and has allowed me to write better songs. I think sometimes the experiences that hurt us become some of the experiences that teach us the most creatively. Most of my music is very personal, but there are so many ways to tell a personal story. You can write about something that happened to you directly, or you can make it more vague, more playful, more sensual or even more mysterious.
My songwriting can be very deep, but it can also be super sensual, sexy and confident — that “I’m that girl” energy. Then there are moments where I am incredibly vulnerable and talking about something that hurt me, made me happy, confused me or left me questioning where I belonged.
Sometimes people even ask me to write about their experiences from my perspective, and that opens up another way of approaching songwriting. I love that there are so many different stories and emotions you can explore through music.
Right now, I am not necessarily focused on romance in my own life, but I definitely draw from some of my romantic experiences when I write. I love being able to take those moments and turn them into something creative. Sometimes I can take one small moment from my life and turn it into an entire story, and that is one of my favourite things about songwriting.
GLAMOUR: You’re studying at the prestigious Berklee College of Music. How has your education influenced your approach to songwriting, performance and understanding the music business?
Malaika: Berklee has influenced me tremendously, especially when it comes to the music business and my development as a vocalist.
I really love studying music business. Some of my favourite classes have been law and economics. I did not particularly enjoy economics in high school, but at Berklee I found myself genuinely enjoying it because I could see how it connected to the music industry and to the decisions artists have to make.
The professors and the books have been incredibly helpful. If I want to understand something about royalties, contracts or the business side of music, I know I can go to my professors and really learn from them. It has helped me understand the industry in a much more practical way, and I think that knowledge is especially important when you are trying to build a career and protect your work.
Songwriting is a little different. Berklee has not necessarily taught me how to write songs because songwriting has always been something that came naturally to me. What Berklee has given me is the opportunity to collaborate with other musicians and hear how other people write, which has influenced me without changing the foundation of how I naturally create.
Performance-wise, Berklee has taught me a lot about my voice. I have learned how to use my voice correctly, how to place it when I am belting, how to make it stronger and louder in a healthy way, and how to take better care of my instrument. That has made me more conscious of my voice and more intentional about how I perform.
I have genuinely loved both my Performance and Music Business studies. They have taught me so much about singing, artistry and the business behind it, and I am really grateful to be in an environment where I can develop all of those sides at the same time.
GLAMOUR: Glamour is as much about personal expression as it is about fashion and beauty. How would you describe your personal style, and does your aesthetic influence the way you present yourself as an artist?
Malaika: I think when you are an artist, your style can either be an extension of who you are as a person or part of an alter ego. For me, I dress very much like myself. I do not really want to create a completely separate person just because I am an artist.
There are moments when I love showing my body and my shape and having that confident, “baddie” energy. But I also love classic, covered-up looks. I especially love winter dressing because it can be so chic and classy. I love clothes that feel intentional and polished.
Because I make Afropop, I also enjoy wearing smaller, fun and sexy outfits, but I believe there is a way to do that while still being very classy and intentional. I want everything to feel chic, seamless and sexy without taking away from who I am. If anything, I want my style to enhance me and make people more drawn to me as an artist and as a person.
So yes, my personal style definitely influences how I present myself as an artist. I think the two naturally mesh together. My music, my clothes, my beauty and the way I carry myself all become different parts of the same story.
Authenticity is very important to me. It would feel inauthentic to completely change the way I dress just because I am an artist. We all have different sides to ourselves. Some days I want to dress up, and other days I want to wear sweatpants and be comfortable. Both are still me.
As artists, we are almost like shapeshifters because we can come in so many different forms depending on how we feel. At the end of the day, I am still a person, and I want my artistry and my personal style to reflect that.
GLAMOUR: Your journey represents a beautiful intersection of East and Southern African cultures. How important is it for you to represent both Tanzania and South Africa as you build your international music career?
Malaika: Growing up in South Africa, especially in Johannesburg, has shaped so much of who I am. I have lived there since I was around five or six years old, so naturally it has influenced my accent, the way I speak, the way I think and many of the things I do.
Most of my closest friends are South African, and I also have many Tanzanian friends and family in Tanzania. So for me, South Africa and Tanzania have naturally become intertwined. I do not really see them as separate parts of my identity because both places have played such an important role in my life.
My goal, however, has always been to take Tanzania into the international market. I am a Tanzanian artist, and I want to push Tanzania and East Africa to the world. I feel that Tanzanian artists still do not have enough international representation, and I want to be part of changing that.
At the same time, I would never disregard the fact that I was raised in South Africa. South Africa is my home, I love the country deeply, and it will always be an important part of my story. The way I grew up there has influenced the person I am, and that will naturally come through in my artistry.
So when I hopefully reach the highest levels of the industry and people around the world know my name, a part of my story will always be that I grew up in South Africa. But I am a Tanzanian artist, and my mission is to take Tanzania to the world. I want people to hear my music and feel both where I come from and where I am going.
GLAMOUR: Beyond the studio, performances and university life, who is Malaika Gray? What are some things about you that fans might be surprised to discover?
Malaika: I am a very outgoing person. I love being surrounded by friends and family, having a really good time and being around people I care about. I am definitely an extrovert, but I also have moments where I really need alone time and space.
As I have gotten older, I have learned to enjoy being by myself — reading, watching documentaries, learning something new, or watching movies and shows. I also enjoy self-improvement books. I really value peace. I think there is something important about being able to step away from all the noise and just have a moment with yourself.
I can be quite awkward sometimes, but in a goofy and fun way. I like to look at life positively and try to find the best in things rather than focusing on everything that is difficult. I think I am someone who naturally tries to make life feel lighter.
One thing that people might be surprised to know is that I love aviation. I have been flying planes for years and I hold a pilot’s licence. My dad has a flight school, and flying was something I genuinely loved learning about. I stopped flying when I came to Berklee because I wanted to focus on my music career, but it is something I may return to later in life.
I also love geography. I can genuinely spend so much time learning about places and the world. I love travelling, exploring, outdoor activities and trying new things. I am someone who loves to stay busy, learn and challenge my mind.
I write songs every day, and one of my personal goals is to write two to four songs a day. I love a good challenge. At the same time, I also love slowing down, relaxing and enjoying life.
Ultimately, I think I am pretty simple. I love people I care about, I love learning, I love exploring, I love creating, and I love having peace. I think the biggest thing is that I am always curious. I want to keep experiencing life because I know those experiences will eventually find their way into my music.
GLAMOUR: The African music industry is experiencing incredible global growth. What do you believe makes your sound and artistic perspective different, and what kind of space do you hope to carve out for yourself?
Malaika: First of all, I am incredibly happy that African music is experiencing this kind of global growth. It feels like a dream come true. It is finally time for the world to see what Africa can do, and I think we are only at the beginning of what is possible.
I think one of the things that makes my sound distinctive is my voice. I have a very recognisable timbre, and I think you can hear my voice and know that it is me. That individuality is one of my strengths because I never want to sound like everyone else.
My perspective is also shaped by the fact that I am constantly studying music, both creatively and technically. I think about songwriting, melody, vocals and production from different angles, while also drawing from all of the cultures and musical influences I have experienced throughout my life. Being exposed to so many different sounds has made me very open-minded creatively.
I have always dreamed of becoming an international superstar, but for me that dream is bigger than just myself. I want to put Tanzania on the international stage.
As a Tanzanian female artist, I want to help create a space where people around the world hear my name and immediately know where I come from — where they think, “She is from Tanzania. I want to learn more about Tanzania. I want to go there.” I want to bring more attention to the talent and creativity that exists across East Africa.
I also want to pave a path for the artists who come after me, especially women. I want them to see that international success is possible. East Africa needs more representation on the global stage, particularly from women, and I hope I can be part of creating that pathway.
I know it will take hard work, faith, consistency and the support of my family and team, and I am ready for that. I genuinely believe I can do it. I want my career to show another young Tanzanian or East African artist that the dream can actually become a reality.
GLAMOUR: With distribution through Africori/Warner Music, your ambitions are clearly international. Which artists would you love to collaborate with, and what global stages or fashion and beauty spaces would you love to explore?
Malaika: My goals are completely international, and I would love to collaborate with artists from across Africa. I really want my collaborations to be a way of exploring different sounds and bringing different parts of the continent together.
From Nigeria, I would love to work with Rema and Ayra Starr. I also love Asake and so many other Nigerian artists. From Morocco, I would love to collaborate with Dystinct. I love Arabic music, and I love the way it can intersect with French influences. That combination is so beautiful to me.
I would also love to explore more of the Congolese and Francophone African sound, including working with an artist like Fally Ipupa. From South Africa, I would love to work with artists such as Ami Faku, and I would love to collaborate with Black Coffee because I love Afro house music. I have some Afro house songs myself, so that would be an incredible experience.
I also want to continue collaborating within Tanzania and explore more of Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. I really want to explore the talent across the continent and see where different sounds can take me. I am always open to experimenting. I love beats, and I love seeing how different genres can come together.
When it comes to global stages, one of my biggest dreams is to perform at the Victoria’s Secret show. I would love to be on that stage performing my music while the models are walking. I would also love to perform at the BET Awards, Coachella and Afro Nation, have massive arena tours, and even sing national anthems at major sporting events.
Fashion is another huge part of that dream. I would love to wear major international fashion houses, but I also want to bring African designers with me. I would love to perform on an international tour wearing pieces created by designers from across Africa.
It does not always have to be traditional African clothing. I want to show that African designers can create contemporary, unique, beautiful pieces that belong on the biggest stages in the world. I would love to combine African fashion with international luxury houses and create something that feels completely my own.
I also want to explore African beauty and bring that to an international audience. Everything I do is about pushing Africa as far as I possibly can while still embracing the global spaces I have always dreamed of being part of. I want people to see African creativity not as something separate from global culture, but as something that belongs at the centre of it.
GLAMOUR: If My Fever is the first chapter of your story, what can audiences expect from the next chapter? And what is the one thing you hope people will remember about Malaika Gray?
Malaika: My Fever is just the beginning. I think it is a touch of what I can do vocally, lyrically and melodically, and I am so excited for people to hear everything that comes next.
I have so many songs ready, and there are so many more that I still need to record. I cannot wait to finish them and finally share them with people. I am also excited about the different artists I hope to collaborate with and the different sounds I want to explore. There are so many sides of me that I have not shown yet.
I genuinely believe there is so much more to come, and I hope I can shock the world with the creativity and music I have inside me. My Fever was the introduction, but I want the next chapters to show people the full range of what I can do — the vulnerability, the confidence, the sensuality, the storytelling and the different influences that make me who I am.
The one thing I want people to remember about Malaika Gray is that I work hard. This is my first song, but it did not happen overnight. I have been singing since I was six years old, and I have been working toward this dream for a very long time.
I believe in working hard at your craft and constantly trying to improve. There is no such thing as being perfect, but there is always room to work, learn and grow. One thing about me is that I will always push myself. I want to wake up every day knowing that I gave everything I could to my craft.
This is my biggest dream, and I am going to keep working and pushing until the whole world knows my name. More importantly, I want to help create opportunities for the girls and artists who come after me. If I can be proof that a young Tanzanian woman can dream internationally and actually build that career, that would mean so much to me.
I am so grateful for everything that has happened with this first song, and I do not take any of it lightly. I am incredibly grateful to Glamour for giving me the opportunity to share my story and for taking the time to hear where I come from and where I want to go.
My Fever is only the beginning, and I cannot wait for the world to see what comes next.
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