20 artists MNEK used his songwriting genius to write hits for 🖋️
He's written a fair few modern masterpieces!
You might know MNEK as the talented singer who has appeared on songs such as Joel Corry's Number 1 single 'Head & Heart' or Jax Jones' huge track 'Where Did You Go?' - but he's also an incredibly talented songwriter, having worked with some of the biggest artists in the world behind the scenes in the studio.
MNEK, real name Uzoechi Osisioma 'Uzo' Emenike, has also written huge hits including Becky Hill and Galantis' brilliant single 'Run', Little Mix's 'Touch' and Dua Lipa's massive track 'IDGAF' - plus SO many more...
Take a look at songs you never knew MNEK wrote:
The Saturdays
MNEK co-wrote two of The Saturdays' hits 'All Fired Up' (2011) and 'What Are You Waiting For?' (2014). Dance floor filler 'All Fired Up' was released as the second single from the band's third album, 'On Your Radar' - itself a lyric from this song, peaking at Number 3 in the UK charts and being certified Gold. 'What Are You Waiting For?' was released as a new single from their greatest hits album, 'Finest Selection: The Greatest Hits'.
Misha B
'Home Run', released in 2012, was Misha B's debut song, having finished fourth on the 2011 series of The X Factor. It was written and produced by MNEK, and went to Number 11 in the UK.
Duke Dumont
Duke Dumont and AME's 2013 hit, 'Need U (100%)', was co-written by the pair along with MNEK, who happened to be an old school friend of AME's. It was nominated at the 2014 Grammy Awards for Best Dance Recording, but lost out to 'Clarity' by Zedd featuring Foxes.
Gorgon City
'Ready for Your Love' was a hit for Gorgon City featuring MNEK in 2014, who also wrote the song together. It reached Number 4 in the UK and has been certified Platinum.
Becky Hill
The Voice star Becky Hill and MNEK are good friends, and have worked together on a number of songs - either writing, singing or producing. Below are a list of the songs they've worked on together:
'Gecko (Overdrive)' (Oliver Heldens and Becky Hill) - 2014
'Losing' (Becky Hill) - 2014
'Piece of Me' (MK and Becky Hill) - 2016
'False Alarm' (Matoma and Becky Hill) - 2016
'Back & Forth' (MK, Jonas Blue and Becky Hill) - 2018
'Find A Place' (Becky Hill featuring MNEK) - 2019
'I Could Get Used to This' (Becky Hill and Weiss) - 2019
'Heaven on My Mind' (Sigala and Becky Hill) - 2020
'Run' (Becky Hill and Galantis) - 2022
Karen Harding
Dance vocalist Karen Harding was spotted by MNEK himself after performing a cover of Disclosure's 'Latch' on YouTube. The pair then worked together on her single 'Say Something' (2014) - which went to Number 7 in the UK and is 2x Platinum - as well as Blonde's 'Feel Good (It's Alright)' that she featured on, released in 2015.
Madonna
Madonna has called upon MNEK's songwriting talents a couple of times - having co-written 2015 single 'Hold Tight' for her 13th album 'Rebel Heart' together and even providing backing vocals for her 2014 hit 'Living For Love' as well as taking part in some of the writing sessions.
Rudimental
Rudimental's 2015 song 'Rumour Mill' featuring Anne-Marie and Will Heard was co-written by the band along with MNEK and Will Heard as well as Jess Glynne. It's since been certified Silver.
Anne-Marie
As well as contributing to 'Rumour Mill' that Anne-Marie appeared on, MNEK has also worked with the singer on a fair few songs now. He co-wrote and co-produced Anne-Marie's 2017 song 'Heavy', as well as 2021's 'Better Not Together'. MNEK was additionally a writer on 'Way Too Long' by Nathan Dawe, Anne-Marie and MoStack, also released in 2021. Anne-Marie returned the songwriting favour for MNEK's 2018 debut album, 'Language', co-writing 'Colour' featuring Hailee Steinfeld.
Jax Jones
MNEK has worked with Jax Jones for many years - his voice is even sampled on many of Jax's song at the beginning saying, "Whatcha Whatcha gonna do!". Here's a list of songs the pair have made together:
'House Work' (Jax Jones featuring Mike Dunn and MNEK) - 2016
'You Don't Know Me' (Jax Jones featuring RAYE) - 2016
'Instruction' (Jax Jones featuring Demi Lovato and Stefflon Don) - 2017
'Breathe' (Jax Jones featuring Ina Wroldsen) - 2017
'Ring Ring' (Jax Jones featuring Mabel and Rich the Kid) - 2018
'Play' (Jax Jones and Years & Years) - 2018
'This Is Real' (Jax Jones and Ella Henderson) - 2019
'Tequila' (Jax Jones, Martin Solveig and RAYE) - 2020
'Where Did You Go?' (Jax Jones and MNEK) - 2022
RAYE
As well as working together on the Jax Jones songs above, MNEK has a great working partnership with RAYE - and although she's yet to put out a song herself that was co-written together, she's also well-known for being a songwriter, and the pair got together in the studio to pen songs for Little Mix and Mabel.
Little Mix
Dating back to 2016, Little Mix released several songs that MNEK worked on, with JADE even going on to work with him on her solo material. MNEK's Little Mix inputs include:
'Touch' - 2016
'Strip' featuring Sharaya J - 2018
'Told You So' - 2018 (also co-written with RAYE)
'Sweet Melody' - 2020
'Confetti' featuring Saweetie - 2020
'Happiness' - 2020
'Not a Pop Song' - 2020
'No Time for Tears' with Nathan Dawe - 2020
'Love (Sweet Love)' - 2021
'No' - 2021
Mabel
As mentioned, MNEK worked on 'Ring Ring' by Jax Jones that Mabel featured on with Rich the Kid, but they also teamed up for her 2019 Christmas single 'Loneliest Time of Year' AND her 2021 hit 'Let Them Know'. He also worked on Mabel's collab with Joel Corry, 'I Wish', in addition to the 2022 track 'Good Luck' by Mabel, Jax Jones and Galantis.
Joel Corry
In 2020, Joel Corry released 'Head & Heart' featuring MNEK, the pair co-wrote the song with a team of writers. It was a hugely popular song, staying at Number 1 for many weeks and even being nominated for Song of the Year at The BRITs. It's since been certified 5x Platinum in the UK! They teamed up again for 2022 track 'What Would You Do?', this time getting none other than David Guetta involved too as well as Bryson Tiller.
Beyoncé
Co-written by Beyoncé, MNEK and a team of songwriters, 'Hold Up' was a track off her sixth studio album, 'Lemonade'. The song reached Number 11 in the UK.
Zara Larsson
MNEK has written and produced five songs with Zara Larsson, as well as providing vocals to feature on one of the songs. 'Ain't My Fault' and 'Never Forget You', which featured MNEK, were both released in 2016 — and 'Never Forget You' has since been certified 3x Platinum. MNEK even joined Zara on stage in 2025 at her Wembley concert to sing 'Never Forget You' with her to huge applause from the crowd. They also worked on 'What The Say', 'Can't Tame Her' and 'You Love Who You Love' - with MNEK even executive producing her album, 'Midnight Sun'. The pair have remained brilliant friends.
Stormzy
MNEK featured on Stormzy's hit 'Blinded by Your Grace, Pt. 2' in 2017. It peaked at Number 7 in the UK and has been certified 2x Platinum, being released as the fourth single from Stormzy's debut album 'Gang Signs & Prayer'.
Dua Lipa
Co-written by Dua Lipa with MNEK and a songwriting team, 'IDGAF' was a big hit in 2018 for Dua and appeared on her self-titled 2017 debut album. It went to Number 3 in the UK and has been certified 3x Platinum.
KSI
MNEK co-wrote KSI's 2020 song with Craig David and Digital Farm Animals, 'Really Love', which appeared on his second album, 'All Over the Place'. It went to Number 3 in the UK and has since been certified Platinum.
Sigala
As well as Sigala's 2020 collab with Becky Hill, 'Heaven on My Mind', MNEK also co-wrote 'Radio' with Sigala, which was released on 6th January 2023 and is a French disco-inspired dance track.
You can hear songs by many of these artists on MFR.
Now read:
Meet MNEK: The singer and producer taking over music right now 🎶
Jax Jones and MNEK drop new catchy collab 'Where Did You Go'
Joel Corry: Everything to know about the 'What Would You Do?' DJ 🙌