MNEK: Songs you never knew the songwriting genius was behind 👀

No way!

Joel Corry / MNEK / Becky Hill
Author: Anna Sky MagliolaPublished 5th Jun 2024

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?', and his current song 'Ten (Get Back Up)', with Nathan Dawe, but he's also an incredibly talented songwriter.

MNEK, real name Uzoechi Osisioma 'Uzo' Emenike, has also written huge hits including Becky Hill and Galantis' 'brilliant single Run', Little Mix's huge song 'Touch' and Dua Lipa's massive track 'IDGAF' - plus SO many more, a lot of which we bet you'll never have realised...

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).

Misha B

'Home Run', released in 2012, was Misha B's debut song. It was written and produced by MNEK.

Duke Dumont

Duke Dumont and AME's hit in 2013, 'Need U (100%)', was written by Duke Dumont and AME, along with MNEK.

Gorgon City

'Ready for Your Love' was a hit for Gorgon City featuring MNEK in 2014. The song reached Number 4 in the UK and was co-written by MNEK, who also featured on the track.

Becky Hill

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

Karen Harding's 'Say Something' (2014) and Blonde featuring Karen Harding's 'Feel Good (It's Alright)' released in 2015, were both written and produced by MNEK.

Madonna

MNEK provides backing vocals for Madonna's 2014 hit 'Living For Love' and also joined some of the writing sessions.

Rudimental

Rudimental's 2015 song 'Rumour Mill' featuring Anne-Marie and Will Heard. It was written by the band along with MNEK with Will Heard and Jess Glynne.

Jax Jones / RAYE / Martin Solveig

MNEK has worked with Jax Jones for many years, he's even sampled on many of Jax's song at the beginning saying "Whatcha Whatcha gonna do!". Along with Jax, he's also worked with RAYE and Martin Solveig as well as some other big names, take a look at the list below.
'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

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 two songs with Zara Larsson, as well as featuring on one of the songs. 'Ain't My Fault' and 'Never Forget You' featuring MNEK, were both released in 2016.

Little Mix

Dating back to 2016, Little Mix have released several songs that MNEK has worked on including:
'Touch' - 2016
'Strip' featuring Sharaya J - 2018
'Told You So' - 2018
'Sweet Melody' - 2020
'Confetti' featuring Saweetie - 2020
'Happiness' - 2020
'Not a Pop Song' - 2020
'No Time for Tears' Nathan Dawe and Little Mix - 2020
'Love (Sweet Love)' - 2021
'No' - 2021

Stormzy

MNEK featured on Stormzy's hit 'Blinded by Your Grace, Pt. 2' in 2017.

Dua Lipa

Co-written by Dua Lipa with MNEK and a songwriting team, 'IDGAF' was a big hit in 2018 for Dua.

Anne-Marie

MNEK co-wrote and co-produced Anne-Marie's song 'Heavy' in 2017. The pair also co-wrote Anne-Marie's album track 'Better Not Together' in 2021. MNEK was also a writer on 'Way Too Long' by Nathan Dawe, Anne-Marie and MoStack, also released in 2021.

Hailee Steinfeld

Back in 2018, Hailee Steinfeld featured on MNEK's song 'Colour'.

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 very popular song staying a Number 1 for many weeks and being nominated for Song of the Year at The BRITs.


The pair worked together again for 2022 track 'What Would You Do?', this time getting none other David Guetta involved too as well as Bryson Tiller.

KSI

MNEK co-wrote KSI's 2020 song with Craig David and Digital Farm Animals, 'Really Love'.

Sigala

MNEK co-wrote 'Radio' with Sigala. The song was released on 6th January 2023 and is a French disco-inspired dance track.

Mabel

MNEK worked on Mabel's 2018 song 'Ring Ring' featuring Rich the Kid, 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.

You can hear songs by many of these artists on Northsound 1.

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 🙌

How to listen to Northsound 1:

For great music, brilliant banter and incredible competitions tune into Northsound 1 on 96.9, 97.6 or 103.0 FM, online, on our Northsound app, your DAB digital radio, or say ‘Play Northsound 1’ on your Smart Speaker. We give you the biggest hits from the world’s hottest artists. You’ll find new favourites every day and hear the songs you've missed from the last few years.