Just getting started

25 years after the release of her international hit ‘Gotta Tell You’, Samantha Mumba remains an icon to LGBTQ+ fans across the country. Ahead of her performance at the Mother Pride Block Party, she spoke to Alice Linehan about the next era of her career.

Music — Nostalgia — Pride

“It’s my 25 year anniversary. I think I should be in the history museum, I’m like an artefact. When I pass away, just put my ashes in the museum!”

This is how my conversation with Samantha Mumba starts, and I argue that the least Ireland could do is give her a statue. We all know that we don’t have enough honouring women, after all.

Indeed, it is 25 years to the month since Samantha burst onto the scene with the release of ‘Gotta Tell You’, her debut single and the title track from her first studio album. Just 17 years old, she had a hit on her hands. It peaked at number one in Ireland and New Zealand, and spent 22 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Other singles from this album, including ‘Body II Body’, ‘Baby, Come Over (This Is Our Night)’, and ‘Lately’, consistently performed well at home and in the UK. She also got a second Irish number one with ‘Always Come Back to Your Love’.

The songs still feature in playlists and at parties today, sparking nostalgia for the pop and R&B classics of the early noughties.

Having dropped out of school, she also ventured into acting during the early days of her career. She played Mara in The Time Machine, with her performance earning her a second Teen Choice Award nomination in two years. However, this time she was up for Best Breakout Actress, rather than Best Breakout Artist, as was the case before.

She went on to perform a concert for the Disney Channel with fellow teen star Aaron Carter, release a Christmas EP with covers of several hits, and tour with NSYNC, all before the age of 20.

While it was in some ways a dream start to life in the entertainment industry, the level of success proved difficult to sustain. After her record label at the time, Polydor, merged into Universal, she lost her core team and was eventually dropped. Although Samantha has continued to release music and take on acting roles while also exploring modelling and television work, she admits, “I think I have been terrible at navigating [my career] at times and good at navigating it at other times.”

She says it genuinely feels “like a lifetime ago”, but adds: “I’m very, very grateful that I am still in the industry and I still get to work and I really feel, honestly, in a weird way, like I’m just getting started.”

Reflecting on the lessons the last 25 years have brought, Samantha explains, “I feel like when you’re young and a kid, you kind of just go with the flow and you do every and anything and hope that something sticks. Whereas now, I just feel like I’m very focused and very sure of what I want and what I don’t want, which I’m hoping is a good thing for moving forward.”

The artist is deeming this her “grown woman era”. She elaborates: “I just feel very sure of who I am. I’m in a space now where I am speaking my mind unapologetically and I have no plans on stopping that. It’s so important to me to just be authentic to myself and just in alignment with who I actually am. I’m not appeasing people, and I feel like maybe being female in the industry from such a young age, there was a lot of appeasing. ‘Be the good girl’, ‘be the pretty girl’. I just don’t have space for that anymore…

“When you’re young, you’re afraid to say no to anything. You say yes to everything. Whereas, I think the older you get, you understand your worth.

“And more importantly, it’s ok to say no. That’s a full sentence. ‘No.’ And ‘I’m sorry’, ‘but’, ‘because’—none of that. ‘No’ is the full sentence. And that’s ok.”

The word “driven” keeps coming up as she talks about the point she’s at in her career. When asked if this drive is contributing to the creation of new music, she reveals, “Absolutely, 100 per cent. I’ve been working on music for a while. I think I am just wanting to make sure that when I do release the next song, that it’s the right platform. I just don’t want to waste a song, if that makes sense.”

The singer added that the timing needs to be right, but assured, “there’s definitely music on the way and there’s definitely music waiting to be put out there.”

While Samantha Mumba’s career may have experienced ups and downs over the past 25 years, one thing has remained consistent: the support of her LGBTQ+ fanbase. “Over the years, good and bad, when I’ve been successful, the gay community has been there, when I’ve been a hot mess, the gay community has been there, laughing along with me being a hot mess. It’s been unwavering and I appreciate that like you wouldn’t believe. I really, really appreciate that so much.”

She explained that she doesn’t even perform at straight venues anymore, “That would actually give me anxiety at this point!” LGBTQ+ venues for her are a safe space: “It’s where I can be my authentic self and the audience gets me and understands me… From day one, like from dot, that support has been there, and the alliance has been there on my end as well.”

Samantha regularly features on lineups at Pride events across the UK, and this summer will be no different. Although an Irish contingency follows her wherever she goes, there really is no place like home.

“The funniest thing is anytime, again over the years, that I go home or I perform in The George, it’s such a small venue but the feeling and the love that I’ve gotten there, I mean, that beats huge events that I’ve performed at in front of thousands of people. It just blows my mind.”

This is one of the reasons why she is so excited to be performing at the Mother Pride Block Party. “I’ll be home with people that have been there with me from day one,” she shared. “And I’m putting together and trying to plan a really special show, and just make it memorable. Yeah, I’m just really, really excited for it.”

When asked what audiences can expect from the gig, she said, “Listen, I’m leaving everything on the stage, whatever that is, and I hope it’s enough!”

Samantha concluded: “I am bursting with excitement… I hope that everybody has the most incredible Pride. Have the most incredible day! I just hope that the love that I’m trying to shoot out of my body into the audience is felt by as many people as possible.”

Catch Samantha Mumba at the Mother Pride Block Party in the National Museum of Ireland on June 28.