11 March 2023

From things wey hope no dey, Libianca create song wey change her life.

People (Check On Me), na tender cry for help wey capture her wen she dey low point, don stream more than 150 million times since December.

E don be number one for eight weeks on UK Afrobeats chart. Dis Friday, e dey ready to enta di official Top 10 – wey be first for artist from Cameroon.

"My whole life change in a mata of hours," di singer tok. "I wake up in di morning and things just flip ova."

If you don hear People, you go know am from di hook alone.

"I don dey drink more alcohol for di last five days... You check on me?" di 22-year-old sing, her voice melancholy and mellifluous over one simple music box accompaniment.

Di lyrics discuss her experience of di rare mood disorder cyclothymia, wey cause emotional up and down wey dey similar to, but less extreme than, those of bipolar disorder.

She write di song last November, afta she throw thanksgiving party where she "feel like say she dey invisible".

"I don dey low point of my life for at least two weeks and I bin just like, 'I no fit take any more of dis'," she explain ova di phone from Paris.

"Self-harmful thoughts dey, ova-thinking, really anxious – plenti of things dey go on for my head."

While her friends dey celebrate, Libianca spend much of di night crying for di bathroom.

Wen she come downstairs, no-one notice her puffy red eyes. No-one aske how she dey. They simply offer her drink.

"I feel like say I dey drown in and nobody fit see me and I just need some help.

"So I decide, you know what? Make I just go to di studio, because I feel beta whenever I do something productive. Na dat help me.

"I no expect pipo to come out. Na just how I dey feel. I no fit write about anything else."

'Dis song don be my best friend'

Going back to di studio for her Minneapolis home, her feelings come out unfiltered.

Di hook, she say, na di "raw truth" about her drinking. For days, she dey drink tequila and Ouzo with wine chasers as she try to comot her depression.

"Whenever I dey drunk, I no dey feel sad, so why not just drink more?" she tok.

"Clearly, afta few days, I dey like, I no fit continue like dis. I no fit continue to wake up every morning with hang ova."

But di key to di song na di repeat word of "did you check on me?" Na post-pandemic plea to ask your friends how dem dey really cope.

"Afta Covid, I feel like a lot of pipo become isolated. And no mata wetin anybody dey go through, if you ask dem, 'How you dey?', di first thing tdem go tok na, 'I dey fine'. Na automatic response.

"And I think wetin People do na say e break dat [spell] and help pipo to dey more vulnerable and say, 'I no dey do well. I really need a hug from you right now'.

Di reaction dey very-vey good.

One fan comment under People YouTube video: "As I dey go through my fourth panic attack of di day.... Dis song just make me feel like I no bd di only one."

"Dis song don be my best friend for di past few weeks," anoda pesin wrtie, di pesin say Libianca music don comfort her afta she loss her pikin.

Di comment page dey full of similar stories. E also dey full of strangers offering support and consolation.

"I no fit dey more proud," Libianca tok, "because e dey really help pipo get di support wey dem need.

"And e dey help me as well, because my friends no know say dat na how I dey feel wen I record dat song."

Near death experience

Di message appeal to pipo all ova di world. People na number three for India, number five for New Zealand and number one for Nigeria.

For Libianca, na di adding togeda of more than 10 years as a musician, and a vindication afta one stint on di US version of doi Voice for 2021.

Dem born Libianca Kenzonkinboum Fonji for St Paul, Minnesota, but she leave di US for Cameroon wen she be four.

Her mama dey "go through some issues with immigration", she explain, and decide to leave before dem deport her.

Afta she settle for Bamenda, she start to dey sing around di age of six, exercising her vocals "for church, for di boarding school, for chapel".

"Music na huge part of everything."

Di family move back to Minnesota wen she she be teenager and, although she like musical dreams, her parents encourage her to pursue medicine and become a registered nurse.

"I no fit blame dem," she laugh. "Parents work so hard to come to dis kontri and give us opportunities, and music na big risk."

Even so, her mama pay for voice lessons and guitar tuition, while her papa briefly act as her manager.

To keep dem happy, she take some number of jobs while writing for her spare time.

Di worst experience na for nursing home where, while she dey take residents out for swim day, dem accidentally push her underwater, she lost her footing and almost drown.

"Luckily, somebody see me and jump inside di pool to pull me out," she remember.

Worried about say she no dey makie headway for music, she apply for di Voice, and impress di judges with a soulful rendition of SZA Good Days, and progress to di live shows before dem vote her out.

"I be very competitive pesin," she recently tell BBC World Service DJ Edu.

"I no like to lose. So wen I dem eliminate me, I dey like, 'I dey do so good on dis show and I no win? Are you serious! Something' dey wrong!'"

But di show also teach her one valuable lesson: "Just wen you think you dey your full capacity, trust me, you no dey dia. You fit push yoursef even further."

Some of di songs wey she perform on di show - including one cover of Billie Eilish Everything I Wanted - get official release while di series dey on air.

But e dey noticeable say Libianca solo material don move more towards Afrobeats. On People, she even sing in her Cameroonian accent.

"I code-switch a lot," di singer tok. "So for home, most of di time, you hear me in my Cameroonian accent, then [outside] I go switch to American accent because half of my childhood na for America. E happun without me even knowing.

"But wen I get really angry," she laugh, "all you go hear na di Cameroonian accent!"

For now, no too much thing to dey angry about. Libianca on a whistle-stop promotional tour of Europe before travelling home to work on new music, for release late dis year.

"I dey feel really good," she smile. "I feel like everything don start to settle and I dey like, dis dey actually happening!

"I no get dat much stress any more because I don literally accomplish di first of many milestones for my career, and I no fit dey happier."

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