Smooth-talking Ghanaian star M.anifest has been getting back to his roots and relishing what’s important in life. A certified star in his home country, M.anifest is getting ready to release his fifth studio album and seventh project overall, Madina To The Universe (MTTU), later this year. Ahead of that, he’s sharing the new visuals, directed by Adriaan Louw, for one of the album’s key tracks, “La Vida”.
It’s a playful but sincere celebration of life’s joys laid out with the kind of razor-sharp lyricism that made him a star in the first place. The instrumental, which comes from Amaarae and Wande Coal producer Øbed, is packed with subtle details, from the gentle vocal harmonies to the intricate rhythms, it’s drenched in bright sonic colours.
The video follows M.anifest as he takes us on a daytrip round Madina and Krokrobite in Ghana. Intimate shots of him with a girl are mixed in with more relaxed scenes of him reconnecting with the town he grew up in, playing draughts with the locals and soaking up the sun.
Speaking on the track and its video, M.anifest told Complex: “It’s a song I wrote with a mischievous grin. I imagined freeing myself and getting up to no good with a woman I dig, with both of us having no care in the world about people, opinions, or rules. It almost felt like I was living vicariously through some of my own memories. We shot the video in Madina, which is the neighbourhood in Ghana I grew up in, and the essence was to tap into childhood memories and evoke a feeling of nostalgia.”
Peep the visuals for “La Vida” above and be sure to add the song to your playlists.
