Seven musicians, artists and actors to have on your radar

Taken from Issue 12 of THE FACE. Get your copy here.

South London musician enjoys walks in the park and lo-fi bedroom tunes

​“When I was 14, I didn’t like myself much – and I wanted to. So I made sure that happened,” says Flowerovlove. Her route to self-love? Songwriting. Two years on, the South London-born-and-raised musician has created her own brand of alt-pop, racking up millions of streams, sold out her first live shows and even modelled for Gucci. Walking in the park recently, an entire class of schoolkids came up to her and professed their love for her music. For Flowerovlove, liking herself is now a breeze. The 16-year old, real name Joyce Cisse, lives a Hannah Montana lifestyle – that is, a double life à la the Miley show, balancing music with her studies. Her airy sound has a lo-fi bedroom quality to it, inspired by Tame Impala and Solange. And as you might imagine from her stage name, Flowerovlove has a strong affinity with nature. ​“Flowers had a massive impact on me because they start off from a seed and grow into this beautiful thing. That’s the message I want to send in my music: to treat yourself as a delicate flower.” Ahh. FM

Left to right: Stanley wears top RALPH LAUREN, jeans LEVI’S® and shoes GH BASS. Jonah wears jumper 66 NORTH, trousers STONE ISLAND and necklace and shoes talent’s own

Filmmaking duo meet in school, make each other haw haw

Jonah Francis West and Stanley Brock met at their North London school a decade ago. ​“I came up to Jonah in the canteen, he had this Ralph Lauren tracksuit on, which thinking back now, was probably fake,” Brock says. ​“I got chatting to Stan, followed him to his yard, and he was like: ​‘What the fuck are you doing?’” West adds. ​“But he invited me in and we made burgers and rice.” Since then, the 23-year-olds have been making some of the funniest skits out there. Starting off with nothing but an iPhone and an abundance of imagination, they’ve magicked up a piss-take cycle-to-work scheme ad and turned the London Underground into a rave. In 2019, the duo bumped into Palace’s founder Lev Tanju on Camden High Street. ​“We were like: ​‘Oi, you are going to watch our videos, yeah?’” A year later, they played bonkers salesmen in a film for the brand’s Vans collab. This year, they’re cooking up some projects, ​“But we’re under [an] NDA,” West says, very seriously. Big-time goal? ​“To get funded and have the freedom to write and make people laugh,” West says. ​“And to be on a boat.” TS

Nael wears hoodie and T-shirt HUGO

Mum of West Midlands TikTok star prays he finishes his GCSEs

A heap of fries are shown on concrete, spelling out: ​“I’m in love”. The camera moves to reveal a boyband wearing school uniforms. One earnestly sings Shape of You. That TikTok catapulted 15-year-old Nael Tuanuni, aka @Nizzythakidd, to social media stardom. With millions of views and a duet reaction video from Ed Sheeran himself, Nizzy became an overnight sensation. His vibe? Singing songs like Drake’s One Dance while his schoolmates/​hypemen support him. It’s a wholesome watch. Nizzy’s rise to fame was so rapid he didn’t have time to tell his mum. In fact, she only found out about her son’s stardom when his videos ended up on TikTok’s For You Page. ​“She was excited but didn’t know what was going on,” Nizzy says with a grin. A few months ago, he was just a teenager from Birmingham doing his GCSEs. Now, Nizzy is getting invited to Wireless and constantly bumping into fans. He never intended to pursue a career in music, but the schoolboy now knows where his future lies: ​“Music or social media? I want to do both if I can.” DG

Yunè wears top GUESS

Red-hot music-maker, still a teenager, creates sonic break-through

Yunè Pinku makes ​“funky, sad girl garage” for funky, sad girls. It’s been a mad year for the 19-year-old producer and songwriter – real name Asha Yunè – who had her big break last November with the addictive Logic1000 collab What You Like, followed by a debut EP, Bluff, this spring. ​“It’s like Pandora’s box,” says the Malaysian-Irish South Londoner of the release’s low-key, UKG- influenced sound. With her soft and euphoric, but nonetheless punch-packing, vocals, Yunè describes how she ​“wanted to explore a sense of trying to be tough and putting on a front. A lot of it lends itself to the idea of being in a big city, just one person in a crowd of people.” To that end, the ambient and deconstructed Bluff is best listened to on the way home from the club, rather than within the confines of a sweaty dancefloor. ​“I never had any expectation to go somewhere with this,” she says. ​“I’m so happy I get to create this other universe within music, where I can take my everyday experience and turn it into something way more interesting.” JW

Sheyi wears jacket and trousers STONE ISLAND and T-shirt LEVI’S®

South London actor who can’t sing, hit up by Donald Glover for Atlanta

A normal job was never on the cards for Sheyi Cole. At first he tried music, covering Adele ballads at home in Bromley, South London. Then his mum gave him some sage advice. ​“She was like: ​‘You’re a 10 times better actor than you are a singer,’” the 23-year- old says. Landing himself a place at the Brit School, then the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Cole later found a way to skip classes by bagging a lead role in Steve McQueen’s five-part series Small Axe during his first year. Telling the stories of London’s West Indians post-Windrush, Cole, who played author Alex Wheatle, temporarily ditched the classroom to get lessons from an Oscar-winning director instead. He did graduate last summer, though, and was tapped by Donald Glover for a role in Atlanta​’s latest season. ​“I remember being in Year Nine singing [his track] 3005 – and then I’m sat next to the man himself!” Next up, he’ll appear in The Beautiful Game, a film about the Homeless World Cup, alongside Bill Nighy and Micheal Ward. Looks like mum knows best, eh? OP

Freya wears top and necklace talent’s own, skirt, socks and belts MIU MIU and shoes MALONE SOULIERS

Knitwear designer sells out (in a good way)

Forget bagging a spot at a fancy fashion school. Becoming the Next Big Thing can happen from your bedroom. Last year Freya McKee, 23, a knitwear designer from Hampshire, set up her own label. She watched YouTube tutorials to learn the basics, then hit Gen Z’s favourite platform. ​“I put the first 10 tops on Depop and they sold out within minutes. Honestly, I was so confused.” A mix of sexy, DIY cut-out tops, mini skirts and asymmetric dresses, her label is inspired by the postmodern deconstruction of Helmut Lang and the ​“fuck it” attitude of mohair-wearing punks Vivienne Westwood and the Sex Pistols (introduced to McKee by her style-conscious, music savvy dad). Now she’s got a team of two, her latest drops sell out in a flash. Earlier this year, Emma Chamberlain wore one of her designs and now she’s got her eye on Harry Styles. ​“I’d love to get some boys in my clothes. I like to think of it as a unisex brand,” she says. ​“I’m still learning. But if you’re able to do something you enjoy for a job, that’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?” We couldn’t agree more. TS

Navinder wears jacket CARHARTT WIP and shirt, jeans and shoes talent’s own

He came from Leeds, he had a thirst for Basquiat-inspired art

Give multi-hyphenate Navinder Nangla an inch and you’ll see him draw one of his increasingly common slogans – say ​“Van Goth” or ​“Fassion Weak” – on any surface in the vicinity (as THE FACE found out when he tagged the wall outside our bloody office). ​“I come from nothing so the art world didn’t really accept me,” says the 27-year-old artist/​stylist/​designer, who underlines each tag with a red squiggly line, a reference to his frequently autocorrected dyslexia. ​“Nowadays, that’s changed.” Nangla grew up in Leeds before moving to Northamptonshire and later studying fashion design at Manchester Metropolitan University. He’s since relocated to London, winning himself an internship with designer Yang Li, a styling gig for slowthai​’s 2021 tour and a following for his Bacon-and-Basquiat-influenced canvases. Now the fashion industry has come knocking, with invites to Givenchy and Rick Owens shows, plus a collaboration with legendary footwear George Cox in the works. ​“I’ve got that ​‘fuck you’ spirit and they want a piece of that,” Nangla shrugs. ​“They can’t get it from any Tom, Dick or Harry.” JW