LIBIANCA : A MUSIC INSPIRATION TO THE ANDROID GENERATION

Libianca Kenzonkinboum Fonji, popularly known with the stage name “Libianca”, is a 22-year-old Cameroonian-American musician from Bamenda, Cameroon. She was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. At the age of 4, she moved to Bamenda together with her mother and brother, back to her parent’s homeland while her father had to stay back in the USA. At the age of 13, she moved back to the USA. She started the art of singing at a young age.

Libianca has actually been into music for many years now. She has to her credit a number of songs, including “Level”, “Revenge”, “Special Loving”, “My Place”, and “Thank You”. She rose to prominence in 2021 after appearing on the 21st season of the singing competition show The Voice. During the season, Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson, and John Legend returned as the judges while singer Ariana Grande replaced Nick Jonas. For her blind auditions, Libianca performed a rendition of SZA’s “Good Day”. Her performance really amazed the judges and left Blake and Ariana fighting over her. With both judges to choose from, she chosed Blake as her coach stating that she felt he was the one to really just help her through the competition.

Libianca signed in to 5K Records and Sony by 2022. Later on, within the same 2022 in December, she released “People”, a song inspired by her cyclothymia. The song debuted at No. 2 on the US Billboard Afrobeats chart, at No. 1 in UK Afrobeats chart, peaked at No. 2 in UK Official chart, and the song went viral on the social media platform, Tik Tok, and the rest was history. Users of the app began to duet the song, and others acted out scenes to the audio, causing it to spread.  The song “People” talks about handling depression and the lack of attention from loved ones in times of sorrow and hardship. After releasing “People” she took a one-year break and later on released “Jah”, and “I Wish” which are her latest jams for 2023.

Many artists and promoters have expressed their love for the project, with America’s Chris Brown and Nigeria’s Joeboy joining the queue.

Due to her popular track “People”, she recently won Best Central African Artist at the Headies Awards, BET Awards as Best International New Act in 2023 and has other awards in which she has been nominated and results still pend  like; African Entertainment Awards USA, and the Future Awards Africa.

Though young, Libianca has reached a certain point in her career that others are trying to reach. She continues to entertain people and touch souls, and also being an inspiration to her fans and the younger generation.

Delia Nyadi