Michael Kiwanuka Marco Grey
Malia Obama’s screen credits continue to grow with the release of a music video she directed for Michael Kiwanuka’s new single, “One and Only.”
The filmmaker – who is also the eldest daughter of former U.S. President Barack Obama, and works under the alias Malia Ann – received the Young Spirit award at this year’s Deauville Film Festival for her debut The Heart, which was made in collaboration with Donald Glover‘s production company Gilga. Her fledgling career has also seen her work being played at prestigious film festivals including Telluride, Toronto and Sundance, among others.
In the trippy video, a woman chases her doppelganger through an isolated wooded area, eventually catching and coming face-to-face with the alternative version of herself.
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“One and Only” marks the fourth single to be released from London-raised vocalist Kiwanuka’s fourth LP, Small Changes, which landed on Nov. 22. In the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart midweek update released on Monday (Nov. 25), the record is currently on track to reach the summit, albeit he faces stiff competition from Kendrick Lamar’s surprise GNX album.
Speaking to Billboard about Small Changes, Kiwanuka explained how working with super-producer Danger Mouse, one half of pop group Gnarls Barkley, and London-based producer Inflo, gave him a newfound confidence in his creative process. “There’s strength in your voice. People always try to tell you but you don’t hear it,” he said.
“You’re always accepting advice from other people so you always think the validation is going to come from outside, and then one day you realize it’s not,” he said. “I was always trying to sound like my favorite singers, or [thinking] that [my vocals] weren’t good enough. But now I think I just want to sound like me.”
In November 2019, the 37-year-old put out his third record, Kiwanuka, which charted at No. 2 in the U.K. and went on to win the prestigious Mercury Prize the following year. He has since gone on to tour the U.S. with Brittany Howard, alongside headline a wealth of British festivals including Bannau Brychieniog’s Green Man and Wilderness in Oxfordshire.
Watch the video for “One and Only” below:
