Manizha — New East 100

When you think of Instagram stars, you most likely imagine photographers, models and fashion designers. Innovative Dushanbe-born singer-songwriter Manizha use the website to secure her place on the music scene.

Bringing her fusion of blue-eyed soul and traditional sounds to a tech-savvy audience, Manizha claims to have created the world’s first Instagram music album.

A post shared by MANIZHA⠀ (@manizha) on Dec 9, 2016 at 1:02am PST

Beginning in early December 2016, Manizha released one song per week from her album Manuscript, accompanied by a DIY-style video. Her simple but striking homemade aesthetic has garnered the rising star fans from all over the world.

Look familiar? Fans in the Russian-speaking world may have a sense of déjà vu — back in 2009 Manizha, then performing under the name Ru.Kola, gained fame across the post-Soviet space for her song “Neglect”. Since reinventing herself, Manizha has collaborated with a number of musicians and producers in Moscow, where she has long been based, and even opened for Lana Del Rey in St Petersburg.

Text: Elise Morton