Muni Long has recently seen overnight success with her smash hit single “Hrs and Hrs” which went viral on Tik-Tok and has reached number 16 in the Hot 100 and number 41 in the UK Singles Chart. To many people, “Hrs and Hrs” will be the first time they have heard of Muni, but she has been working in the industry for over a decade, both as an artist and as a songwriter.
Her success as a hit maker for the stars has seen her work with some of the biggest names in the industry including Rihanna, Chris Brown, Ariana Grande, Little Mix, Mariah Carey and more recently H.E.R. which saw her achieve a Grammy nomination as a songwriter. When it comes to writing she is a seasoned veteran achieving similar streaks of success to Esther Dean.
However, before focusing on songwriting, Muni was an artist herself, but who worked under her real name Priscilla Renea. After posting videos of her signing on YouTube, she was signed to Capitol Records and saw limited success with her single “Dollhouse” in 2009, which was co-written with mega songwriter and producer Benny Blanco when he was in the early stages of his career. This was followed by the release of her debut album “Jukebox” which unfortunately failed to reach the Billboard 200.
After her solo music failed to reach its full potential, she started to focus on writing for others. Her first big cut as a songwriter was “California King Bed” by Rihanna which was a huge smash hit all over the world and has since gone double platinum in the US. Even though her main focus transitioned to songwriting, she didn’t completely stop her activity as a songwriter. In 2013, Priscilla featured on the song “John Doe” by rapper B.O.B which peaked at number 69 on the Hot 100, and in 2015 featured as an uncredited vocalist on the European Dance Hit “Be Right There” by Diplo and Sleepy Tom.
During her time working predominantly as a songwriter for others, Priscilla discovered she was suffering from the disease Lupus, which she says was one of the main driving forces behind her getting back into recording and releasing her own music as an artist herself. In an interview with Vogue Magazine, she stated “I was like, ‘If I die, I will be so pissed, having never gone after the things that I wanted.’ That’s really what set it off.”
After years, of feeling underappreciated, Muni Long is now doing things on her own terms and is now really reaping the artistic benefits of her hard graft. This includes getting signed, dropped and then signed again and having multiple legal battles with songs she has written. In 2020, she changed her name from her birth name Priscilla Renea to her now known stage name Muni Long, and has since co-founded her own record label Supergiant Records. Since the formation of her label, she has released thee EP’s “Black Like This”, “Nobody Knows” and most recently “Public Displays of Affection” which “Hrs and Hrs” is taken from.
With such a story behind her and knowing what it has taken for her to get to this point in her artistic career, it’s almost impossible to not root for her continued success. That paired with the fact her talent is completely undeniable and her songs are serious jams, she is well on her way to becoming one of the next big faces in the R&B scene and is ready to takeover.