Malkerns – Summer Pearl, a London-based singer and songwriter who has been writing, recording and performing since the age of 16, made her Eswatini debut at the MTN Bushfire Festival in Malkerns, and left with a lasting impression of the country.
Speaking after her performance, the artist said the landscape immediately felt familiar.
“My friend, the drummer Charles, he pointed out that it’s really similar to Jamaica. And when I looked, I was like, it’s so true. Like it feels like home, which is nice,” she said. 
She added that the people and the atmosphere matched what she had hoped for.
“The vibe, everyone’s very friendly, which I was expecting anyway. And the music and the vibe is just amazing,” she said.
Known for her carefree live performances and direct lyrics, Summer Pearl draws from Jazz, Soul, Hip Hop, R&B and Reggae, and describes her music as both personal and political.
@swazi24online Summer Pearl from the United Kingdom lit up the MTN Bushfire Main Arena with an electrifying performance, leaving fans singing, dancing, and wanting more 🔥🇬🇧✨ #MTNBushfire #BushfireFestival #SummerPearl ♬ original sound – swazi24
“My music is a reflection of my past and a meditation of our present. It is both a personal and sometimes political message exploring black and female liberation, love gained and love lost and anything I feel. I channel the experiences of my ancestors, women and myself to conjure emotions to write and express,” she said.
Reflecting on her set, the artist said the crowd’s energy, whether people were dancing at the front or sitting quietly at the back, did not change how she felt on stage.
“I just felt good to be on the other side of the world. Like literally I’m from London, but I’ve never been here, and it’s just nice to have people at the front dancing or people sitting at the back just chilling and listening. I feel like my music is very good. So you can sit and listen, or you can dance to it,” she said.
She said even audience members who appeared to be mid-conversation during her performance were not a distraction.
“Even if people are talking, I don’t even mind because I feel like they’re watching and they’re having a conversation,” she said.
On how she writes, Summer Pearl said emotion drives everything.
“I have to feel something to write about it, to perform it. So it’s just things that I’ve gone through, or things that I’ve seen, or things that are happening in the world. That truth is what I write about mostly,” she said.
The artist also revealed that despite a decade of performing, she still opens every show with the same song, though never in the same way twice.
“I’ve always started the set with the same song for the past ten years, but I always do different renditions. So I don’t get bored, so the band don’t get bored, so that the crowd, even if they’ve heard my recording stuff, it never sounds like my recording stuff. It’s always like a live version. Sometimes it’s improvisation on the stage,” she said.
Asked to share three things people might not know about her, Summer Pearl said she is an only child with no brothers or sisters, a former competitive runner, and someone who considers herself genuinely shy.
“The stage feels like freedom to me. Right now I feel quite comfortable, but most of the time I’m quite shy, and the stage and music kind of helps me,” she said.
