MNEK’s BULLDOZER!! Ends a Long Silence on His Own Terms

MNEK spent much of the last decade writing hits for other people. His debut album, Language, arrived in 2018 and gathered pop, R&B and hip-hop around questions of self-esteem, queer identity and relationships. When it underperformed, he pulled back from releasing music under his own name and kept working behind the scenes, including songs for FLO in 2024 and Zara Larsson in 2025. BULLDOZER!! is his second album, and it carries the confidence of someone who no longer needs anyone’s permission to put one out.

The energy is set immediately. “REVERSE!!” opens with fast, high-register rapping, and “THE WALL!!” pushes the production harder still. Across the record MNEK moves through ’90s house on “OH NO!! ALL THE BOYS!!”, shuffling dance grooves and arpeggiated synths on “LUST4!!”, and UK garage on “GARGANTUAN!!” and “MUSCLE MARYS..”. His production and his melodies carry equal weight.

What holds the album together is an argument about masculinity. On “LADY!!” he makes the case that men would benefit from embracing femininity. On the grime-leaning “DIRTY LITTLE SECRET!!” he takes apart the man who keeps a romance behind closed doors. Language raised these themes. BULLDOZER!! presses on them, and finds the insecurity under the flexing.