Full Moon by Moonchild Sanelly
77
ChoruScore
6 reviews
Jan 10, 2025
Release Date
Transgressive Records
Label

Moonchild Sanelly's Full Moon arrives as a brazen, club-ready manifesto that pairs festival-ready production with unexpectedly tender confession. Across six professional reviews the record earned a 76.67/100 consensus score, and critics consistently point to a tension between party anthems and intimate revelations that defines the album's emotional architecture.

Reviewers agree the best songs on Full Moon showcase that balance: “Scrambled Eggs” and “Do My Dance” open with irresistible dancefloor energy, while “Mntanami”, “I Was The Biggest Curse” and “To Kill a Single Girl (Tequila)” provide the record's most affecting moments. Professional reviews praise Moonchild Sanelly's playful, brazen persona as she folds themes of female sexuality, survival and family trauma, and heritage into genre-melding textures - from gqom and amapiano inflections to future ghetto-funk and electro-pop. Critics note the production leans festival-ready without sacrificing lyrical specificity, making tracks like “I Love People” and “Scrambled Eggs” both immediate and distinct.

While many reviewers celebrate the album's sex-positive celebration and confident command of South African club genres, some point to an occasional overabundance of bravado that undercuts cohesion. Still, the critical consensus suggests Full Moon is worth listening to for its standout songs and its honest pivot toward vulnerability, leaving the closer “I Was The Biggest Curse” to register as the album's emotional payoff. Below, professional reviews unpack how these tensions shape Moonchild Sanelly's most ambitious collection to date.

Critics' Top Tracks

The standout songs that made critics take notice

1

Mntanami

5 mentions

"‘Mntanami’, which translates to ‘my child’, is the album’s definitive Xhosa ballad"
The Quietus
2

I Was The Biggest Curse

6 mentions

"the album’s contemplative finale ‘I Was the Biggest Curse’"
The Quietus
3

Scrambled Eggs

5 mentions

"The album opens with the playful and dub-heavy ‘Scrambled Eggs’"
The Quietus
‘Mntanami’, which translates to ‘my child’, is the album’s definitive Xhosa ballad
T
The Quietus
about "Mntanami"
Read full review
5 mentions
86% sentiment

Track Ratings

How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.

View:
1

Scrambled Eggs

5 mentions
97
03:46
2

Big Booty

4 mentions
53
03:31
3

In My Kitchen

3 mentions
57
02:43
4

To Kill a Single Girl (Tequila)

5 mentions
89
03:34
5

Do My Dance

5 mentions
69
03:33
6

Falling

3 mentions
24
03:42
7

Gwara Gwara

3 mentions
15
03:18
8

Boom

5 mentions
64
03:39
9

Sweet & Savage

5 mentions
28
03:16
10

I Love People

5 mentions
83
02:18
11

Mntanami

5 mentions
100
04:13
12

I Was The Biggest Curse

6 mentions
100
04:37

What Critics Are Saying

Deep insights from 8 critics who reviewed this album

Critic's Take

Moonchild Sanelly's Full Moon pivots between cheeky celebration and heavy confessional moments, and the best songs - “Scrambled Eggs” and “Mntanami” - show that range. The opener “Scrambled Eggs” functions as an audacious icebreaker, while “Mntanami” and the late-album “I Was The Biggest Curse” reveal the emotional spine she conceals beneath the twerk. Steve Forstneger's voice praises how playful tracks like “Big Booty” and “Do My Dance” set up a narrative that culminates in the solemn release of “Mntanami”.

Key Points

  • The best song is the emotionally revelatory late-album track (Mntanami) because it completes the narrative arc with grim honesty.
  • The album's core strengths are its blend of playful body-positivity singles and an unexpectedly personal, confessional narrative.

Themes

body positivity sexuality patriarchy and toxic masculinity self-acceptance survival and family trauma

Critic's Take

On Full Moon, Moonchild Sanelly leans into the exuberant, tongue-in-cheek side of her sound, with tracks like “Big Booty” and “Scrambled Eggs” serving as the album’s most irresistible moments. The record balances party-ready bangers and tender ballads, so while “Big Booty” is an instant earworm, songs such as “Falling” and “Mntanami” reveal her emotional range. The result is a distinctive collection that foregrounds Sanelly’s future-ghetto-funk persona while also delivering genuine moments of self-acceptance and narrative depth.

Key Points

  • The best song, "Big Booty", is the standout due to its instant earworm chorus and body-positive, celebratory tone.
  • The album’s core strengths are its blend of playful, high-energy tracks and sincere, tender ballads that showcase Sanelly’s vocal range and storytelling.

Themes

self-acceptance body positivity collaboration female empowerment emotional vulnerability

Critic's Take

Moonchild Sanelly's Full Moon announces itself as a maximalist, sex-positive celebration where the best songs - “Boom” and “In My Kitchen” - stake their claim. Katie Hawthorne's voice relishes the abrasive electro-pop textures, likening “Boom” to Santigold at a happy hardcore rave while praising “In My Kitchen” as icy and commanding. The review points to the closing pair - “Mntanami” and “I Was The Biggest Curse” - as the album's emotional payoff, a shift from braggadocio to poignancy. Overall, the reviewer frames the album as triumphant, filthy, and sharply funny, making clear which tracks are the standouts.

Key Points

  • The best song, “Boom”, is a sharp, anthemic track likened to Santigold at a happy hardcore rave and praised for its independence-themed lyrics.
  • The album's core strengths are its maximalist fusion of Johannesburg club styles with abrasive electro-pop and its combination of filth, humour, and late-album poignancy.

Themes

sexual empowerment South African club genres diaspora recording personal reflection

Critic's Take

Moonchild Sanelly sprints out of the gate on Full Moon with the dub-fired opener “Scrambled Eggs”, an infectious statement of intent that signals the album's best tracks to come. The record finds its most compelling moments in intimate turns like “To Kill a Single Girl (Tequila)” and the reflective closer “I Was The Biggest Curse”, where vulnerability undercuts her usual bravado and makes these songs the best tracks on Full Moon. Elsewhere, crowd-pleasers such as “Big Booty” and the club-leaning “Do My Dance” show her command of gqom, amapiano and future ghetto funk, rounding out why listeners searching for the best songs on Full Moon will find themselves returning to those highlights. The balance of swagger and sincerity is what elevates these top moments, making the album both a party and a personal statement.

Key Points

  • The best song is the reflective closer 'I Was The Biggest Curse' because it converts melancholic production into a proud, conclusive statement.
  • The album's core strengths are its genre-blending of gqom and amapiano, confident lyricism, and a balance of swagger with vulnerable moments.

Themes

self-exploration relationships sexual exploration South African electronic sub-genres heritage and upbringing

Critic's Take

Moonchild Sanelly keeps the party rolling on Full Moon, where the best songs - notably “To Kill A Single Girl (Tequila)” and “I Was The Biggest Curse” - show her range from brazen pop to surprising vulnerability. The reviewer's tone stays cheeky and admiring, pointing out how opener “Scrambled Eggs” reintroduces her with pitch-perfect lines and how “Sweet & Savage” twists into mindbending pace shifts. If you search for the best tracks on Full Moon, it is these bold, contrasted moments that stand out, the album’s ’if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ attitude making its highlights land harder. The record is playful, explicit and expertly produced, a collection built to excite and occasionally disarm.

Key Points

  • The best song(s) stand out by combining brazen pop hooks with deftly executed stylistic twists and strong lyrical lines.
  • The album’s core strengths are its playful, sex-positive persona, tight pop production, and an unexpectedly vulnerable closing moment.

Themes

sex-positive celebration club/pop production vulnerability in closer playful brazen persona

Critic's Take

Moonchild Sanelly's Full Moon stakes its claim with fearless celebration of female sexuality, and the best songs underline that charge. The standout pair - “Do My Dance” and “To Kill a Single Girl (Tequila)” - push club-ready beats and blunt, anthemic hooks that drive the album. “I Love People” provides spoken-word contrast and shows the record's range, while closer “I Was the Biggest Curse” leaves a proud, triumphant aftertaste. The best tracks on Full Moon are those that balance brashness with craft, and these cuts do exactly that.

Key Points

  • Do My Dance is the best song for its anthemic, brazen articulation of female sexual agency.
  • The album's core strengths are its fearless thematic focus and genre-melding production that balance boldness and craft.

Themes

female sexuality agency genre-melding festival-ready production