18.10.2026 14:00
Turkish female music group Manifest gave its first concert in the UK at Wembley Arena in London on October 16. The six-member group, which was tried in Turkey because of its outfits and choreography, had its sentences postponed and its overseas travel ban lifted, and sang the I Will Survive section in Turkish on stage. The music video for their first English song, TRALALA, left Shakira and Taylor Swift behind on YouTube's daily list.
We meet the Turkish women's music group Manifest for the first time on a boat travelling along the River Thames in central London, the capital of the UK.
The group's six members pose for the press holding umbrellas patterned with the UK flag. At the same time, they chat with British pop musicians, among them the K-pop-trained boy band dearALICE.
Netflix cameras are recording the night for a six-part documentary. The group is in London hoping to take its success in Turkey to the international stage.
Before these goals, they had a turbulent year in Turkey. They were tried on charges of "committing shameless acts" because of the clothes they wore and their dancing at a concert in Istanbul.
WE WILL ALSO MANIFEST COACHELLA
A few weeks after our meeting on the boat, I meet up with the group again, this time at Wembley Arena. They are preparing to give their first concert in the UK the following evening.
As the stage is being set up around them with giant LED screens and the group's logo, the six members rehearse their choreography in harmony with their dancers. The group consists of Süeda Uluca, Lidya Pınar, Mina Solak, Zeynep Sude Oktay, Hilal Yelekçi and Esin Bahat.
But Wembley is only the beginning of their goals. Hilal Yelekçi, in a nod to the group's name, says, "After Wembley, we will manifest Coachella and other big stages."
Manifest was formed last February on the TV talent competition Big5 Türkiye, where contestants competed for months to get into the group. The contestants were mentored by well-known Turkish pop stars, including Gülçin Ergül, a former member of the group Hepsi and also one of the competition's judges.
The group rose quickly. They currently have more than six million monthly listeners on Spotify.
THEY LEFT SHAKIRA AND TAYLOR SWIFT BEHIND
While they were in London, they released their first English song, TRALALA. The song's video rose to number one on YouTube's daily music video chart on the day it was released, leaving Shakira's and Taylor Swift's videos behind.
This was also the first video they shot outside Turkey. The group worked in east London with a production team made up mostly of British people. Pınar says, "Stepping outside that safe zone was a bit stressful for us."
Although they want to perform in the UK and the US, they are determined to preserve their Turkish identity. Sude Oktay says, "Actually, we want to reach listeners around the world not with our English songs, but with our Turkish songs. We want to teach people to sing in Turkish."
Manifest lists the Spice Girls alongside Hepsi among their musical inspirations. Pınar says her favorite Spice Girls member is Baby Spice and laughs, saying, "Because of pink. I'm pink and blonde too, so it's obvious."
The group also had the chance to meet one of the world's biggest pop stars, Dua Lipa. The British-Albanian singer met Manifest backstage before they took the stage at the Sunny Hill Festival in Kosovo this July, and then watched their performance.
One of the group members describes that moment: "She came to our dressing room and said very nice things. We love her, her songs and her stage presence. "
THE CASE AND SUSPENDED SENTENCES
However, the group's journey to success was jeopardized last year. After criticism of their outfits and choreography at a concert in Istanbul for over-18s, an investigation was opened against them on the allegation that they acted contrary to public morality. Their London visit takes place a little more than a year after this.
A Turkish court later ruled that the group's choreography and physical contact on stage constituted exhibitionism. In a post on his X account, Presidential Chief Adviser Oktay Saral called for action so that the group "cannot repeat such actions again."
The case also brought criticism about artistic freedom in Turkey, where authorities had previously canceled concerts and festivals on grounds of public morality. Singer Ceylan Ertem described the investigation as "a clear attack on women's freedom and the performing arts."
The three-month, 22-day sentences given to each of the group's six members were suspended. The court also lifted their travel bans abroad.
WE WANT LITTLE GIRLS TO SING TOO
During our interview in London, the group members did not want to talk about the sentence they received. Instead, they talked about their desire to inspire a new generation of girls in Turkey.
Vocalist Pınar says, "We are six different women with different hobbies. We very much want little girls to look at us and perhaps want to sing and dance themselves. Maybe they can draw strength from us."
About 300 fans attended a signing event held at a Turkish restaurant in London. This allowed the group to meet some of their fans living in the UK face to face for the first time. Pınar says, "Previously our concerts and events were in Turkey, and we had never met them face to face. It was a very sweet moment for us."
TURKISH SONGS AT WEMBLEY
On the day of the concert, excitement could be felt outside Wembley Arena, where fans wearing headbands with the Manifest logo and carrying banners gathered. Turkish women in their 20s and 30s made up most of the crowd. Many were dressed in colors associated with the group.
Among them were two friends living in London, 31-year-old Elif and 25-year-old Zeynep. Zeynep says, "I don't think I've ever heard of a women's music group performing there before. I think I was seven when the group Hepsi was together for the last time. Maybe it's an experience you can have only once in a lifetime." Turkish pop star Tarkan had given a concert at Wembley Arena in 2008.
For Elif, the concert has a broader meaning: "We are going through difficult times in Turkey. This concert expresses women's power, empowerment, having fun and being together. I think people in Turkey have come together to support them and to criticize the government's attitude toward them. " Zeynep adds: "It's great to see them here, but I hope that one day they can return to Turkey and do what they want without being pressured because of this. "
When the group took the Wembley stage, female solidarity was strongly felt. They opened the concert with their song "Hileli," then moved on to TRALALA. Throughout the night they spoke both English and Turkish. At one point they asked the audience who was Turkish and who was British. The loudest cheers came from the Turkish fans.
In addition to their own songs, they also performed One Direction's Story of My Life, the Spice Girls' Wannabe and the Pussycat Dolls' Hush Hush. Hush Hush also includes a section from Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive. The group sang this part in Turkish. It was a striking moment for a group determined to bring its own language to an international audience.
Although Manifest's eye is on stages all around the world, after a few weeks in London they had missed some of the things they were used to back home. Sude Oktay says, "Turkish food, for example kebab," and then adds manti. Pınar says, "Turkey is our home. We miss our home."
We used artificial intelligence in the translation of this article, the original of which is in English. A BBC journalist checked the translation before it was published.