Man United and England footballer Kobbie Mainoo recently joined Apple Music for a special in conversation for Black History Month. Across the talk, Mainoo discussed the music that inspires him both on and off the pitch, the music played in the Manchester United dressing room, the Manchester music scene and his dream career milestones.
In celebration of Black History Month, Apple Music hosted a talk with Manchester United and England midfielder, Kobbie Mainoo at the Apple Store in Arndale, Manchester this week. In a similar candid yet laidback vibe to the event with Marika Hackman earlier this year, put on in honour of Women’s History Month, the conversation threw up some nice insights into Mainoo’s relationship with music. There’s some nice moments throughout, including a bit of intel into who controls the music in the Man Utd dressing room, and which players he’s most aligned with when it comes to music taste.
Hosted by Apple Music’s Dotty, the event also featured a performance from rapper, Blanco. As well as celebrating Black History Month, the whole event built nicely off of Mainoo’s playlist for Apple Music’s ’The Warm Up’ series, which dropped over the summer during Euro 24.
Dotty: You did grow up in a Ghanaian household. What are the kind of songs that your mom was playing when you were growing up?
Mainoo: Daddy Lumba, my sisters got me into Mindless Behaviour.
Dotty: What's your pre-game routine like?
Mainoo: It’s very chilled, I'm not very superstitious so kind of just do whatever.
Dotty: So you aren't one of the players that need to put headphones on? You’re already just in your zone.
Mainoo: Depends what the music’s like. Whoever’s playing the music, if it's good, then I won't put headphones on. But if I'm not feeling it, then I'll put my headphones on.
Dotty: So there's this thing in American football, right? If you ever go to an American football game, when someone scores a touchdown, they play a song. If that was something that got brought into the Premier League, and every time you scored a goal, a song played, what would be the Kobbie Mainoo goal song?
Mainoo: That’s tough. It would have to be a hype song wouldn’t it. Maybe Sheck Wes. I’ve got a wide range of tastes.
Dotty: In the dressing room at Man United, is there a track that goes off for the team, or does everybody kind of get in their own huddle and play their own music.
Mainoo: There’s this one Bad Bunny track, I don’t like it. It’s Diogo Dalot, I can’t get behind it but he loves Bad Bunny.
Dotty: Man United dressing room is a Bad Bunny dressing room?
Mainoo: Yeah, it is.
Dotty: Is music quite unifying in a team where there's so many different languages, so many different cultures, so many different lifestyles, is music something that gets the team together? Being universal?
Mainoo: Yeah, for sure. I mean, to be fair, Diogo does try and diversify the playlist that he puts on, he puts on some stuff for the English lads and French guys and stuff. So it's nice. It's nice to involve everyone, he tries to.
Dotty: So who has the best music taste in Man United?
Mainoo: Probably Joshua Zirkzee, his is the most similar to mine.
Dotty: Who do you get on best with in the United squad?
Mainoo: I get on with a lot of lads like Zirkzee, Ahmad, Garnacho, Lenny, so there’s a big group of us but we all get on.
Dotty: You've got an incredible job, but it's also a very tough job, because there are so many highs and lows you – could be winning one minute, next you could be losing. Is there a song that picks you up when you've lost?
Mainoo: Maybe ‘Woah Woah’ by Young Thug, on the DJ Mustard album, that’s my song. As well as music though, my family is very important. They keep me humble, remind me of the things that matter and the things that don’t, you know. And they keep me level headed. With the highs and lows you can get lost in it, so I just try and stay at one level, not go to high above or to low below that.
Dotty: Manchester is obviously popping in football terms. Whether you're blue, whether you're red, Manchester is an important football city. It's becoming hugely important in UK rap too though, and you see the likes of NEMS and Meeks and Bugsy Malone and Aitch – is there a sense of pride in seeing how the Manchester music scene is growing?
Mainoo: Yeah, for sure. I mean, when I was younger, there was a lot of Bugsy Malone. I used to love his fire in the booths. And now with Nemz and Meeks, it's nice to see that we're getting love in Manchester.
Dotty: What would a ‘Kobbie Mainoo’ music track sound like?
Mainoo: Maybe like melodic rap, you know. Something like Young Thug.
Dotty: You’d be an auto-tune guy?
Mainoo: Yeah I think so.
Dotty: What does a typical training day look like for you and how is your routine/schedule?
Mainoo: Sometimes we’re in at 09:00 sometimes we’re in at 12:00. But we’ll get in and have breakfast, then activation work and then train, followed by meetings and stuff. Then we’ll get into a bit of two-touch, then go home to sleep!
Dotty: What downtime looks like for you?
Mainoo: Right now I’m a gamer; I’m into a bit of 2K and a bit of EA Sports FC25. If I’ve got some energy I’ll go and play some Padel.
Dotty: Do you play as Man United when you play FIFA?
Mainoo: No, I play Pro Clubs.
Dotty: Do you put Kobbie Mainoo into your team when you play?
Mainoo: No, never! The annoying thing is my boys do, and they’ll try and score against me, with me!
Dotty: Who’s in your ultimate team?
Mainoo: Right now, upfront I’ve got Paulo Foutrey, Usman Dembele, Bradley Barcola from PSG...I won’t name anymore as I’ve got a few City players in my team…I’ve got Garnacho on the bench!
Dotty: You're early on in your career. You're 19, you've got so much time ahead of you. What are the milestones that you want to hit before you hang up your boots?
Mainoo: I want to win the Premier League, of course. I want to hopefully win something in Europe as well, and win something for the national team as well. I think that's definitely the biggest one for me.
Dotty: What artist would you like to witness in the studio?
Mainoo: Probably [in the studio] Lil Wayne, because his bars are so wild that I just want to know how he comes up with them. you hear stories on TikTok about it so I’d want to see it with my own eyes.
Explore Kobbie’s playlist, The Warm-Up, available now on Apple Music.
