Manifest: From reality TV to Wembley Arena in one turbulent year

When I first meet Turkish girl group manifest, we're on a boat cruising down the River Thames.

The six band members are clutching Union jack umbrellas as they pose for press photographs and mingle with British pop acts, including K-pop-trained boyband dearALICE.

Netflix cameras are filming the evening for a six-part documentary. The group are in London hoping to build on their success in Turkey and reach an international audience.

Their ambitions come after a turbulent year at home, during which the band were prosecuted for public indecency over their outfits and dance moves during a concert in Istanbul.

A few weeks after their appearance on the boat, I meet the group again at Wembley Arena, where they are preparing for their first UK concert the following night.

As the staging - complete with giant LED screens and the group's logo - is set up around them, the six members rehearse synchronised choreography alongside their back-up dancers.

The group consists of main vocalist Sueda Uluca, lead vocalist Lidya Pınar, sub-vocalist Mina Solak, sub-vocalist and main rapper Zeynep Sude Oktay, lead dancer Hilal Yelekçi and main dancer Esin Bahat.

But Wembley is just the beginning of their ambitions.

"After Wembley, we'll manifest Coachella and other big stages," says Hilal Yelekçi, playing on the group's name.

manifest were formed in February last year through the Turkish reality TV talent competition Big5 Türkiye, which saw contestants compete over several months for a place in the group.

They were mentored by established Turkish pop stars, including Gülçin Ergül, a former member of girl group Hepsi, who was also a judge on the show.

The band's rise has been rapid, and they now have more than six million monthly listeners on Spotify.

While in London, they released their first English-language single, TRALALA, which topped YouTube's daily music video chart on its release, ahead of videos from Shakira and Taylor Swift.

The music video was also their first to be filmed outside Turkey, with the group working with a largely British production crew in east London.

"Getting out from that safe zone was a bit stressful for us," says Pınar.

Despite their hopes to perform on British and American stages, they're keen to retain their Turkish identity.

"We want to reach a global audience with our Turkish songs actually, not with English ones," says Sude Oktay.

"We want to teach people to sing in Turkish."

Alongside Turkish girl group Hepsi, manifest cite the Spice Girls among their musical inspirations.

Pınar says her favourite Spice Girl is Baby Spice.

"Because of the pink. I'm pink and blonde, so it's obvious," she laughs.

They have also had the chance to meet one of the world's biggest pop stars, Dua Lipa.

The British-Albanian singer met manifest backstage before watching them perform at her Sunny Hill Festival in Kosovo in July this year.

"She came to our backstage and said a lot of great things," one member recalls.

"We really love her, her songs, her stage presence."

However, the band's road to success was threatened last year.

The trip to London comes just over a year after Turkish prosecutors launched an investigation into the group over allegations of violating public decency, following criticism of their outfits and choreography at an over-18s concert in Istanbul.

A Turkish court later ruled that their choreography and physical contact on stage amounted to exhibitionism.

In a post on X, Turkish politician Oktay Saral called for action so the group "can never repeat such acts".

The case also prompted criticism over artistic freedom in Turkey, where authorities have previously cancelled concerts and festivals over concerns about public morality.

Turkish singer Ceylan Ertem described the investigation as "an open attack on women's freedom and the performing arts".

The six members were handed suspended prison sentences of three months and 22 days. A ban preventing them from leaving Turkey was also lifted by the court.

Speaking to me in London, the group would not talk about the sentencing. Instead they spoke about wanting to inspire a new generation of Turkish girls.

"We are six different women, we have different hobbies... " says lead vocalist Pınar.

"We really, really want to see that little girls look at us and maybe they want to sing too, they want to dance too.

"Maybe they can get the power from us."

About 300 fans attended a signing event at a Turkish restaurant in London, giving the group their first chance to meet some of their UK-based supporters in person.

"Our concerts and events have been in Turkey before and we never met them face-to-face," says Pınar.

"It was a really cute moment for us."

On the day of the concert, there was a sense of excitement outside Wembley Arena as fans wearing manifest-branded headbands and carrying banners gathered.

The crowd was predominantly Turkish women in their 20s and 30s, many dressed in colours associated with the group.

Among them were friends Elif, 31, and Zeynep, 25, both Turkish women living in London, who reflected on the band's past year.

"I don't think I've ever heard of a girl band performing there," says Zeynep.

"I think I was seven when Hepsi were last together. It's maybe a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

Turkish pop star Tarkan previously performed at Wembley Arena in 2008.

For Elif, the concert has a wider significance.

"We are going through difficult times back home. It means girl power and empowerment, and just having fun and being together," she says.

"I feel like back home people came together to support them and criticise the treatment that they were receiving from the government."

Zeynep hopes the group will one day be able to perform freely in Turkey.

"It's great to see them here, but I hope one day they will be back in Turkey and they'll be able to do whatever they want without getting persecuted for it," she says.

The sense of girl power was strong as the group took to the Wembley stage, opening their set with Hileli before launching into TRALALA.

Throughout the evening the group switched between English and Turkish, at one point asking the audience who was Turkish and who was English. The loudest cheers came from the Turkish fans.

Alongside their own songs, they performed covers of One Direction's Story of My Life, the Spice Girls' Wannabe and the Pussycat Dolls' Hush Hush.

Hush Hush interpolates Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive, which the group sang in Turkish, a striking moment for a group determined to bring their language to an international audience.

Even though manifest have their sights set on stages around the world, after several weeks in London they were missing some of the comforts of home.

"Turkish food, like kebab," says rapper Sude Oktay, before adding mantı, a traditional Turkish dumpling dish.

"Turkey is our home," says Pınar. "We miss our home."