ELLA MAI TAKING MORE CREATIVE RISKS FOR SOPHOMORE ALBUM
While the COVID19 pandemic has affected work dynamics in studios, R&B star Ella Mai, who describes herself a “creature of habit,” said being stuck in quarantine may have actually helped her music creation.
“Honestly, [it’s just] the fact that I couldn’t go to the studio and when I did, I was under different measures. Like only a certain number of people were allowed in the room to stay safe, but that was it,” Ella told Billboard in a recent interview.
“Creatively, it might have actually helped,” added the British singersongwriter. “Being in the room with the same three or four people [didn’t affect me]. I don’t need to be on a beach somewhere, [because] I’m a creature of habit.”
The setup, in a way, provided her with structure. “So, if I can be in the same room and know exactly where everything is, it makes me more comfortable than being somewhere different every day,” she pointed out.
The 25yearold recording artist rose to fame in 2018, thanks to her critically acclaimed and commercially successful hits “Trip” and “Boo’d Up,” which both dominated the R&B charts in the United States.
In 2019, “Boo’d Up” was hailed Best R&B Song and earned a Song of the Year nomination at the Grammy Awards. Her selftitled debut album, meanwhile, received a Best R&B Album nod from the same award-giving body earlier this year.
If Ella has been staying relatively low-key in the past couple of months, that’s because she has been busy working on her follow-up album. Because she has grown a lot as an artist since the release of her album, Ella feels she can take more creative risks this time around.
“These sessions I have been doing for the sophomore album are a lot more figured out. When I was recording the debut, I was a lot younger and was trying to figure out what I wanted to sound like and what I wanted to say—and as much as I love my debut album, I was in a much different space, career-wise and as a person. I was 21, 22,” she related.
Thus, the process has been fun “in general.” “I’m 25 now. Going into this sophomore album, I’m a lot more confident as an artist. I know what I want to say and sound like,” said Ella, who recently dropped a new single titled, “Not Another Love Song,” which offers a taste of her future material.
Her growth as an artist went hand-in-hand with her growth as a woman.
“Just getting older and going through the motions of being a young woman trying to navigate the world, let alone the music industry—it definitely plays a big part,” Ella said. “I think I have always had a strong head on my shoulders. So, even with the debut, I had glimpses of that assertiveness.
“This time around, I feel like it’s more of an ‘in your face’ kind of thing—not too much, though,” she added.
I’m 25 now . . . I’m a lot more confident as an artist. I know what I want to say and sound like Ella Mai Singer