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After a short period away, Ella Mai is back and better than ever. After first getting a taste of the spotlight on the 11th season of the UK’s The X Factor, Ella found her way towards the top of the charts with “Boo’d Up” and “Trip.” The Grammy-winning singer dropped her sophomore album earlier in 2022, which is why she’s one of the most anticipated performers at the 2022 BET Awards. Before the June 26 show, here’s what you should know about Ella.
Ella Mai is an English Singer-Songwriter
Born to a Jamaican mother and Irish father, Ella Mai (b. Ella Mai Howell) grew up in South London. She moved from London to New York at age 12 when her mother took a job teaching there. She graduated high school, returned to England, and began pursuing her music career while furthering her studies. She competed on series/season 11 of The X Factor as part of a trio but didn’t advance beyond the audition stages.
In 2015, she uploaded an EP to SoundCloud, which caught the ear of DJ Mustard. Ella signed to his label, 10 Summers Records. After releasing a pair of EPs, she dropped “Boo’d Up” in February 2017. The single grew bigger and bigger in 2018, becoming her first Top 10 song in the US. It hit the top of the US R&B charts, no. 1 on the Hot 100, and has since gone platinum, seven times. She had similar success with “Trip,” released in 2018.
She Is Best Known For ‘Boo’d Up,’ But She’s More Than That
Ella took the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song in 2019 (for “Boo’d Up”). Since then, she’s spent most of her time touring and working on her new album – and proving that she’s more than a handful of songs she wrote when she was in her earlier twenties.
“Don’t get me wrong, my Grammy is still one of the things I am most proud of,” she explained to NME, “but I don’t think there’s anything [better] than being able to go have conversations with people where they’ll tell me I’ve changed their life or that a song has really helped them through something. I really just want to inspire people the way that I have been inspired. That’s what success means to me.”
She Introduced A ‘New Era’ In 2022
“This era is a mature version of myself,” Ella told Complex in March 2022, a few months before she released Heart on My Sleeve, her second album and first since 2018’s self-titled, double-platinum debut. “I’m still the same me, but it’s just more of an elevated version. People seem to forget I was 23/24 when I released my debut album, Ella Mai. I’m 27 now, and I’ve changed so much as a person—I’m a woman now! I experienced a lot that my younger self couldn’t relate to. Career-wise, I’ve been able to tour, and I became more sure of myself as an artist, knowing what I want to say and how to say it, so I try and incorporate that in my new music.”
J.Cole Is Her ‘Favorite Rapper’
When making Heart on my Sleeve, Ella had “one of the best weeks of my life,” she told Billboard in January 2022. “This was at the end of my [album] process and a lot of songs had already been picked out and we had been like, ‘This is what we’re missing.’ I don’t like to go in and be like, ‘Let’s make this.’ Getting in with Pharrell was really fun because it’s super different. Pharrell and The Neptunes is like, ‘What?!’”
“So then I go to J. Cole, who everyone knows is my favorite rapper. I was telling him my embarrassing stories of me and when he was on the What Dreams May Come Tour. It was [around the time of] Born Sinner and I was still in London. I cut college class that day and I stood outside. I was 19th in line. I know, because they give you this wristband — so you can leave but you still get your spot. It was freezing cold, but I didn’t care, and I was super front row. I was telling him all my stories. But also as a person, Cole is very inspirational. It’s amazing to be around somebody who is what they portray [to be].”
She Continues To Evolve
“I’m a lot more confident and sure of what I want to say, and the message I want to put across to my listeners,” she told Billboard. “I think when you listen to a song from an artist, you kind of feel like you dive into their world a little bit, and I think it’s important that you stay true to yourself. I know a lot of these things sound cliché, but it’s the truth. I’ve been very vulnerable, open, and honest on this project more than my debut era.”
“A lot of people don’t know that much about me, because I make my music, and I go away, and you don’t see me for a little bit,” she continued. “I think this album and especially this single helps you dive into my world just a little bit more. I’m proud of myself for that because it’s not an easy thing to do to put your emotions on the line, but I think that’s what makes the best music.”
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