Soon after Ella Mai was discovered by DJ Mustard, her career took off in an instant, with her 2018 self-titled debut album not only earning a platinum plaque by the RIAA for sales over one million units in the U.S. but also spawning several hits songs including Trip and Boo’d Up.
The latter track was a global hit, selling over five million copies worldwide and peaking at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also saw rap icon Nicki Minaj and Quavo hop on the remix version, which subsequently helped boost the song’s popularity even further — but with all the success that Mai had in 2018, she went rather quiet soon after.
It has since been confirmed that she’s been hard at work on her sophomore project; she also took home a Grammy award in 2019 and found herself in a heated feud with Jacquees, but what else has this London native been up to since her rise to fame?
What’s Ella Mai Up To?
Firstly, let’s talk about new music. These days, when an artist takes longer than a year to put out an album, fans tend to get pretty impatient with them, and while Mai understands this, she says that taking time on perfecting her craft has been very important to her as an artist.
The music should feel authentic to her, and if she’s rushing projects every other year, she may not feel as inspired by the songs as she would’ve been if there wasn’t so much pressure to constantly pen another hit record, which is why she’s decided to approach things slowly for her forthcoming album.
In an interview with Teen Vogue, the 26-year-old reveals that while she’s been hard at work on her next body of work, she had spent most of 2019 on the road, which didn’t give her much time to be in the recording studio as much as she would’ve liked.
Then came the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, which undoubtedly slowed the process of finishing up Mai’s sophomore album, but the good news was that the outbreak had allowed her to take a step back to relax from the hectic two years she’s had since the release of her debut album in 2018.
From press interviews, tours, events, meet and greet appearances, and planning her next record, being confined at home for months had proven to be just what the R&B vocalist needed.
Explaining her relaxed approach during the pandemic, she said: “I spent all of 2019 on the road, touring, so quarantine gave me the opportunity to catch up on sleep, binge watch a few shows, organize and spend time with Thierry, my French bulldog.”
“I’m grateful that my debut has taken me all around the world and gave me many opportunities to share my art with fans everywhere,” she added. “Looking back I’m amazed and extremely grateful at how far music has taken me already and to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of Ella Mai, I will be streaming all day!”
In early 2019, Mai won her first Grammy for Best R&B song with Boo’d Up, during which time she was also caught up in a feud with Jacquees, who had re-recorded her track Trip with his voice and monetized it without the singer’s consent.
Jacquees’ version had amassed millions of hits on YouTube and Soundcloud, which is why Mai and her team reportedly had his version removed from both platforms, stressing that the R&B star was profiting from a record that he was more or less passing off as his own while supposedly generating money from it.
In April 2019, Mai threw some major shade at Jacquees after the whole incident involving her track when she learned the latter was still performing his version of the song at his concerts, to which she tweeted:
“i’d be so embarrassed if someone brung me on stage and the only thing i could sing was someone elses song because nobody knew my actual music. poor thing.”
It wouldn’t be until October 2020 when Mai decided to tease fans with what’s to come on her next studio offering with the release of her song Not Another Love Song.
She performed the track on The Late Late Showwith James Corden the following month, but she has yet to announce any plans of when fans can expect a full-length body of work, though it would seem as if a new album could very well be right around the corner if she’s already releasing new music.
Are you looking forward to another record from Mai?
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