New Mother, New Music, New Moves

Ella Mai moves with the kind of composure that doesn’t ask for attention — it commands it with grace. Porcelain skin, dressed in all black, dark waves flowing over her shoulders, and a fresh manicure to match. The look is understated but intentional, much like her music.

A decade into a career stamped by multi-platinum singles, a Grammy win for Best R&B Song, and over 6 billion streams, Ella Mai has watched her debut soar into the Billboard Top 20. With “Boo’d Up” going 7-times Platinum and “Trip” going 5-times Platinum, the British songstress has evolved from viral beginnings to global stages. At 31, she carries a subtle confidence that says, “I’m that girl.”

From the start of this interview, the energy was easy. We were both still laughing from a running joke I made earlier. What begins as an off-book introduction quickly becomes something more layered—a conversation that moves seamlessly between wit and honesty, intensity, and intimacy. Over the next hour, Mai spoke candidly about things like the fear of losing her vocal ability while pregnant, reframed Scorpio stereotypes, and how a handwritten card can mean more than a Birkin. For her, emotional access is a “luxury.”

“This is probably the most honest I’ve been,” she admitted. On her latest album, Do You Still Love Me?, Ella Mai isn’t asking for validation. She’s setting the tone — and checking the temperature. Watch the full interview where she talks about creating the album, motherhood, her career journey, and what’s next.

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On her journey from social media to connecting with Mustard to her first record:

It’s actually funny because I don’t like social media that much. I like to go away in my corner when I can, but at the time, I was 20 years old. I had this idea in the shower one day, and I was like, “I should record this.” It was when Instagram had just released Instagram video, so you could only post 15 seconds. Remember? So I was like, “I have to make this count in these 15 seconds.” I just started posting covers of really big songs at the time, and I started to pick up traction. Blogs were posting me, and that’s how Mustard came across my page. I didn’t really realize what was happening at the time. I just kind of knew that I had to keep going.

Then Mustard and I did a session out here in New York 10 years ago, which is so crazy to even think about, and we made three songs. At that point, I didn’t have management. I was literally just singing into my phone off a YouTube backing track. I didn’t know where it was going to go. He could have just given the songs to someone else. It could have just been like, “Oh, cool, it was nice to work with you,” type of thing. And he was just like, “I really love what you did. I want to get you out to L.A. Let’s work more.” I went back and forth to L.A. for a little while. I signed to him, and then everything basically happened. Crazy.

On trusting her gut to work with Mustard as a new artist:

At the time, I was taking everything seriously. I had been in other sessions with other people, I had taken the meetings, as you said, but something just felt really different about Mustard. He seemed the most serious, I will say. Also, on a genuine, connection-level, it didn’t feel super businessy. I think that also kind of made me like, “Okay, I feel safe in this environment.” I didn’t feel like, “He just sees money.” It really felt like he was interested in my story. He was interested to see what we could do. And it also felt like he was interested in kind of stepping into a new lane for himself. I think that’s what made the difference. And even the first times that I was going out to LA, my brother was with me, and it wasn’t like my brother was just to the side.

I think that gut feeling is really important. Because I had been in other previous situations, and nothing serious, but where I was just like, “I don’t know. This is a good opportunity, but I’m not 100%.” I think it’s really important to trust your gut. It just felt safe and felt like the right thing to do. I can only thank God for that, honestly, because it was definitely the right decision. I know God allowed us to cross paths for that exact reason.

On how her Do You Still Love Me? album title came to be:

We really struggled to come up with this title. I’m not even going to lie. We had finished the album, had the track list together, and everything. Mustard and I just couldn’t find something that felt like it told the story well enough. Mustard was really vouching for a different title. And I said to him, “Okay, why do you think that should be the title?” I don’t remember the title, but I remember not liking it at all. So I was like, “Why do you think that should be it?” He starts explaining it, and he’s like, “Because if you say that, then you can ask the questions. Or somebody can ask you the question, do you still love me? Or do you still…” And I was like, “Wait! That’s the title.” It kind of just stuck, and we rolled with it. Also, because it can be a closed question. It could be very open-ended also.

On the fear of losing her voice while pregnant:

They also say it’s a possibility that you can lose your voice when you’re pregnant. Not that you can’t speak, but it definitely changes so much within your body that it can change your voice. It can make your voice sound deeper. It can make your voice sound higher. It could also change your tone, which is the craziest thing to even think about… there are so many other things that happen during pregnancy. I was a little bit worried, because this is my livelihood. As much as I’m so happy to be in this position and I’m blessed, I don’t want anything to change with my voice. Luckily, I felt like it really helped me. It helped tap into another level of emotion, which was really, really cool.

On the hardest truth to tell on her album:

It was probably my song “Chasing Circles,” which is towards the end. That song really kind of describes postpartum for me. It’s kind of a reminder of that journey of becoming a mom, and it’s a whole new world. The newborn stage was not my favorite in the slightest. In the newborn stage, there’s just no way you can get eight to 10 [hours]. That was really hard for me, but also, your hormones are going up and down. It [the song] takes me back to that time and really reminds me that, even in the year and a half he’s been alive, how far I’ve come not only as a mom and an artist, but as a human being. It just makes me proud of myself.

On adding a bit of nostalgia by talking on “Audio Message”:

It feels very nostalgic to the music that we grew up on. I feel like it’s an unpopular opinion. I think a lot of people are like, “Please don’t talk at the end of your songs.” I always used to talk at the end of my songs on my EPs, but I’ve definitely dialed it down. But I didn’t want to take it completely out, because that’s just me. That’s just who I am… I like to tell a story with my music, but I also like to add those little things in. Sometimes it can break up an album in a way, like how we did it on Do You Still Love Me? I speak about being a Scorpio, and it’s because I’m flipping from the lover girl Scorpio to almost the other side of being a Scorpio. It bridges the gap a little bit…That’s really a voice note that I would send to my friend. I’m a big Scorpio, and I ride for Scorpios very hard. We are very misunderstood.

On what Kehlani’s Grammy wins mean for R&B:

I think that was extremely overdue. She was due years and years and years ago. She has been putting her work in. She has given us great music over the years, but timing is everything. I think she would probably say the same, too. Especially with a record like “Folded,” there was no one else they could have given that Grammy to. It was absolutely the R&B song of the year.

I think for a long time, the “R&B is dead” conversation was a real topic. I think that her winning the Grammys [and] Leon having the year that he had…even when you think about Victoria, when she won Best New Artist…it’s a win for all of us when our genre gets put on these platforms. People start to pay a little bit more attention. I’m really, really happy for her [Kehlani]. She deserved that.

On what’s next on her list of goals:

My list looks very, very different from what it used to look like. As I’ve gotten older and become a mum, I think the way you look at life and what’s important to you is so different. Now, when I think about it, definitely just [to] live in the moment more. I feel like with my debut, things were happening so quickly, and I couldn’t even really understand what was happening. So [I’m] really trying to live in the moment, and enjoy and appreciate things as they’re happening. Short-term, I will say, obviously, I want to take this album on the road and be able to experience the energy of all the love in the room. Long-term, I think just continuing to grow as a woman, as an artist, as a mom, as a friend, just really continuing to be the best version of myself that I can be in all ways, in all capacities.