Ella Mai Quotes

I definitely believe that there are songs that, as artists, we don’t know the full potential.

I think originality is something that’s important and catches people’s eye.

I always felt like I could go to my mom and speak to her about anything. We have a great relationship.

My mom used to play a lot of music around the house, and I think that’s where I get my inspiration from.

People make careers off of Instagram. So in that sense, it’s really good, and you can put yourself out there and be open.

The first time I found out that ‘Boo’d Up’ went platinum, I was handed the plaque. They really surprised me. I thought we were gold, and then Mustard and my managers brought the plaque to my rehearsals and told me. I was like, ‘You are lying!’ Like, I couldn’t believe it. I’m just honored, honestly. It’s a great feeling.

L.A. is so slow. Everyone is so chill, and the weather, of course, makes everything better, but it’s just a different vibe.

A lot of ‘Time’ was actually about a friend’s relationship and me seeing what she went through and how she felt.

Not everybody gets to wake up and do what they love.

I wanted to show people that I don’t just make love songs that are about purely being in love.

Everyone in L.A. loves sushi, and I don’t understand it at all.

I always say that when you have friends that are girls, you tell each other everything.

There’s a place for R&B in the U.K. industry – a huge market. I hope that ‘Boo’d Up’ can be a testament to the fact. Sometimes, it takes you moving outside the box to prove that it can be done.

When I went into high school, I don’t know why – because I’ve been performing since I was little – but I think it was just the pressure of being somewhere so different, and I already stood out because I had an accent, and everyone always wanted you to talk, that I kind of shied away from singing a bit.

I’m someone who likes routine.

I think R&B is way bigger in America. It’s not really that mainstream in the U.K.

I was 12 years old when I first moved to New York, and at that age, you’re trying to find yourself. It was hard being so different from everyone I was around, and I felt that nobody could really understand me because everyone was American, and I was this little English girl with an accent.

A lot of the times, if relationships go badly, you concentrate on the negative. But in those situations, there is always a positive outcome that you can learn from. So, I like to concentrate on the lesson and how I can learn from this. I concentrate on me rather than concentrating on the actual situation.

A lot of people say ‘Boo’d Up’ reminds them of ’90s R&B. It has that feeling, which is why I think people take to the song so much.

It was such a culture shock for me, being plucked from this diverse neighborhood in London into Jamaica Queens. I’m in this new environment, and I had an English accent.

I’m very big on feeling.

There’s a lot of young females doing R&B in England who are extremely talented and deserve more light on their stories.

From the end of 2015 to the start of 2016, I was always at the studio with Mustard, just figuring out a sound.

‘Naked’ embodies what everyone, at the end of the day, really wants and how they should feel.

There’s loads of eyes and expectations. People are almost waiting for you to make a mistake so they can say, ‘Oh, she’s a one-hit wonder!’

I think it’s harder for R&B to break in England because the radio and labels don’t really know what to do with R&B music.

With social media especially, there’s a lot of image issues that everyone faces because there’s so much pressure on us.

I love to color.

I could never have imagined that, so early in my career, that I’d be ticking off boxes that I’ve dreamed about since I was a little girl.

When you’re in love, your heart and your mind are in sync, and everything just feels right. It’s a special feeling.

As much as a lot of my music is very R&B, there’s a bounce to it that obviously makes it easier to perform live. It’s upbeat and uptempo.

Sometimes we misinterpret, sometimes we misunderstand, sometimes we make mistakes.

As much as heartbreak music might be therapeutic, we all want love and long for that feeling. So if a song can give you that feeling, even without being in love, that’s amazing.