Ella Mai: 4 Things to Know About The 'Boo'd Up' Singer
When it comes to 2018’s song of the summer, Ella Mai‘s silky smooth ear-worm ‘Boo’d Up’ nearly gave Drake‘s smash hit ‘In My Feelings’ a run for its money.
The newcomer followed up the song with another chart-climbing R&B tune ‘Trip’ along with a self-titled album that went gold.
The Grammy award-winning singer is heading to New Zealand in January to perform three shows. Two at Bay Dreams Festival, and a solo side-show at Auckland’s Logan Campbell.
Here are four things to know about breakout R&B star Ella Mai.
1. Born Ella Mai Howell, she hails from London and got her start on Instagram.
You can’t tell from her singing voice, but get her talking and it’s clear Ella Mai is a Londoner through and through. Named after Ella Fitzgerald, she attended high school in New York City and upon graduating returned home to South London in 2012 where she studied music and joined a girl group that had a short run on London’s X Factor.
But in 2015 she took a leap of faith, crossing the pond again to pursue music.
“I started doing Instagram covers about three years ago which was when I got discovered,” Ella mentions in an interview with People Magazine. After getting the attention of DJ Mustard, she moved to L.A. and began writing alongside in-demand songwriters like Joelle James and Sam Hook. “It all happened pretty quickly,” she says. “Sometimes it doesn’t feel like three years is quick, but in hindsight, it really is.”
2. She had considered playing professional soccer.
Aside from music, the only other thing she did was play soccer. “I really wanted to be a professional soccer player but for women it’s not as big and a lot of the professional soccer players have to work a second job because they don’t get paid anything near what male soccer players get paid…I stopped playing in 2012. I never wanted to be a nurse or a doctor or anything like that. I loved Bend It Like Beckham!”
3. She never imagined ‘Boo’d Up’ would be such a hit.
The young star is still in shock that her single, about a girl falling hard and fast in love, has gone triple platinum, catapulting her to stardom.
“I recorded ‘Boo’d Up’ at the very start of 2017,” she explains. “I don’t think anyone could have imagined that it would do what it’s done or what it’s doing. Especially an R&B song from a new artist, it’s kind of unheard of.”
The biggest surprise: the tune’s devout male fans. “Obviously I love that women love it as well,” says Mai, “but I think just seeing all of the different men like not caring how they look singing this lovey-dovey song, was something that I definitely didn’t expect.”
4. She won her first Grammy for ‘Boo’d Up.’
The 24-year-old London native has kicked off the year with one of her biggest accomplishments to date, snagging her very first Grammy Award for 2018’s chart-topping single ‘Boo’d Up.’