Ella Mai Ella Mai
The perfectly fine debut from the London R&B singer Ella Mai, offers a grip of 90s R&B, snappy jams without sounding like a pastiche. Features H.E.R., Chris Brown and John Legend
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Catalog details about Ella Mai
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Artist
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Label10 Summers Records, Interscope Records – B0029190-01
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FormatVinyl, LP, Album
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Orig. Release2018
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OriginUS
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GenreNeo Soul, Contemporary R&B
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ConditionSealed, New vinyl
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EAN130602577039942
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ReferenceMV-1020-1
Ella Mai - Ella Mai in details
The British singer-songwriter Ella Mai has found huge success in the States. Handpicked by behemoth hip-hop producer DJ Mustard via Instagram, her schmaltzy, throwback-style R&B track "Boo’d Up" this year made her the first UK artist to top the US R&B charts since 1992 (the last was Lisa Stansfield’s All Woman).
As a result, Mai’s debut album does feel distinctly American, foregoing the UK’s current love of afrobashment and garage for a sparkling sound that nostalgically nods to 90s favourites. That is, bar the distinctly English-accented, spoken-word interjections, where she announces each letter of her name with a different definition (“E” is for “emotion”, etc), until on Close she spells out, a little cloyingly, “I am Ella Mai”.
At its best the music coos with lyrical assuredness and Janet Jackson-style sexiness (Shot Clock boasts intoxicating production
and delicate intonations), but while it’s a cohesive set, a lot of the tracks fail to stick in the memory. The Chris Brown-featuring Whatchamacallit, which lauds how fun cheating can be, is difficult to justify. A decent debut, then, but with Mai’s rich voice you can’t help feeling that it could have been stratospheric. Instead, it fails to innovate, and all feels a little beige.
| A1 | Emotion | 0:12 |
| A2 | Good Bad | 3:49 |
| A3 | Dangerous | 4:39 |
| A4 | Sauce | 3:04 |
| A5 | Whatchamacallit | 3:00 |
| A6 | Cheapshot | 4:01 |
| A7 | Shot Clock | 3:21 |
| A8 | Boo’d Up | 3:59 |
| B1 | Everything | 3:01 |
| B2 | Own It | 4:11 |
| B3 | Run My Mouth | 2:35 |
| B4 | Gut Feeling | 3:56 |
| B5 | Trip | 3:34 |
| B6 | Close | 4:12 |
| B7 | Easy | 4:32 |
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