Ella Mai

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

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. ”

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. ”

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 played soccer for nine years, so I took that route instead of singing. I played on the outside team as well as in school, so I was always playing soccer. It wasn't until I moved back to London that I really, like, started investing in music again and realized, OK, yeah, this is definitely what I want to do. ”

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 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. ”

I'm very big on feeling. ”

I feel like everyone has been in a bitter situation, regardless whether it's cheating or just not being over someone who is over you - you compare yourself to the next. ”

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