An afternoon bargain hunt in Camden with Mahalia

The night before we meet, Mahalia posts a video on Instagram of her crying and holding a half-eaten McChicken. In the following picture is an excerpt from her journal on August 22 2020, which reads: “I’m sad. All the time… I can’t write. I can’t make music. I can’t be happy”. As we sit and talk about it over chicken chow mein in London’s Camden Stables, she says, “God bless them, a lot of people thought the journal that I was sharing was from yesterday. Guys, please zoom into the date. I am fine”.

The post comes from a series of posts she curated, detailing reflections on her journey as she counts down every day to the release of her second album. At the time of our meeting, she is exactly 28 days away and her caption reads, “a lot of people have been asking me why it took me so long to make my second album and honestly, I’ve asked myself that a lot too. In the last four years, we have been through a lot.”

Excluding the obvious disruption to life caused by the pandemic, 2020 and 2021 brought about a lot of change in Mahalia’s life. In a short period of time, she broke up with her then-partner, subsequently lost friends formed from that relationship, had a professional breakup with her then-manager, and moved house. “I just remember that time so vividly. It feels so far away but it also feels so raw to me because that is what led into the album. I was going through a lot of change and I did not even have a tour I could throw myself into.” 

With no imminent sign of a distraction she could lose herself in, she, like many, was left to face everything she had been ignoring. “I think for a lot of us women who see ourselves as strong-willed, independent women, admitting that you’re low or depressed – which is what my therapist eventually told me I was – is really difficult,” she explains. With the help of a tight-knit team of collaborators, including her boyfriend HART, Max Pope and JD Reid, she slowly began putting pieces together through her music. 

Despite having only turned 25 this year, Mahalia has been developing her career for over a decade. When she was just 13 years old, she signed her first record deal and kickstarted a journey of trial, tribulation and immense success, a journey she candidly uses this album to reflect on.

Entitled IRL, her latest album follows her 2019 debut Love and Compromise, and is an introspective account of her life thus far. The record features the likes of Stormzy, JoJo, Destin Conrad, Kojey Radical and Joyce Wrice. Opening with “Ready”, she sings: “You thought I was finished / You thought time was up / secretly I did too”. In the songs that follow, she delves deep into matters of the heart, growing through changes, and making it through your twenties. It closes with “IRL”, a melodic cautionary tale detailing her key pieces of advice and lessons – key takeaways: drop the fake friends, hold your own and know things take time. 

“I feel like there’s an air throughout the whole thing of independence, and I mean independence within codependency,” she explains, when discussing what she hopes people take away from the album. “I do have a partner who I depend on but I'm very independent in that relationship. That is what I really want people to walk away with a sense of feeling okay, Mahalia’s given me some tools here. Let me take that away and keep using them moving forward”.

While some of the subject matters are somewhat heavy, the album also balances the idea of finding joy in those moments. Take for instance “Goodbyes”, an experimental acoustic dance song where she makes peace with the sudden end of her previous relationship. “We started writing it and I said I didn’t want it to be so sad because I’m not sad anymore,” she explains. “When I said I wanted to turn it into a dance record, everyone looked at me”. Sonically, the song is unexpected for someone dubbed as an R&B artist. However, similar to many other Black women who have been boxed into that label she reflects, “R&B was given to me, I never said that.” While she acknowledges she makes music reminiscent of “alternative R&B”, she self-describes her music as ‘psycho-acoustic soul’, a label she was given by her father.  

Despite her exhaustive list of achievements, she recognises the disparities when it comes to artists like her getting recognition. “Black music doesn’t get the love that it should, period,” she explains. In a mission to change that and champion artists defining their own sound and career, every other month the singer hosts ‘Mahalia Presents’, where she calls upon exciting up-and-coming artists to perform. Past guests have included the likes of Flo and Debbie. The idea first came about in her young adolescent years when she used to put on showcases featuring local artists from her home of Leicester, with the help of her parents. Since then, it has crossed overseas and is hosted across London and New York City.

While she has lived away from her hometown for multiple years now, she retains her friendly Midlands demeanour. “People always ask me when people meet me or they see a show, what do I want them to feel? For me, it’s always about making people feel like I could be their friend or to a lot of young girls their big sister or their neighbour, just someone familiar.” Before heading to Layfette, the latest ‘Mahalia Presents’ venue, we take a walk around Camden and go on a bargain hunt for gifts. As we stroll she stops to take pictures with nervous fans and when a man approaches to ask her if she’s famous she replies “I guess that’s relative”. Moments later, in a taxi ride, she laughs about her favourite Ibiza spots to our driver, with a comfort that makes you think they could be the oldest of friends. Despite her Grammy nomination and multiple BRIT and MOBO awards, she radiates the same character as a kind stranger you’d meet on the street and never quite forget about. 

‘IRL’ is out now

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