The album is threaded, like Janet Jackson’s The Velvet Rope or TLC’s FanMail, with earnest interludes that riff on her full name (“E” is for emotion, “L” for lust, etc.) which can tend towards vague Hallmark-isms. Not all Mai’s efforts to open up are as successful. “Can you love me naked?” she asks, in a song that distances nudity from the context of R&B seduction and reframes it to vibe more with body positivity and mental health. The acoustic bonus closer, “Naked,” is a challenge for a lover to accept her, “resting bitch face” and all. Her words are scathing over a partner who’s “chewing with mouth wide open,” but she lays her own flaws bare, too. The throbbing “Dangerous” transposes the conceit of the Shangri-Las’ ode to bad boy allure, “Out in the Streets,” into squelchy G-funk with double-time harmonies which cascade like heart flutters.Įlla Mai never quite scales the heights reached by her skippy single “Trip,” or the pristine “Boo’d Up.” Yet Mai’s songwriting can be deft and unexpected, refining the attitude that once led her to declare, on an early EP, “I hope the next girl you love ends up fucking you over” into more nuanced examinations of knotty relationships. Despite a few obvious reference points, Mai avoids pastiche, although a tightened tracklist would have provided focus to this over-long collection of 16 songs.Įxecutive produced by DJ Mustard, Ella Mai pays homage to ’90s commercial R&B and Mustard’s own hip-pop signatures while bringing in new sounds, from aerated beats punctuated with the sound of teeth-kissing (the Nana Rogues-produced “Good Bad”) and Majestic Casual-ready synth swashes (“Cheap Shot”). Mai’s finger-snapping, perfectly fine debut is billed as a “throwback R&B album,” with dutiful Easter eggs for the genre’s aficionados: a “no no no” reference here, a “little secret” wink there, and a “writing’s on the wall” hat-tip elsewhere. Mai has been signed to hip-pop hypeman DJ Mustard’s 10 Summers imprint since 2016, putting a decisive point of view on likeable, if not particularly individual, trap-leaning pop beats, with songs centering on agency, desire, and her early-morning appetite to receive a, kind of, breakfast in bed. “Hell, you talm bout my brother I put it on SoundCloud and YouTube you know my game ain’t cap I love Ella,” he wrote.No one could have sung “Ooooh/Now I’ll never get over you” with quite the same starry-eyed naiveté that Ella Mai does on her unapologetically sprung summer smash “Boo’d Up.” It was a song that both Stevie Wonder and toddlers found easy to love, a four-minute reverie during which everything slips out of focus apart from you and your boo. The situation escalated when the Cash Money star caught wind of T-Pain’s claims. This is why” he wrote in a separate tweet.Įverybody be asking me why I don’t put my tmixes and shit on Spotify tidal and iTunes and shit. “Everybody be asking me why I don’t put my tmixes and sh*t on Spotify tidal and iTunes and sh*t. Responding to a fan’s question as to why he hasn’t gotten in trouble for remixing Ella’s songs, the autotune favorite called out Jacquees for trying to make money off the song. 26) when T-Pain took some time to offer his two cents to the situation. Things got a little hectic on social media Wednesday (Sept. READ MORE: NEXT: Ella Mai Is Bringing Confidence Back To R&B Love Songs There is still hope for the song as an official remix or maybe fans will get something better that is an original collaboration.” This was an act of genuine support and should not turn into negativity for either of the artist or from their supporters. He has been releasing not only “Quemix” songs but entire projects with remixes of other artists’ songs ranging back to 2013. “We love Ella and are cool with her team as well. “For the new people who are just catching up to who Jacquees is as an artist, this has become very controversial for no reason,” the statement to Billboard says. Despite fans sharing their disdain for the track getting removed from the web, Jacquees says there’s no love lost. Released a few weeks ago, his rendition of the vulnerable track reportedly amassed up to 3 million streams on SoundCloud. The report claimed his “Quemix” to “Trip” was removed from Soundcloud and YouTube for being “more popular” than the original tune. 25), a story from the South African outlet SA Breaking Newswas shared by Jaquees in the form of a retweet. His version may have been scrapped from the web, but his love for the single and the artist have reminded high.
When Ella Mai released the follow-up to her global smash hit “Boo’d Up” with “ Trip,” Jacquees was quick to hop on its wave.