“Being someone who’s had an insane year off of one song, it can be a gift and a curse,” said 24-year-old Mai. “I felt like almost everyone was kind of like, ‘She’s a one-hit wonder.’ Everyone was waiting for me to fail, honestly. Like, ‘Ah, the next song she releases isn’t going to be as good.’”
Her self-titled debut album, released in October, has already reached gold status and debuted at No. 5 on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart.
“Releasing the album was me saying, ‘I’m an album artist,’” she said.
Mai’s breakthrough year included an opening slot on tour for Bruno Mars, collaborations with Chris Brown, H.E.R. and Meek Mill, winning two Soul Train Awards and earning nominations at the MTV Video Music Awards and the American Music Awards — all while watching “Boo’d Up” bring R&B back to the pop charts. The triple-platinum song spent 13 weeks on top of R&B charts and peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
“Being such a huge R&B fan and growing up listening to R&B, I never imagined that I could be on the forefront or one of the new faces of a genre that I love so much,” she said. “I think back to me being a little girl and looking up to Lauryn Hill and looking up to Alicia Keys — not saying I’m Lauryn Hill or Alicia Keys — but there’s a new generation that will look up to us.”
“Me, Kehlani, H.E.R., Jhene Aiko, SZA — there’s a lot of us strong females trying to bring it back,” she added.
As each day goes by, Mai continues to notch one more thing off her list of goals. Winning a Grammy could be next: She’s nominated for one of the show’s biggest awards — song of the year — as well as best R&B song for “Boo’d Up.”
“I would love to win a Grammy. Not that it’s the be-all, or end-all, but I think the recognition, that’s the highest form of recognition we can get as artists,” she said.
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Online:
https://ellamai.com/
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For more on the AP’s 2018 Breakthrough Entertainers honorees, visit: https://apnews.com/tag/APBreakthroughEntertainers
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