Ella Mai is a R&B artist from London who was discovered by popular Hip-Hop/R&B producer DJ Mustard. She then released three EPs: “Time,” “Change” and “Ready.” From those EPs, “Boo’d Up” was the song that stood out, even reaching number five on the Billboard Top 100.
Now Ella Mai is releasing her first album, the self-titled “Ella Mai,” hoping to follow up her success in the R&B game. Does Ella Mai meet expectations or does she under perform in her debut album?
This album is really creative and Ella Mai’s performance on it is amazing. One thing she does throughout the album is pronouncing each letter of her name and providing the meaning behind those letters. Chris Brown, H.E.R. and John Legend also did a really good job of bringing some substance to the album.
“Whatchamacallit” features Chris Brown and talks about a secret relationship even though they both are already in a relationship. Ella Mai and Chris Brown keep going back forth of whether it’s wrong or not.
The best thing about this song is when Chris Brown and Ella Mai are harmonizing together, with upbeat pop music playing in the background. “Whatchamacallit” is good mainstream song especially for the clubs, but not the best song on this album.
“Everything” is the track featuring John Legend, which talks about how their partners give them all the attention and care that they need. The chemistry with John Legend and Ella Mai is really good especially with the slow old school type of R&B beat.
This song really stood out on this album and it could definitely lead to John Legend and Ella Mai having more collaborations coming up soon.
“Gut Feeling” features H.E.R and also has a really slow vibe with a piano melody playing in the background. Ella Mai and H.E.R talk about how their “gut feeling” is telling them that something is wrong with the person that they are with.
H.E.R delivers a good performance, bringing more substance to the track with her unique voice. This song’s subject matter and beat were cool, however there could have more added to this to make it a more complete track.
“Boo’d Up” and “Trip” are the two breakout singles, but they don’t really fit well into the album. However, the transition into both of the songs are really good.
“Shot Clock” is an interesting track that talks about how opportunities can leave in a matter of 24 seconds. The production and sound of this song is really good and the subject is too.
One negative about this album is the repetitiveness of the production on this album. While DJ Mustard and other producers doing a really good job in producing this album, many of the tracks sound the same.
Overall, Ella Mai delivers on this album from the production to the features and the album sounds cohesive for the most part. The only thing that could be changed on the album is the lack of variety on some of the tracks, but that is overshadowed by how good this album is to listen to. 4/5
