Mabel Reveals Why She Was 'Scared' To Write Breakout Hit 'Don't Call Me Up'

It's safe to mention Mabel "won" the breakup that inspired "Don't Call Me Up."


The U.K. Singer scored a smash with her bass-heavy, ex-blasting anthem, which became pop's most instantly relatable kiss-off since Dua Lipa's "New Rules." However as Mabel recently instructed us, the method of writing "Don't Call" was much less about boasting and more about healing.


"I wrote it for myself because that's where I wanted to be. I was going through a breakup and I was like, I'd like to be the person that doesn't care," Mabel, the MTV Push artist for the month of July, explained. "And the song sort of helped me get there. [Through] listening to it, writing it, singing it, I did finally get to the point where I was like, 'Yeah I'm over you.'"


"Don't Call Me Up" marked Mabel's first time working with writers and producers Steve Mac and Kamille Purcell, a hit-making duo she describes because the dream team." (She's since collaborated with them on "Mad Love," another single from her upcoming debut album, High Expectations.) Although even more integral to the single's success and appeal was the honesty that Mabel put into the lyrics.


"I remember listening back to it and being quite overwhelmed because it was certainly different to anything I'd ever done before," she mentioned. "I've routinely wanted to prepare songs that have done what 'Don't Call Me Up' has done: go global and have a pop record that's still me. It took years to calculate how to create that record, and 'Don't Call Me Up' was group kind of that breakthrough moment."


She continued, "I knew it was different. It was actually almost scary. ... Some days the song is bigger than you, and it also just group kind of leads the way, and that's quite scary. It looked like, 'Oh my god, I can't control this one.'"


For her MTV Push efficiency of "Don't Call Me Up," Mabel stripped things down, giving the hit a cool acoustic makeover. Visualize that below, and check out more of her exclusive Push content here.