Mahalia Celebrated Her Birthday With Pretty Woman — And An EP Release

Mahalia Celebrated Her Birthday With Pretty Woman — And An EP Release




In this age of self-isolation and quarantine, it's never been more critical to check in on each other and to connect. This goes for artists, also, who have been social distancing alongside us: livestreaming concerts and hangouts, creating their own talk shows, and... Well, that's what we want them to tell us, with Remote Access.


each year ago, U.K. Singer Mahalia celebrated her 21st birthday in Cincinnati while on tour with Ella Mai. This year, things were certainly different — alternatively opposed to playing a gig, Mahalia was residence in London, where trim been quarantining with her roommates, forcing them to watch Pretty Woman with her and taking her adorably tiny puppy out on long walks.


She also released a new EP on May 1, timed properly to drop on her 22nd birthday and fittingly titled Isolation Tapes. The three songs predate the stay-at-home orders, yet because the collection's title implies, they capture an in general feeling of aimlessness that's although unique to the moment we're in. "I don't mind if you've had enough of this lonely life," she sings on "BRB," a song about missing her partner while out recording and touring. "I don't mind if you're tired of the days as soon as we never get to FaceTime."


To lean into the personalized nature of the song, Mahalia grabbed all of the old footage she might find on her phone — including some moments with her partner — and, realizing the boundaries of filming genuine music videos in quarantine, started compiling it all in iMovie on her laptop. The intimacy of the finished product made her a little bit nervous.


"I was so scared, oh my god! I was so scared," she told MTV News. "Even soon after, I was watching, and I was like, 'What have I done? Oh no!' My mom called me, and my mom mentioned, 'Listen, are you sure that you're prepared to be like this?' I don't actually know if I was ready."


But, as she revealed to MTV News, Mahalia was ready for the EP to come out and showcase another side of herself. And also the indelible "Plastic Ferns — a song whose indirect meaning initially "confused" her team — and the pure nostalgia of also Nice," "BRB" is a new look at Mahalia. Below, she breaks down its video, and also what it's like to release a new project nearly entirely from in back of a phone screen, which recipes she's digging into, and much more.


MTV News: The world was in a much different place any time your album dropped last year. What do you suggest some of the largest contradictions are right now, releasing the EP under these circumstances?


Mahalia: Because we're in isolation, the interaction is so disconnected because it's on YouTube or it's on Instagram or it's on Twitter or it's on apps. You visualize what folks are thinking through that. So I think that has been the only real huge difference, just that disconnection. Whenever I was releasing the album, I got to have an album-release party. I got to be able to see my companions and my family member, and we got to play it in the vehicle. Because we're not really doing that, I think that's the only segment of it that I'm a little bit — I feel like I'm grieving that level of connection any time once you get to release something. Although then at the same time, I did all of the promos surrounding the EP through my laptop. It was quite nice have the ability to do that all from residence and run this mini campaign from home.


MTV News: Apart from the release commitments and chatting with fans, how else have you been staying busy and passing the time?


Mahalia: Mostly with my dog. I paid for a puppy two weeks before we went into isolation. Whenever I noticed out, I was like, "Well, this is slightly astonishing, because it means that I get to just chill out with my dog." I've just been, not even to sound cliché or like also much of a dog mom, yet I've just been getting to know her, and that's also been really nice for me. Most of my days, everything is revolved around me and what I'm doing and my music and my life and why I'm working that. That, in itself, just mentally, can be quite tiring, because you're habitually focusing on yourself. So I think having a puppy and having something give attention to, and to teach, and to love, and to feed, just that sort of stuff, I think that has really helped me get through this and just feel calmer in my days. I think the fact that I have to, daily, go on a hour's dog walk, is just astonishing. Because it's that one hour in the day where nobody contacts me. My phone's at the residence. I just get to go out and physical training and do that.


MTV News: Has working from residence made you notice a shift in your mood or any changes just in terms of self care or anything like that?


Mahalia: It's quite hard to keep focus at house, particularly because I think every artist is in a fully different scenario. I survive with roommates. That's not the simplistic environment to try and be creative in, because it's five other people around. I could wake up one day and my boiler be damaged, or my cooker not be working, and I've got to call my landlord, right, to categorize that out. Being at residence, yet I think it offers me so much more space have the ability to do things like this and do more in a day, it's also given me a lot more distraction, which I think I find a little frustrating, however it's OK.


MTV News: Of course also piece of that is putting with each other a little bit homemade video for "BRB." Can you tell me a little about how that video came together?


Mahalia: Basically, I was looking through all of the videos on my phone from the past six or seven months. I guess my album tour was six months beginning from September. I think I was probably just being a little bit nostalgic, and I was probably just missing being on the road. I was looking at all this footage. In my head, I just was slotting it next to the song because it made so much sense. I wrote that song about going away and missing my partner and wanting to be at residence. I had all this footage of me away, having a good time. So I just got onto iMovie on my laptop, and I just began putting them with each other. Then it just became a thing. I texted everybody just saying, "Guys, I'm going to prepare this video myself." I literally made it on iMovie. People use really astonishing technology for that shit, and I literally just used iMovie. Just put the song in there and just chopped it up. I loved every second of it. I love being able to prepare things in a way that I wouldn't normally do that.


MTV News: Were you scared at all to go that personalized and to share that much?


Mahalia: I was so scared. If I was making the video, even with my boyfriend, I was attempting to work out, "Should I put these clips in there? Should I not? Was he comfortable?" He's somebody, I don't think he wants to be anywhere near the limelight or anywhere near that. Especially for him, it was a big thing to let me to do that. I think I am a trustworthy person, and I am an open person. So I don't think it will harm me to permit people to come into this piece of my life. Yet it's nerve-racking for me, certainly. I'm certainly scared that six months down the line this guy's going to dump me and I'm going to be here like, "For fuck's sake, I put this video online, and each person can visualize right now If anything, I'm quite overjoyed of how susceptible I've Been with it, because I've certainly struggled with that in the past. I'm actually quite delighted of myself for just going, "Here you go. Have it. This is what's going on."


MTV News: How are you balancing doing a bit of writing on your own terms within the past few months with attempting to use this time for yourself?


Mahalia: That's the part that I'm loving. I haven't been able to sit on my own with my guitar in nearly each year. Just been able to sit and just play with chords, and teach myself new things and just write about things that no one else even know what I'm talking about. So actually, I think that segment of it is sparkly and magic to me because it reminds me of being a kid also it reminds me of growing up in my residence and playing my guitar all of the time. ... I mean, there's talks in my head going on about maybe a Isolation Tapes 2, nevertheless [ones] that's solely acoustic, because I've Been revisiting so several of my old acoustic songs. I'm almost like, "Maybe this may would be a vibe." However I think people have to let go of that pressure.


MTV News: Is there a preference recipe or something new you've tried while isolating?


Mahalia: Oh, do you think what I did? I made baked chicken for the opening time three weeks back. That was the only new recipe that I was desperate to try because all my brothers can do it, my mom can do it, everybody can do it. They're all astonishing and Jamaican and great. I just felt like I was the little runt in the corner, not knowing what to do. So I was like, "I need to do this shit. I need to be my best, however my best, best, best self." So I learned to cook baked chicken with my brother's recipe, also it was great.


I have been cooking a lot of pasta. However, to be trustworthy, mainly, do you think what's really funny? I can cook anything to feed myself. I'm far less good at cooking purely just to cook, just to try new things. I've never — please don't let anybody laugh at me for this — nevertheless I've never scrambled an egg. I realized it a week ago. I was like, "In my 22 years of living, how could I have never scrambled an egg?" I've never made guacamole, and I've seen my mom make guacamole a million times. It's things like that, that I have been attempting to do, just those really simple, easy recipes that you could put with anything, that know I may would make conveniently. I think that's been my biggest challenge. It's made me realize how much time I've spent on the road, not cooking. I don't think I've had a home-cooked breakfast in three years. That's so crazy. Even thinking about it right now, that's crazy.


MTV News: Is there something specifically that you're really looking forward to, and something that keeps you positive?


Mahalia: I think my first show back. It's really funny because I can't think about live shows without getting exceptionally emotional. While I get to walk out onstage and stand there and have that moment, I think... I'm 100 percent sure that I'll cry.









Leave a Comment

Have something to discuss? You can use the form below, to leave your thoughts or opinion regarding Mahalia Celebrated Her Birthday With Pretty Woman — And An EP Release.

Remote Access News