In the past 12 months alone, Leicester-born singer/songwriter Mahalia has announced her biggest nationwide tour to date and has been named āone to watchā by the likes of The Guardian, NME and i-D, and more recently, Radio 1ās Clara Amfo named her track āI Miss I Wished My Exā her Song Of The Week.
But while it might seem like the talented 20-year-oldās ascent has come from nowhere, her music career is something sheās actually been getting ready for since childhood.
āI started writing songs when I was 11 or 12. My parents were both songwriters, and I had a bit of a crush on a boy at school,ā she tells HuffPost UK, with a laugh. āI was always really into poetry, and my dad basically told me, āwhy donāt you try writing about it?ā
āIād just started learning to play the guitar, so I kind of went upstairs, and I remember just sitting in the bathroom because there were mirrors, and the room sounded really good for my voice because of the little echo.ā
Within a short space of time, sheād written a handful of songs and with her parentsā encouragement, began performing at open mic nights, first locally and later around Birmingham and London.
From that point on, things began moving very quickly for the then-12-year-old singer.
āIt was super weird,ā she admits. āI started meeting loads of people, literally from travelling around and them seeing what I was doing, and then my mum introduced me to a songwriter called Amy Wadge. She was based in Wales, and she had been writing with Ed Sheeran who at that time he was one of my biggest inspirations, I guess.
āSo I went with her to a show in Wolverhampton to see him play, and I met him, and it was all very scary. I was a bit... Embarrassing, but thatās fine, I was, like, 12. And then I met him, and he tweeted about me. Within two months it went from zero to 100 and I signed with Atlantic pretty soon after.ā
Mahalia acknowledges that being signed to a major label at just 13 is ādefinitely a different way to grow upā, but insists her parents were keen she have as normal an adolescence as possible.
She explains: āI had such great parents... say, if I had a gig on a Saturday at 7pm in London, but I had a party starting in Leicester at 9pm, I would do the show and then my mum would get me in the car, and sheād drive me all the way and drop me off.
āMy mum was always like, āno, Mahalia needs to go to this partyā or āno she needs to go to that one because that boy is going to be thereā. She totally got it.
ā[My parents] were always like, ālook, you can do whatever you want, but just play your guitar as much as you can, and just warm up your voice every day, and then you can do whatever you wantā. And I think thatās what it was.
āI think they were just trying to teach me discipline, which is what I kind of have now with when I go out, and what I do, and if I drink, or if I donāt drink, and thatās because of that thing that my parents built inside me - you do what you want to do after you do what you have to do. And thatās made me so much more sensible but also I have a huge place for the fun side of my life too.ā
Her debut album āDiary Of Meā eventually came in 2016, compiled of songs written between the ages of 13 and 18, which Mahalia said she wound up āliterally beggingā her label to allow her to release.
āI was like, āguys I canāt put these songs out when Iām 22, because itās me when Iām 14ā,ā she jokes. āEven though everyone else might get it, Iām going to feel strange about it. So putting it out lifted a massive weight off my shoulders.
āBut itās funny now looking at it because that feels so far away from me nowā¦ but itās funny actually, because Iām super proud of it and itās really funny when people come and hear the music Iām putting out now and then go back. That makes me happy, because then they get to see that even though Iām this now, that is where I came from, and I like the connection between the two.ā
Since then, sheās been hard at work on her sophomore album, which Mahalia says sheās taken a markedly different approach to.
Naming Amy Winehouse, Lauryn Hill and fellow Midlands star Jorja Smith as her recent inspirations, Mahalia says sheās hoping her new material will be less insular and more personable than her past efforts, admitting: āWhen I was younger, I think my songwriting was always very inward, I would always write about things that were getting to me that day or that week.
āI guess nowā¦ I donāt really write outwards, I think I should do that moreā¦ but, if something happens to me, I tend to just use a little bit of my story, and then Iāll try and make it as universal as possible, so that people can relate to it more.
āI guess Iāve always said that I wanted people to feel honesty, and I still kind of hold that. I donāt want people to think that Iām being dishonest, I think that would upset me most.
āBut I think essentially, I want people to be able to connect to it and relate to it. If itās not relatable then I donāt know if Iām doing the right thing, basically.ā
The hype around Mahalia is showing no signs of slowing down, thanks in no small part to the success and critical acclaim of recent single āI Wish I Missed My Exā, which understandably caught the attention of one or two men from her past.
āDo you know what, they definitely did,ā she confesses, when asked whether any of her ex-boyfriends slid into her DMs when the song debuted. āI felt a bit bad actually because I was kind of trying to say to people, āguys, itās not specifically about one exā. But I did, I had a couple kind of be like, āMahaliaā¦ are we cool?ā, and I was just like, āyeah weāre fineā.
āBut āI Wish I Missed My Exā, people took it as a song where I was dissing, but actuallyā¦ itās the opposite. Itās kind of me saying, āI wish that I missed you, I wish that I did, because youāre so niceā. Thatās what it was, it was actually me being a bitch to the person.ā
This new-found attention is something the up-and-coming star says sheās still grappling with.
āI think I find it scarier now just literally having a tiny bit more success,ā she says. āEven just telling the same stories that I was when I was younger, because when Iām on stage I tend to tell stories about what [inspired the songs].
āEven now itās like, you get a little bit more protective of yourself and of your being, because you donāt want to give too much away otherwiseā¦ I donāt know, itās just like, how much of yourself can you be left with if youāre just giving it all away?
āAnd so Iām very, I think Iām really careful with how I put stuff out and how much I say about it, and that kind of stuff, because I also want people toā¦ I donāt want peopleās opinion to be dictated by me, I want them to listen and take their own thing from it.ā
Similarly, she notes that sheās particularly careful about what she posts on social media, and while Mahalia has recently posted about body positivity and the importance of self-acceptance, sheās reluctant to tackle anything heavier just yet.
āGenuinely, as somebody who grew up in a world in this digital social media world, I am very wary, and I know the backlash that can happen on people now,ā she says.
āI donāt always voice my opinions online because it freaks me out that I could say one thing, and it can be taken completely another way, and then people hate you. I would love to stay out of that, but I would definitely like to be more political in my music, and I guessā¦ I donāt want people to think that Iām just the girl that writes about hating men, because I donāt!
āI just think the past year has left a taste in my mouth and as artists, you feel things at different times... I guess itās kind of a whole journey, and I think Iāll definitely find that political voice, but itāll just take some time. Finding your political voice takes confidence as well, itās quite scary to put yourself out there in that way.ā
Agreeing that people on social media are far more likely to pounce on a young woman, particularly one āon the come-upā, Mahalia adds: āItās not like Iām established and Iāve got this massive following... Iām definitely a strong-minded, opinionated bitch. But I just have to chill it down around everybody else.ā
While she claims sheās finding this acclaim both āflatteringā and āmadā, she also says that it feels like validation, as despite her youth, Mahalia has endured plenty of moments of self-doubt.
āIāve been playing music and being in and out of the industry for, like, eight years, she says. āI definitely got to a point where I was like, āoh this isnāt going to happen for meā.
āI think itās just really funny now thinking about that version of me that doubted herself so much, and thought that this wasnāt going to work or that people wouldnāt like me.
āAnd now itās just really, really, really kind ofā¦ itās a bit of a gift. Itās really nice to be able to see that and be like, āhere I am, Iām ready to go. Letās do it, basicallyā.ā
Watch the video for Mahaliaās āI Wish I Missed My Exā below: