Interview: Mahalia On Her Struggle With Self-Confidence, The Problem With Social Media & More

Mahalia (pronounced "ma-hay-lia") is a British and Jamaican singer and songwriter with a serious passion. Signed to a major record deal at the age of 13, Mahalia believes that she was absolutely built for life in the spotlight. After seeing her perform live for the first time in New Zealand the day before, I totally understand why. Mahalia is a vessel of confidence and radiates positive energy like no other. With pieces of her being in every song she writes and puts out, she is a shining star in an industry of recyclable music. Much needed. Mahalia’s latest album, a passionate and thought-provoking piece of art, Love And Compromise has over 131 million hits on Spotify and she has collabed with some of UK’s hottest stars like Ella Mai and Burna Boy.

Sitting in a little studio in Eden Terrace, Mahalia is spending her day doing interviews and mulling about before embarking on the rest of the Laneway tour. Just like how she was at her set the day before, Mahalia is talkative, bubbly, relatable and unapologetically herself. Truly an inspirational individual. Mahalia sits down to chat with us about her struggle with self-confidence, the problem with social media, her relationship with Ella Mai, Love And Compromise and reflects on her journey and everything around it.

So I caught your Laneway set

Oh, amazing!

I loved it.

Thank you!

I reckon I loved the way you talked to the crowd, it was like us two girls chatting. It was a good time.

Good, I’m glad you enjoyed it.

Since it was your first time performing here, how was that experience for you?

Amazing. The crowd was so much fun and like, I feel like going to new territories is so scary and I kind of… I kind of.. last year smashed most of the ones I hadn’t been to. Like last year I started in Australia, I went to Japan then I went to like South Korea and loads of new places in America and all over. So I was really excited for this trip just because I was like you know, like I’ve come to this side of the world but never stopped in New Zealand so..

Really?

Yeah, I was actually really overwhelmed because from the side stage I couldn’t gage how big the crowd was.. Till I got on stage. There were so many girls and so many guys which was exciting because not many guys come to my shows and it was fun. It was just fun and I felt really comfortable. Yeah, the whole show was a proper workout because it was hot and I was dancing and I was like wow, I’m fucking dying (laughs). It was great. Yeah it’s actually pretty hard to put it into words cause it was just really nice and I walked off stage like that was fucking sick.

Yeah, it was such a good performance.

(laughs) thank you.

So what do you think of New Zealand so far?

I love it and I’ve only been here for 2 days but just walking around, meeting people, chatting to people even just in the street, the food is A1 and yeah I’m having a great time. I’m actually really sad that I’m leaving tomorrow cause I’m carrying on Laneway’s tour around Australia so I’ve got to leave but no, great place.

Plan on coming back?

Absolutely. I love.. There was a driver at the festival yesterday explaining to me how many people live here. It’s like 4 million (shocked expression). That’s so amazing. Oh, I’d love that. There’s like more than that living in London.

Really? Yeah, we’re quite a small city here we got a lot of-

Like 4 million in the whole country! That’s bonkers to me. I need to find out actually how many people live in London because god,

Probably way, way

There’s way more.

So you pretty much radiate confidence and you seem like the type of person-

Do I? (laughs)

Yeah you do!

I love that.

You just seem so certain and so sure of yourself and I think that’s so admirable.

Thank you.

Like have you always been like that or is that something you’ve had to build up like over the years?

No. Definitely haven’t always been like that (laughs). I really, I really struggled in school. I’ve always been… do you know what? When I was in school, I mean I grew up in a predominantly white town anyway so for me as a mixed kid it was a little bit weird. So my dad’s white British and my mum’s black Carribean. So I grew up with always seeing both sides and always trying to work out where I fit. So through school I struggled definitely with just confidence and it was always physical. It’s never internal and like never mental and that’s the thing I hated bout it is that mentally and like, internally I thought I was a great girl but physically, I just couldn’t find that confidence that was seen in my peers. It was to do with my hair, it was to do with my skin, it was to do with my body. Everything. But I think now that I’m older that was just because I wasn’t seeing anybody that looked like me. So then when I got a bit older, I got better when I got older, when I got to like 17 and I was in my last year of 6th form. I definitely got better and then I kind of spiralled down when I moved to London and got into the music business cause the music business definitely brings up whole new of insecurities as a woman in the public eye and then I got super confident like 2 years ago

Really?

(laughs) Yeah sorry I’m doing a whole timeline. And then I got into a really bad relationship when I was 20 and that shattered me again. And that only ended in September. So, after that I remember in September I was in America when it ended and I was like, fuck this. I’m now getting it back. I think sometimes you have to manifest it so you know, if I go on stage in a leotard and tights and some Doc Martens, that’s me- even if I don’t feel 100%, that’s me manifesting it and you know, if you’ve got 5000 people screaming “you’re a fucking queen”, there’s a point where you’re gonna have to start believing it and I’m finally believing it. But I definitely think people can do that to you, people can really hurt you and I never thought that my confidence was gonna take that kinda blow but it did for a year but I’m slowly getting it back.

Well, that’s good to hear (both laugh). What advice would you give to young women who are struggling to fully love themselves, maybe something that’s helped you in the past?

Absolutely yeah. Do you know what it is? Social media is an absolute killer. It’s an absolutely killer and I think what it is with most people is that they’re so unwilling to get rid of it. And you’re not gonna completely delete social media platforms, for me it’s about filling it with positivity instead of negativity. So if you’re scrolling on Instagram and you see a picture of, say a girl and she stood on a beach in gym wear and she’s half the size of me, doesn’t look anything like me and I’m looking at her and comparing myself to her. Immediately, that’s an unhealthy relationship with myself. And I think what it is is that so many people, you know like when.. How old are you?

I’m 21.

Perfect. Same age. So I don’t know if it’s the same but when I was younger I remember like my friends would have their wallpaper as like a figure of like a girl, a figure like this is my goal. That was mental to me because I’m like but you’re looking at something that doesn’t look anything like you and you’re going “that’s what I want to be” and actually nobody’s looking at themselves and going “what’s the best version of me?”, d’you know what I mean? I’m not looking at anybody anymore going “oh I look like her” I’m looking at myself going “I wanna take a little bit off her, I wanna do this, I wanna take abit off my belly” and even though I’m talking about changing things, I still love myself and all of that, I’m just going this is how I want to be healthy. I wanna quit smoking, I wanna stop drinking beer, I wanna eat better, I wanna go to the gym. That’s a healthy relationship. So I think it’s about.. Not comparing yourself to others and comparing yourself to yourself, going here’s me and here’s potential me. You know? And I think that is where you find it and I think that’s where I’m at, going like “that’s where I’m gonna be”. I don’t think it’ll make me any happier, I just think if you care about your physical then you have to make it a healthy relationship cause I totally care about my physical. Being in the public eye and being filmed, being on camera, I totally care about it but it’s about making that transition healthy and not unhealthy. Do you know what I mean?

Definitely. Well, I am inspired right now, god damn (laughs). So, it seems you were really made for this life in the spotlight, you know, starting music when you were like 10 and being signed to a major label by the age of 13. Can you speak on how that was for you, as a fresh face teenager getting this major deal?

Yeah it was weird because no one really knew what it meant. I didn’t even know what it really meant. No one in my school knew what it meant. So I was telling my friends so they were like cool and I was like oh fucking hell but my teachers knew and like, it was definitely exciting. But yeah I definitely feel like an industry baby now and now that I’m older, you know doing interviews and I kind of.. I’m at a point finally where I’m like I was totally built for this, you know? And I think one thing that we all need is a little bit of cockiness and a little bit of confidence about our personality and about our inner because I think even just connecting the last question to this, confidence doesn’t just come from how you look, it totally comes from how you feel. Kind of for me, even just this past year with all the promo stuff I’ve been doing going around the world and I’m doing interviews and I’m kind of just watching myself back and I’m like I really like myself. And so yeah no, I definitely feel like I was built to be this person and I’m not going anywhere.

That’s awesome. Go you! (Mahalia laughs). So you have a very creatively inclined family, can you speak on how that has helped you on your own journey?

Growing up in a musical household was incredible cause my dad was playing the guitar and singing and writing songs, my mum was singing and writing songs, my eldest brother was a choreographer, well still is a choreographer and playing all the fucking American rap and hip hop and then my next brother was into indie bands. He was like huge on Arctic Monkeys and The Kooks. So many bands and so many CDs and he used to play guitar and then my parents introduced to all the amazing female soul greats so I had this mad eclectic range of music going on. My parents weren’t only doing music. They had their jobs. They would come home and then do their music. So I always saw that lifestyle of like- we were never like in with people or we were never in the city, we were in our little place being a weird and creative family so I definitely feel privileged to of grown up that way and to be wholeheartedly supported. I speak to so many teenagers who don’t have that support from their families and I really forget actually how privileged I was to have that growing up.

So I know you trained for a couple of years when you were younger to be an actress and you’ve had a few acting roles. Is that an area that you’re still interested in?

I loved to be but I’m just not that good (laughs). Acting, I would love to but yeah, I don’t think it’s my calling. I’d love to do something small like I did a really small role in a film that I really enjoyed but yeah, it’s just.. I don’t know, I also grew up with a stammer. So I had a stammer from when I could speak to like- well actually it still comes out sometimes now. Whenever I’m acting and reading lines, it totally is there. So I think it’s just not my calling and I think I’m too self-conscious to be an actor. I’m actually not self-conscious at all but self-conscious playing other people, d’you know what I mean? Yeah, it’s a really hard thing to do. But I loved training, I loved acting training it was so much fun.

So your song with Ella Mai was probably one of my favourite songs from last year, so good.

Aw, thank you.

How did that end up happening that collab?

She actually messaged me so me and Ella have been friends for 2 years now and she hit me because my album was about to be delivered and she was like “oh my god I wanna be apart of the album” so I sent her What You Did and at that point What You Did was finished, it was like just me on the track and I sent it to her and when I got it back I was so excited. She’s a great great great girl and super humble and just super willing to do anything and I think she’s a proper champ even doing that in the first place. Putting herself forward and saying I wanna be apart of it, you know? So, yeah it was great.

And how was the tour with her? I know you guys did some shows together.

That was a laugh. That was 2 months on the road. It was a lot but it was so much fun. And again, because she’s so sweet and so welcoming and so lovely to just everybody, yeah I just loved it. I didn’t really have a bad day on that tour, it was good.

So you released an album last year and in the first song “Hide Out”, you have a snippet from an interview with Eartha Kitt and she’s literally talking about love and compromising which is just the perfect introduction to Love and Compromise. What inspired the theme of the album?

So I first saw that interview.. It would’ve been 4 years ago now when I was like 17. My mum showed it to me and I was just like so taken aback by everything she was saying cause I never really heard a woman say that, like I’ve never had that person- aside from my mum, I’d never had somebody say “why would I ever compromise for a man?”. So I just loved everything about what she saying and how she delivered it, you know, her little cackle when she laughs really loud. It just really resonated with me and I think when I started writing my music I realised that a lot of what I was saying was kind of in the same vain of what she was saying. So it just felt right to name the album after that interview and to really include it. It felt like the perfect-

It really was. What’s your favourite song you wrote on the album and what is it about?

Ooo, I would say Karma. A song called Karma and I wrote it about a guy that I liked and he had a girlfriend and cause I’m not one of those girls who are inclined to steal someone’s man, I just wrote about it. I wrote about how I felt and it was a guy that I had liked before he had a girlfriend so when he got a girlfriend, I really felt shoved to the side. I was kinda being a bit cheeky on the song cause I was basically saying you know like I’m sure she’s amazing but I think I could be better, that’s what I was trying to say in the song which some people don’t like but (laughs) yeah I think that’s my favourite cause like it was really real at the time when I wrote it like I love writing songs right when they happen. When a situation’s happened so I really enjoyed writing that one.

That’s awesome. So you use your platform to speak on political issues and raise awareness. Do you mind talking about that?

Yeah, of course. Sometimes it’s a bit dangerous to talk about shit online so I’m actually really PC, a lot more PC than if you know me in person. I think it’s important, I have had a lot of people say to me oh just stop talking about political shit and keep making music and I’m like what? I think it’s important like when we were having our general election… where was I? I was on a European tour in December when we were having our general election and that was a massive moment for like me and for young people because I mean, god.. In short, we just basically have a dickhead as a prime minister. So, sorry I was trying to word that in a perfect way and I was like d’you know what (laughs). So you know, we have somebody whose in charge, who doesn’t give a fuck about young people and as a young person, it’s so frustrating to know that kids don’t know about it. So, for me I’m definitely political online and I only try and talk about things that I know about. If I don’t know about it I’m probably not gonna talk about it cause I feel like that is really disingenuous. So with the election and with everything surrounding Brexit, the referendum and everything, I think it’s really important that kids hear you saying “you need to vote” you know? It’s definitely a thing that I’m not gonna stop doing and I’m actually really proud of how many artists got involved particularly in that cause. It was so big. Yeah, I kinda stay out most of the time. I stay out of certain things or you know, when things are going on in the world I’m just like.. I don’t know. It’s really interesting like I read about everything but sometimes I don’t feel like the world needs my opinion.

Yeah, I guess there’s so many opinions already out there

Yeah, exactly and that’s kinda what I was saying about cancel culture, it’s so real now. You say one thing that’s wrong.. It really is toxic. I mean, I think for a lot of artists, people are saying to them you need to be saying more and we’re going but when we say more, we get shouted out for it so I think everyone’s taking a step back.

Well, I think it’s great you use your platform like that. So you practically toured the whole entire world last year for your Love and Compromise tour, how was that experience?

Last year was absolutely crazy because I started off the year in Australia so I literally flew to Australia the day after Christmas and I did a 2-week tour, came back, went out on a European tour, came back, went out on an American support tour, came back to the summer festivals, went back out on a US tour after the album came out, came back and then did a European tour and somewhere in between that I toured Japan and South Korea, so last year really was like, my brain was literally fried by the end. I’ve been so many places, been on way too many planes, gotten sick way too many times but in saying, touring that heavily is fun but I spent less than like 100 days at home last year. Yeah. Which is great but also like um, yeah. So, last year was insane, I think getting to Asia for me was a big step cause I was like holy fuck. And getting to Asia was mental. That was the first time- and like particularly because the language is so different and like everything, that’s the first time where I was like oh my god I’m actually somewhere that is completely different. So, that was insane.

Did you get like any culture shock or anything, seeing these completely different cultures?

Japan’s mental because Japan has the highest percentage of its own people so it’s like 90 something percent of people that live there are Japanese. That is like fucking weird. When you go somewhere and you’re like oh my god but oh my god what a gorgeous place and what gorgeous people. The people were absolutely lovely to us. Yeah, Asia was just so much fun.

What’s the music scene like in America compared to the UK?

I love America because black music is totally dominating America so for an artist like me it’s a lot of fun to go out there, do the rounds and meet people cause it’s really thriving right now like hip hop is really thriving. I think the UK could do better at celebrating black music but America’s great for it and the UK, I love the UK music scene but it’s just different and it’s kind of, just not so much my vibe but it’s good. And it’s home so I have a massive soft spot obviously for home and for what we do as a country for music.

Yeah, definitely. Was there anyone you met last year where you were like holy shit.

I met Kendrick Lamar. Yeah, in the studio which kind of wrecked my head for days. I barely spoke, I was so nervous. Mental.

Well, that’s awesome. Thank you so much for taking time out to speak with us and I hope you have a great rest of your tour.

Interview: Breanna Tugaga-Rogers

Photos: 10Daniel16

About The Writer:

Breanna is a 21 year old uni student who was born in Australia and raised in South Auckland. Half New Zealand European and half Samoan, Breanna is undergoing a Bachelor of Arts, double-majoring in Communications and Sociology. Currently residing in Auckland, Breanna loves hip hop, rap, RnB music and enjoys watching TV shows, movies, travelling, going to concerts and keeping in touch with the latest of pop culture. Breanna especially enjoys writing and using it as an outlet to talk her sh*t. Breanna loves to always integrate her worldview, her background and her experiences into her writing and values your feedback.

About The Photographer:

10Daniel16 is a man of many talents. A photographer, videographer, editor and director, Daniel is a pillar in the local creative scene working with names like SWIDT, Melodownz and has shot some of the best gigs in Auckland city. 10Daniel16 has shot concerts of iconic musicians like 50 Cent, Jhene Aiko, Bas, Denzel Curry, Lil Pump and so much more. Popularly known for his music videos, 10Daniel16 is continuously expanding his skill set and since breaking through the international scene, he is excited for what 2020 has in store for him.

InterviewHit Up Ange13 February 2020Mahalia, Interview, Hit Up Ange