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After releasing her debut album, Love & Compromise, in 2019, Mahalia was poised for a breakout, as her penchant for breakup anthems (“I Wish I Missed My Ex” & “What You Did”) resonated with fans who were looking to escape their volatile relationships. However, the pandemic crushed her touring aspirations six months after the album’s release. 

“I found myself in this hole where I didn’t understand what was happening,” she relays. “I didn’t understand why I couldn’t create or why I couldn’t tour for another year. It was a confusing time, and creating in that mess was hard. Seeing people online do more, and the pressure of that was hard. It made me feel like I wasn’t doing anything at all.”

For 18 months, Mahalia struggled to regain her creative touch and questioned if she would ever find her groove again. When studios reopened in late 2021, the 25-year-old singer-songwriter started writing again, and rediscovered her love for music. “I was allowed to go back into the studio and sit with people,” she remembers. “I was allowed to make those connections again, and I think it sparked something in me.” That spark would lead to her sophomore album IRL.

Released this month, the 13-track effort highlights her polish as a songwriter who unabashedly shares her wins and losses during the pandemic. It doesn’t take long for fans to hear the battle-tested artist flex her pen, as the first two songs on IRL (“Ready” & “In My Bag”) demonstrate the swagger that made Mahalia a rising voice in the genre. And when Mahalia isn’t riding solo, her guest features Jojo, Stormzy, Joyce Wrice and Dustin Conrad do a stellar job co-piloting the expedition. 

“The whole concept of IRL came from that time,” says Mahalia. “It came from the fact nothing was IRL for two years. We were all staring at laptops, scrolling, looking at phones, and swiping. I desperately wanted to be amongst real things and step outside, be with people, and have IRL experiences.”

Billboard spoke with Mahalia about her new album, turning 25, overcoming criticism, and how her love for 2000s hip-hop helped shape her career. 

You’ve mentioned your creative struggles during the pandemic. Was there a track in particular that restored that confidence while cooking up IRL?

Yes, I think it’s the record called “In My Bag.” I remember when I got to that studio and it was summer 2022. I walked to the studio and I went in and I don’t know what it was, but I just felt really great. I felt like I was on a roll. I felt like the album was in full swing. I was writing a lot. What can happen is you do a million sessions and come out with nothing. In this period of time, every session I was doing, I was making a song I was genuinely enjoying. I’m going in the studio and making “In My Bag” and that’s how I felt. That song is reflective of how I felt at that moment. I am in my bag and felt like I could do anything. Nobody has got what I have. That was the moment I felt that confidence.

You recently turned 25, what does that number mean to you?

It means a lot. When I saw you [earlier this year], I think I was kinda feeling it. First of all, everyone keeps telling me it’s a great age and technically a quarter-life. I had a little bit of a meltdown the weekend before. Going back to the lockdown, we all lost two years. I went into it 21 and I came out 23. Turning 25, I think I maybe had a bit of a meltdown about the fact I thought I would be further along in my career by 25. I think that maybe it was getting to me a bit. I don’t think I’m old at all. I don’t feel like I’m getting old, I just felt a little bit like I thought I’d be somewhere else right now. 

I think that feeling can be a little bit hard to digest. It was out of our control, and I felt like there was nothing we could do in that time to go through that any easier or better. Age is a strange thing right now. I think people seem to be getting younger. Every year we’re watching talent go crazy and get bigger and everyone’s five years younger than me. I think sometimes I have it now, but I can have a little complex about the fact I am slightly older. I’m one of the older ones that have been around a bit longer and feeling like old news, I think. 

That’s just me being totally transparent. I definitely have moments of not feeling like that, but I do have times where I feel like I am old news. 

On Central Cee and Dave’s song “Our 25th Birthday” Dave said a line, “We’re 25 living like this is our second life.” For you turning 25, knowing the pandemic took time we might not get back, are you looking at 25 like your second coming?

Definitely. That’s what this album feels like for me. Which is why I feel like a couple records on the album… there’s the intro “Ready” and the outro called “IRL,” which both focus on reflection. They focus on reflection of my career and where I came from, and how I started to how I got here. It was important to remind myself I’ve been here for 12 years. This is not a game. This has been a lot of work. A lot of people have put time and effort in to make this work. I think it’s so important to focus on that stuff and just remember that. I don’t think anything has ever been overnight. I think everything I’ve ever done in my life since I was a child in school — I always felt like I had to work twice as hard forever.

I do feel like I’m kinda in my second life. I feel like with this record, I’m being reborn — which is maybe slightly clichéd, but that is how I feel. Sometimes it’s nice, because I go on a show and somebody calls me an up-and-coming artist — and to some people that might be offensive, but to me, it’s nice. I’m like, “Thank you, I’ll take that.” 

You released the “Cheat” record with Jojo. Tell me how you guys linked up, because I know she was a super fan of “Terms and Conditions.”

I actually DM’d her, which is very unlike me. Every time in the past I’ve messaged an artist, they’ve left me on seen or they just don’t read it. People definitely think that we all talk to each other, and sliding in each other’s DMs is easy, but it’s not. You’re putting yourself out there to basically ask someone to do something with you. It’s a lot. But I love Jojo, and she had shown me love about a year ago on the Gram. I was like, “Oh s–t.” I think I thought in my head she might reply if I message her.

I just really really wanted her. There wasn’t really anyone else that I wanted on that record, to be honest. I think I maybe had ideas of backup plans if she said no, but she said, “Yeah.” I hit her and said, “Would you be up for doing this?” She was like, “Absolutely. Send it to me.” I sent it and we got it done within a few weeks. We weren’t able to get in together. I think she was in L.A. and I was in London. We were WhatsApp’ing, e-mailing, sending voice notes back-and-forth and trying to make it make sense. We had a great time.

It shows in the video. You guys gave us a modern-day version of “The Boy Is Mine.” What sparked the decision to go that route and do a remake?

I am just obsessed with that video and I have always been. I don’t actually watch videos as much anymore. I still do if it’s an artist that I love. Back then, I used to come home from school and my dad would make me take off my school uniform and I’d sit in front of the sofa and I’d put on MTV and watch videos all day. That one used to play all the time. I just loved it. I loved everything about it. I loved them together. I loved the fact they caught him. They showed him coming to the house and them being together. I really enjoyed that image. Sometimes I think now things can be a bit aggressive.

I always [get sent] treatment ideas from directors, and [one was like], “Mahalia and Jojo wrap the guy up and throw him in the car or kill him.” I’m like, “I don’t want to do that. I want to do something funny and playful.” And I think that’s why I had the idea for “The Boy Is Mine” … It just felt like the right feeling. I think I’m quite a nostalgic person, and I enjoy looking at things we all used when we were kids, and I miss a lot about that time and how those videos looked. I wanted to recreate that. I think people like to see what they know or what they miss.

Speaking on nostalgia, I always thought you had a strong sense for hip-hop – remaking 50 Cent’s “In Da Club” last year. What gets you into that space so much that you try to incorporate it into your music?

I think it’s how hip-hop makes me feel, and probably has always made me feel. I think it’s down to the beats. I think it’s down to the 808s. I think it’s down to the lyricism. I don’t know if I told you, but I think all of my love of hip-hop came from my eldest brother. He’s a dancer and choreographer and he also is someone who tries to always do something slightly different. Most of his dances focus around contemporary dance, which is quite a classical part of the dance world, but he basically takes the movement and puts it to records he loves — and sometimes it’s R&B, sometimes it’s hip-hop, sometimes it’s alternative music. I was just heavily inspired by the s–t he would play in the house. That would kinda be everything from 50 [Cent] to Talib [Kweli] to Lupe [Fiasco].

I think I told you Lupe was my favorite. Growing up, Lupe Fiasco was my absolute – I was a die-hard. I was just obsessed with hip-hop as a kid. The sampling, the beats, the lyricism, and then if they would add a guest vocalist that s–t would go crazy. I remember “Daydreamin’” Lupe. Oh my God. Jill [Scott] was a favorite of mine, so when I would hear her jump on records like that … I’m talking back when I was maybe nine or 10 years old. That was a first time I really heard that gorgeous, huge, soulful voice matched with a rapper. I’ve never really experienced that kinda thing before.

I think it’s really what I said at the beginning. I think it’s how it makes me feel. It makes me feel like I want to move. I’m definitely a head-bobber. I’m not really a dancer in the club. I’m probably more like one of the guys. I’m definitely the person on the train with headphones in, bobbing my head. I feel like hip-hop does that for me. When I hear those kind of beats, or if I go in the studio and someone sampled it, I just get so excited. I can’t help but want to put my own spin on it.

Earlier this year, the “Long Live R&B” jacket you wore to the BRITs sparked conversation. You spoke about the success R&B artists have in the U.S., versus the U.K. there. What changes would you like to see for R&B artists back home to feel more appreciated?

I think fundamentally it’s support. It’s putting us on a level playing field. The reason I wore the jacket was because a couple years ago the BRITs made the decision to basically combine the pop and R&B categories. There’s now a category where you vote for who wins best Pop/R&B act. That really f–king bothered me. I’m like, “How are you combining those two genres?!” Yes, of course there’s a whole genre that is pop/R&B. We also know that R&B can be pop. And we’ve seen R&B be extremely popular music dominating charts. We’ve seen that in the U.S., not in the U.K.

So when they did that I’m like, “That doesn’t make any sense here.” How are you going to put somebody like me up against Dua Lipa and then ask fans to vote for us? Chances are, Dua Lipa’s gonna win that every time… Listen, I f–king love me some Dua. But I don’t want to be in the same category because that doesn’t make any sense to me. If we’re talking about genre-based music, I just think you’re setting R&B artists up to fail. Wearing that jacket was a big deal. I think there were a lot of people that were a bit pissed off about it. I don’t think I did anything to piss anyone off. I strategically chose the slogan to be something that just felt celebratory and not a dig to the BRITs.

I think what we need is support. I think we need people to start listening and to stop f—-g ignoring us. It’s not like it’s just me saying it. Every single R&B artist in the U.K. has said it, posted it, tweeted it. Every single DJ who plays the music has said it, tweeted it and posted it. At some point, you guys have to start listening. I’m so sorry, let’s be f–king real, Carl. R&B artists from the U.K., when they are able to, will go and do shows everywhere in the U.S., Australia, Asia, everywhere. For me, I’m like, “What are we really doing here?” We are doing big things. There are big things happening within the R&B space in the U.K. and you guys are ignoring it. It’s crazy. FLO just went and did their first-ever U.S. tour and played huge venues. And you guys are still gonna really act like U.K. R&B isn’t doing something.

I always thought the wealth of talent you guys have, especially on the women side, is incredible. It’s mind-boggling that your homeland can’t even acknowledge that. 

The really frustrating thing is we don’t wanna have to leave. Look, I love being in North America and coming to New York and staying there for long periods of time. I love going to Canada. But it’s not my home. I want to be able to be in my home and be celebrated in my home the same way I’m celebrated somewhere else. I don’t think it’s fair to tell artists, “If you want to be big, move.” It’s not like we’re in a country that doesn’t know music or influence music culture around the world, so why would you not allow us to be part of that? Because we’re already part of it. You’re just blacklisting us from the mainstream.

I don’t think it should be all on us to create our own s–t. Radio stations can do a lot for an artist. Here, it’s very different, because you have the mainstream radio and the extra radio stations. I would say 90 percent of music is played on the extra radio stations, which have a much lower [audience.] 

You commented a while ago about people speaking on your body, which is something a lot of other artists have encountered as well. Knowing you’ve dealt with that criticism, how do you prevent the noise from messing with your self-esteem?

Should I give you my media-trained answer, or should I give you my real answer? So my raw, real answer is in my day-to-day life, it doesn’t bother me. It doesn’t bother me, because I already have some of those insecurities myself. We all have our own s–t that we’re dealing with, whether it’s about mental, weight, how your face looks or whatever. I already have that s–t. I’ve already had that s–t and dealt with my kind of insecurities about my body since I was a child so when people comment on those things, I’m like, “Get in the f—-g queue.” I have already thought those things. I already think I need to get in the gym. Not because you think it, but because I can’t breathe when I walk upstairs. I have already had those thoughts and feelings, so when people comment on it, I don’t know if it bothers me.

My skin, hair and body has been commented on since I was four years old, when I started school. Way before being an artist. And that is just because I happened to grow up on the wrong side of Leicester, and kids didn’t understand why I looked the color I was, why my parents didn’t look the same. They didn’t understand why my hair was so big. They didn’t understand the mole above my lip. When I got to high school, they didn’t understand why I had big boobs. Those comments had been coming my way since I was a child so when strangers do it, I feel like you guys need to get in the queue. Get in the back of the queue. This has been going on. I know that might be very singular to me and I might just be able to deal with that s–t, but I think we already have our own insecurities. I think the only danger is that people online can make it worse. They can make you think about it more. 

The truth is, yes people comment on it and yes they say things, and yes I sometimes get upset. But do I really care? Am I starving myself? Am I going to the gym a million times a day? No. Fundamentally, I don’t give a s–t. And I think that’s what it is. If I really cared and it really affected to me, you would see it affect me in my day-to-day life. It just doesn’t. Maybe I’m lucky to have that kind of mentality.

The other thing is that people seem to think that being in the public eye means that you should be able to hear that stuff and deserve it. You’re in the public eye, you chose this. But I’m kind of like, “I don’t think we chose this. I think we chose to create music.” None of this chose to have our music do well. I’m sure we hoped, prayed and said our affirmations at night, but none of us chose this. I certainly did not choose to have people talk about my body online. As I said, I think the reason why this has bothered me because I already think about some of those things myself, and they don’t bother me when I think them.

How has Mahalia the person grown to make Mahalia the artist better?

I think my life has changed a lot on the personal level. I took the time to spend time with myself more. And really start to focus on what things about myself I didn’t like anymore. Whether that be silly things like drinking too much, smoking too many cigarettes, that stuff was all in there. Just coming to grips about becoming a healthier person mentally and physically. I would say I think my friends now call me the leveled one — which is crazy to me, because I used to be the kind of crazy one. 

I just think that I have done a lot of growing. I’ve obviously been in therapy for a long time and that’s allowed me to do that and given me space to do that. I’ve just become a person who doesn’t allow things to get in anymore. I’m trying to live a good happy, healthy life. I’m not trying to have drama and be involved in drama. If I’m ever involved in drama, I kinda have to run the other way because this isn’t what I’m trying to do with my life. I think those are all things that I was heavily involved in before. I think I’ve had to make an active change to keep myself calm, relaxed and rested and well. Fundamentally, if I do that, I can do my job better.