Ella Mai Shares Her First Crush, Tattoo, Song She Wrote, & More

The first song I put online,

it was called Why You Frontin.

And I put it on Soundcloud.

Yeah, it was so terrible.

Oh my God, please don't go and look for it,

cause you might find it.

[light music]

Hey Teen Vogue, I'm Ella Mai.

And today I'll be sharing with you some of my firsts.

My first kiss was in year 8, eight grade.

We used to play like kiss chase in the playground

when I was really small, but I don't count that,

and it's kind of disgusting.

So I'm gonna go with eighth grade.

Actually, at the end of my block,

I lived in New York at this time,

and I was trying to make sure my uncle didn't see me,

so I ended up running away after.

The first time I was starstruck was when I met Beyonce.

Actually, it was before I even met Beyonce,

it was the first time I saw Beyonce.

I've met her now, and I was starstruck again then,

cause she's just like an angel, honestly.

But the first time I saw her I was starstruck.

I didn't say anything to her.

It was at the Rock Nation Brunch in 2018

when the Grammy's were being held in New York.

And she walls in the room and it was literally just like

everyone just went silent.

It was like [angelic singing].

So yeah, it would be when I first saw Beyonce.

So my first best friend, I actually have two of them.

I met one right before the other one,

but I don't want anyone to get jealous,

so I'm gonna say two of them.

One's called Tamara and one's called Becky.

They're my best friends that I've had

since I was three years old.

And we met in nursery at school.

And we're actually still best friends to this day.

So love you guys.

Oh girl, oh my ex-boyfriend's gonna be so mad.

Oh well.

My first breakup, if we're in 2020, it was in 2018.

Like, my first proper, proper breakup.

Like, I had a high school breakup,

but that doesn't really count in my book.

My first proper breakup was in 2018.

It was really sad.

It was really sad, but a lot was changing in my life.

It was hard for both of us to keep up

because we also lived in different places,

so things were just kind of changing a little bit.

It was hard, but we got, we got through it.

And as I am with, with everyone,

like I still wish him well

and I hope he's doing okay, too.

That's the message.

I have written songs about that experience, yes.

I'm not gonna say which one because I don't want anyone

to feel any type of way.

But there was definitely two songs on my debut album

about that situation.

My first cell phone was a Nokia 620, 610.

I can't remember the number of it,

but it was like one of those like brick phones.

I distinctly remember it was blue and silver.

And you couldn't really do much on it other than like,

I think text messages were like super basic,

cause the screen was probably about this big,

and play snake.

And I was in year seven, so I was in seventh grade.

My first concert or music festival, well it's a concert,

it was in 2007, so I was.

How old was I? 13.

I think it was the Scream tour,

so it was Omarion, and Bow Wow, and Chris Brown,

Soulja Boy, and somebody else.

I remember it was in Madison Square Garden

and I had just moved to New York.

And I went with my cousin.

If I was to see footage of myself back from that concert,

I would probably be very embarrassed,

but I had a great time.

If I was 13, I wasn't grown enough to like be cute, cute.

I was still going through my, my awkward stage.

So I probably, I don't even remember what I had on.

I probably just had on like a, some type of,

I had a House of Dereon jacket, so maybe I was wearing that.

My first pet, like officially my first pet,

is actually my puppy, Thierry.

I had cats growing up.

But they weren't, one was my brother's.

Well, she was technically mine, the second one.

So, but I'm gonna say Thierry, my French bulldog.

He actually is very independent and very stand-offish.

He, he's cuddly when he wants to be.

I just couldn't imagine my life without him,

so he's just an extra part of me.

If you see, if you see me, you see him most places.

My first tattoo was these roses

on the inside of my arm,

which are kind of a little bit faded.

But they were never super, super dark.

To be honest, there's no like amazing story behind

any of my tattoos, to be fair.

It's just stuff that I really, really like,

so I decided to put it on my arm.

I got it in London, in Shoreditch,

by a lady named Sylvia.

I can't remember her last name, but.

And I was 19 or 20, I believe.

It definitely wasn't a rebellious moment.

My mom knew that I was going to get it.

And I was with one of my friends, yeah.

And I think it was, it took about four hours, maybe.

So it wasn't too, too bad.

And this part of your arm is quite fleshy,

so I wasn't in too much pain.

But I was, I was like obsessed cause it was my first tattoo.

So in every picture I'm like.

The first movie that made me cry.

I want to say Titanic

but I feel like that's the obvious answer

and I can't even remember if Titanic actually made me cry.

But I can tell you, oh but then it's not first, nevermind.

I'm gonna go with Titanic.

The most recent movie to make me cry is called

Miracle in Cell No. 7.

It's actually originally a Turkish film.

And I actually struggle to watch films that have subtitles,

but this one caught, like caught my attention

from the jump.

But it just made me cry so much

cause it's such a sad story about a little girl

having to part with her dad who has autism.

It's really, really sad.

Thinking about it is making me sad.

But it was a really, really good movie.

I watched that during quarantine, actually.

My first role model would be my mom, or my grandma.

I kind of put them in the same, in the same bracket

cause I feel like they both raised me.

But just being able to, to grow up and watch two very strong

independent black women has helped shape me

into the woman I am today.

So thank you Mom, thank you Grandma.

My first AIM username was, okay,

let me give you some background.

I had just moved to New York

and I got my, I think it was 2008,

cause I got a Sidekick in 2008, I think.

And my first AIM username was

LilMissLondonX.

LilMissLondonX.

The first time I sang or performed in front of anyone

I was probably really small.

I've been singing since I was little.

So it was probably like my mom or my brother,

or my grandma, like in the kitchen into a hairbrush

or something.

It was probably when I was little.

I don't remember like an actual age.

If you, if, if I'm talking about something

that I fully remember as a performance,

I used to go to performing arts school.

And I remember when I was about eight or nine, I think,

or maybe even younger, we performed West Side Story

which is my favorite musical.

And I played Anita.

And that was like my first thing in front of like a real,

big audience, other than like school plays and stuff.

If I'm remembering correctly,

I just remember feeling very at home,

like I just felt like I belonged on the stage.

And like I said,

I had been performing in like some school plays before,

but that was to a, obviously, a much smaller audience.

But yeah, I just felt so at-home and free

when I was on the stage.

I actually got into songwriting really late.

The first song that I wrote I was 18, maybe even 19.

So it seems a little bit late, cause sometimes I think

when you think about songwriting, you have to like done it

since you were a child.

But I went to school for music,

and we actually had a songwriting class.

And that's the first time I actually picked up a pen

to write a song, cause I always thought you had

to be some type of like poetic poet to write songs.

But it was about like not giving me

the attention that I wanted, I think,

and me just like questioning like why,

why are you doing this to me.

This is so embarrassing.

I never want to hear that song again, to be honest.

I wish I never showed it to anyone.

But that was the first, and people liked it,

but I don't know if they would like,

they're probably just lying to me to be honest.

The first time I knew I wanted to be a singer.

I couldn't tell you an age. I just knew.

I used to do performing arts, so it was singing,

dancing, and acting.

But as I got older,

I realized that singing was really my passion,

so maybe somewhere around my teenage years.

My first television performance was on the 2018 BET Awards.

I was performing Boo'd Up.

That was actually a really memorable performance for me,

not only it being the first time I'd performed

at an awards show and on TV,

but I just remember the, they introduced me,

Chloe and Halle introduced me.

The whole audience stood up.

And I was just like, I wasn't even prepared for that,

so it was a really cool moment.

My first time in a recording studio I was 12, I think.

My big cousin in New York new this guy called Birch

who owned a studio.

Or I don't even know if he owned it,

but he somehow got us there.

And my cousin, Jade, and I,

she's gonna love that I'm telling this story.

My cousin Jade and I went into the studio,

and I think I recorded some separate stuff, too,

but we also recorded a version of 112, Peaches and Cream

but it was called Cookies and Cream

because that was our favorite ice cream.

So that was my first time in a recording studio,

and I never actually got the other stuff that I recorded.

But I was 12, so it probably sounds ridiculous.

But it was in New York.

My first awards show was the 2018 BET Awards

when I performed.

My first awards were my Soul Train awards.

And I didn't actually get to go to the awards

because I was on SNL that weekend, I remember.

But I won three Soul Train Awards,

best R&B song, best female R&B artist,

and I can't remember the last one, damn I should know this.

But yeah, I won three Soul Train awards,

and those are my first awards.

I wish the first time I heard my music on the radio

was a way more exciting story.

But I just remember I was leaving the studio.

It was about three-in-the-morning.

And I used to have a little Mini Cooper.

That was my first car, that's another first.

Yeah, I turned on the radio,

I was driving home at like 3AM,

and Boo'd Up came on the radio.

And I was by myself,

so I remember I called Mustard like,

and luckily he was in the studio.

Cause it was 3AM, I was like I hope he's not sleeping.

I was like, I'm on the radio!

And he's like, Are you just now realizing that?

Like, you've been on the radio.

It was like quite late into Boo'd Up success.

But I don't listen to the radio that, that much, so.

The first time I saw my song on the Billboard charts,

I remember we debuted at #78 with Boo'd Up.

And I was, I couldn't believe it.

I honestly, like, I kept re-reading it and re-reading it,

like hold on, I don't know if this is a glitch.

But I just remember being super, super excited.

And then it climbed really, really quickly

and we eventually got to number five.

Yeah, that was a very, very specially moment.

I can't remember where I was,

I just remember being really excited.

The first time I was recognized in public,

there's like two different first times.

So there's the first time of me being recognized in public

as like the girl-who-sings-on-Instagram.

And then there's the first time I got recognized in public

as like Ella Mai.

So when I started, I did covers.

I remember going back to New York to visit my friend.

I want to say we went to the supermarket,

and someone was just like, Hey, aren't you that girl

that sings on Instagram?

I was like yeah.

But this was ages, this was early.

This was like 2016, I think.

And then when it, once it transitioned

after I stopped doing my covers

and I started putting out my own music,

the first time I got recognized in public,

I think it was in LA.

I can't actually remember it. My memory is terrible.

Now that you're asking me all these firsts,

I'm like damn, I don't remember.

But I definitely do remember that it was in LA.

So that's it, guys.

Thank you for watching my firsts for Teen Vogue.

Make sure you stay healthy during these very,

very weird times.

Make sure you stay around a lot of love.

And make sure you go and check out my new single,

Not Another Love Song on all platforms now.

[light music]