Heart On My Sleeve

Ella Mai

explicit

Released on 06/05/2022 by 10 Summers - Interscope Records
Main artists: Ella Mai
Genre: R&B

Available in

24-Bit/88 kHz Stereo

Unlimited Streaming

Listen to this album in high quality now on our apps

Start my trial period and start listening to this album

Enjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription

Digital Download

Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs.

"Boo'd Up" was so popular and long-lasting that Ella Mai will likely be instantly associated with that throwback slow jam forever, but six of her other singles went either gold or platinum -- or silver in her native U.K. -- by the time she released her second album, Heart on My Sleeve. Making this set seem even less like a pressure-cooked follow-up is that it contains a single that preceded it by over a year and a half, and it's not presented as anything other than what it is -- no contrivances about having made something that represents her true self, or whatever. Still working closely with Mustard, Ella also welcomes other producers such as Boi-1da, D'Mile, Harmony Samuels, and Jahaan Sweet into her circle, expanding her sound with an apparent disinclination to make trap-styled R&B, yet still with a preference for spacey slow jams and lingering ballads. Heart on My Sleeve as a title indicates that Ella is writing a little more openly than before. That's the case here, and it's almost as if the phrase was her directive as she stockpiled material. Lead single "Not Another Love Song" proved to be an accurate indicator of the album as a whole, with Ella relishing contact with her partner but starting with "I don't wanna mess this up" and later using water metaphors to convey that she's overwhelmed. In second single "DFMU" ("don't fuck me up"), she's skeptical and demands clarification, "Fairy tales, I'm not used to them at all," leading to "'Cause if it's love, I wanna drown," sung with her subtle if distinct vibrato. The lack of variance in tempo across the hour-long sequence makes Heart on My Sleeve downright torpid at points. All upticks are welcome -- the one with an incongruous Kirk Franklin appearance included -- but slow and low is undeniably the singer's forte.

© Andy Kellman /TiVo

More info

Heart On My Sleeve

Ella Mai

You are currently listening to samples.

Listen to over 100 million songs with an unlimited streaming plan.

Listen to this playlist and more than 100 million songs with our unlimited streaming plans.

From £10.83/month

Trying

00:03:17

MANNY MARROQUIN, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Charles Hinshaw Jr, ComposerLyricist - Peter Johnson, Producer, Additional Producer, ComposerLyricist - Dijon McFarlane, ComposerLyricist - Nic Nac, Producer, Co-Producer - Mustard, Producer - NICHOLAS MATTHEW BALDING, ComposerLyricist - Ben "Bengineer" Chang, Vocal Producer, Recording Engineer, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel - David Pizzimenti, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Ella Mai, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Ella Mai Howell, ComposerLyricist - GYLTTRYP, Producer, Co-Producer - Shah Rukh Zaman Khan, ComposerLyricist - Nicolas de Porcel, Mastering Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Demitrius Lewis II, Assistant Mastering Engineer, StudioPersonnel