She appears authentic and genuinely grateful, which goes down very well with fans. That’s not to say she has a small fan base here in the UK, in fact, quite the opposite. The room is visibly packed and brimming with energy that doesn’t seem to fade at all throughout her hour-long set.ĭancing in a pink and blue lit haze, Mai kicks off the night with lesser-known tracks 'Good Bad, Dangerous' and 'Sauce' before pausing for an interlude seven songs in.Īfter bursting into the mainstream music scene with her 2018 hit ‘Boo’d up’, Mai planted herself into every R&B lover's Spotify playlist. Although many critics were quick to judge, labelling her as just another one hit wonder, Mai defied the odds and stuck around, releasing her successful debut self-titled album back in October. Album Review: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Infest The Rats' Nestīy now, fans are eager to hear the song that launched Mai into stardom - “There was one song that changed my life”, Mai teases.Fast forward to Wednesday night at Manchester’s O2 Ritz, bursting with both awe and pride, Mai is quick to remind the crowd that she’s “ still here” - a loud and proud statement that is met with a roar of applause. The crowd erupts with the ecstasy and anticipation of knowing what’s coming next: 'Boo’d Up'. The show instantly climaxes with what feels like every fan in the room singing along to the smooth and lustful lyrics of the 90s inspired track.Īs the pace of the set slows down, the singer plays the intimate, acoustic track 'Naked'. Her voice is drowned out by the hundreds of fans swaying and singing along to the stripped back melody of Mai asking to find someone who can “ love her naked”. Mai regularly holds the mic out to the crowd, encouraging them to carry on singing, tapping into the togetherness of everyone, all sharing a mutual love for her vintage vibe. The show promptly closes with the popular hit 'Trip', a far cry from the slow, relaxed beat of 'Naked'. The song goes down a storm everyone is dancing amongst in a hazy euphoria and goes home feeling they've had the satisfying ending to the night they deserved.Īfter a round of sold-out shows across the UK, there is no doubt that it won’t be long until the singer is also celebrated in the charts on this side of the Atlantic. Ella Mai's European tour ends on 22nd January in Stockholm. See all the dates here.Kanye West and Lil Pump as Perrier and Fiji, respectively, as Adele Givens looms overhead. Saturday Night Live's 44th season ended over the weekend with the help of host Paul Rudd and musical guest DJ Khaled, who brought with him an all-star cast that included J Balvin, John Legend and SZA. As the season's 21st and final featured musical guest, Khaled joined a wildly mixed bag that included K-pop (BTS), blues-rock (Gary Clark Jr.), country (Thomas Rhett), R&B (Khalid, Ella Mai), hip-hop (Lil Wayne, Travis Scott, et al), neo-classic rock (Greta Van Fleet), old-school-classic folk-pop (Paul Simon) and, of course, a performance in which Kanye West rapped from inside an outfit shaped like a gigantic Perrier bottle.
SNL's Studio 8H stage is famously unforgiving: The sound can be iffy, the crowd came to see comedy and the energy can be hard to maintain. But, as with previous years, Season 44 unveiled a few gems, as well as a few true head-slappers. It's a fool's errand - a truly cruel and pointless exercise - to attempt a dispassionate rank of 21 vastly different musical performances, especially when they've been spread out over an eight-month-long season.