Ella Mai

Ella Mai is best recognized from her EP 'Up' and her song 'Boo'd Up.' She featured on the pop reality show 'The X Factor' in 2014 and later took to social media to promote her songs & was discovered by DJ Mustard, who gave her a deal with '10 Summers Records.'

In 2014, at the age of 20, Ella Mai joined a music crew named 'Arize.' The trio auditioned for the 11th season of the music reality show 'The X Factor.' They sang their cover of a melodious song. Although their performance was fairly good, they could not go beyond the audition stage. Mai recorded a few songs and collected them in an EP titled 'Troubled,' which was uploaded on 'SoundCloud' She started uploading small clips of her covers of songs by Drake and Kanye West on 'Instagram;' where DJ Mustard contacted her in 2015, and offered her a contract with 10 Summer Records. She had limited studio experience, but her natural talent helped her get in touch with some truly talented record producers. Mai started working under the mentorship of DJ Mustard and released her debut EP, 'Time,' in 2016. The EP contained six songs and was 20 minutes in length, which was considered to be a short duration for an EP. Mai's sophomore EP was 18 minutes long, shorter than the first one, and consisted of five singles. Several songs in the EP were produced by DJ Mustard, with Twice as Nice also contributing. The EP reached the eighth spot on the 'US Top Heatseekers' chart. One of the songs from the EP, 'Boo'd Up,' became a youth anthem. In 2018, Mai announced her self-titled debut album, 21 minutes long and consisted of six songs. The video of the song 'Bood Up' garnered more than a million views within just a few days of its release. The song also reached the top 30 of many other R&B and hip-hop charts .