Top 60 Mabel Quotes

I grew up in a house full of musicians, and my mum really taught me that when you listen to an album, you respect that it’s somebody’s art, and that the B-sides are just as important as the singles, and we should really listen to the album all the way through the way it was intended to be listened to.

I lived wherever my parents felt like making music, which had its ups and downs – I’ve had to move schools, but I’ve also seen a lot of amazing places and been on tour with my parents.

Coming from an R&B background, I was like, ‘I’m gonna make slow jams.’

I’ve always been sure of my vision, but I’ve been in meetings where men have been talking about me like I’m not there… I’ve been told I should be a certain way, and I wondered if that would have been the case if I was a man.

I want to be known for my music, and that takes time.

I think I took after my parents. Using music as one of my main ways of expression just felt natural.

I’m the biggest Drake fan – my favorite is ‘Tuscan Leather’ because it’s like three songs in one, and for somebody that’s obsessed with keys, the outro has the best keys ever.

I’m independent; I live by myself.

I don’t want to be all over the place with my style and my music, but I am experimenting.

I know I love going to my gym – I have a whole list of things I love to do by myself without needing someone else to make me happy.

I can’t believe that I’m MTV’s Brand New for 2018. Big love to MTV for even giving me this opportunity and to all the fans for voting.

I must have been five or six when I realised all the stuff I was writing made sense with what I was playing on the piano.

I am very much married to the job.

I went to Glastonbury when I was 14, and that was really fun.

I found being a teenager quite difficult, actually. I put a lot of pressure on myself, and now, looking back at it, I really wish that I had relaxed and just enjoyed it more.

Kehlani is so refreshing in terms of R&B.

Young women look at me and think, ‘She’s really confident. She has always had it figured out,’ but actually, I really, really haven’t. That has come over time as I became a young woman.

I am very much my own person and my own artist.

I’ve been making music since age five.

I’ve been working a lot with this girl Kelly Kiara. She’s amazing. She’s going to be super important for R&B coming out of the U.K.

All the buzz can be very much here today and gone tomorrow, but my focus is creating music that will last forever.

I had a difficult childhood. I had lots of anxiety and questions. I found the world scary and intimidating.

You have to work hard as a woman for people to take you seriously.

It was such a wake-up call going to music school and being one among so many that are really good at singing.

I don’t actually get that many DMs. I tell myself that it’s because guys might be intimidated, but I’m not that sure.

I like to spend time alone before I go on stage.

My first-ever radio interview was with Annie Mac on Radio 1!

I wouldn’t be who I am if my parents hadn’t been musicians.

I put a song on Soundcloud, and Annie Mac made it record of the week, and a month later, I signed my record deal.

Swedes celebrate Christmas Eve. Every Sunday leading up to Christmas, we light a candle, then make gingerbread and saffron buns.

I’m not going to lie: I’d love to win a Grammy.

I want to make people dance, I want to make people smile, and I want my music to get played in clubs.

My mum is one of my style icons!

A couple of days out of the month, I talk to my stylist, and we just get a big chunk of looks that’ll last me a while.

I moved from Stockholm to London, and I didn’t want to work with my parents or have them help me in any way, I think just to prove to myself that I have my own talent.

Being a creative person, I want to feel the highs and the lows.

Having a Top 10 record changed my life a lot, you know?

What gives you real power is when you know your power. And I feel quite powerful.

I want people to really care when I release an album.

In the bathroom, having taken my make-up off and opened my eyes, I always think there’s a ghost behind me. It feels like there’s a weird presence. Maybe it’s my brain reacting to me without make-up.

I’ve been in two long-term relationships and – this sounds awful – they were really helpful for writing heartbreak. It makes good songs.

Relationships with cities are similar to relationships with people: being away from both can really make you appreciate what you have.

I really wanted to find my own path.

I wish I could teleport and cut out the travelling in between gigs. I want the luxury of the shows without the painful bits stuck on a tour bus.

Producing isn’t my favourite bit about what I do, but the fact that I know how to do it gives me this sense of power in situations that are super male-dominated.

I feel so blessed that I grew up in the age of the independent woman, the survivor. I had Destiny’s Child telling me I didn’t need a man to feel good about myself, and I want to carry on that message.

I’m just trying to be myself and encourage other young women to be themselves.

I’m not embarrassed to say I want to be successful, but only on my terms.

There’s so many inspiring women dominating the charts, so I feel like I’m definitely a part of a wave that’s just really interesting and really cool.

Yes, sharing super-personal experiences is scary, but I can only get up on stage and perform it if I really connect with the music.

Gigs are my favourite thing – even the not so good ones, because you always learn something.

Growing up, I was confused about my identity: I felt like I wasn’t black enough to be black, but not white enough to be white.

I work hard, and I’m very separate from what my parents do.

Youssou N’Dour was really important to me growing up.

I think the best thing that I can do is be myself. I don’t know about being a role model; I think placing that sort of title on myself is too much. It’s trying to be this thing that puts loads of pressure on something.

Destiny’s Child’s harmonies remind me of Earth, Wind & Fire.

That’s why I love music – because I’m such a control freak, and it’s the only thing that I can’t really control.

Whenever I have a bad day, I tell everybody around me, ‘Just so guys know I am having a bad day and I am nervous about these things,’ and that makes all the difference.

I grew up listening to loads of afrobeats; my grandad’s Sierra Leonean, so that was always around. My mum loves those kind of beats, too.

I think people look back at the ’90s as a golden era of female empowerment.