{"id":23415,"date":"2025-07-25T19:11:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T19:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/23415\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T19:11:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T19:11:11","slug":"mabel-i-offered-to-give-back-my-brit-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/23415\/","title":{"rendered":"Mabel: ‘I offered to give back my Brit Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mabel<\/a> is past caring what people think. Take the genre-flitting pop star\u2019s new self-titled mixtape: she calls it \u201ca toxic love letter to my 10 years in the music industry\u201d. And there\u2019s no doubt it\u2019s been toxic. \u201cDefinitely,\u201d she says with emphasis, sat at a table in the spacious kitchen of her plush north west London home. \u201cBut I wouldn\u2019t have even said that before. If somebody had asked me, I would have been like, \u2018No, I\u2019m just super grateful, everyone\u2019s been great, it\u2019s been super fabulous!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But it hasn\u2019t always been that way. Yes, there has been a huge amount of success: since her 2017 breakthrough tune \u201cFinders Keepers\u201d hit the top 10, the 29-year-old, born Mabel Alabama-Pearl McVey (to parents Neneh Cherry and Massive Attack<\/a> producer Cameron McVey), has amassed 4.5 billion streams and sold eight million singles worldwide.<\/p>\n

Uplifted by her signature top three hit \u201cDon\u2019t Call Me Up\u2019 \u2013 which accounts for over one billion of those streams by itself \u2013 her 2019 debut album High Expectations went platinum, landing her the 2020 Brit Award for Best Female Solo. Follow-up About Last Night<\/a> (2022) was her highest charter, reaching number two; she\u2019s collaborated with Raye<\/a>, AJ Tracey<\/a>, Clean Bandit and Shygirl, and racks up over six million monthly listeners on Spotify.<\/p>\n

But behind the scenes it\u2019s been tough going as she\u2019s battled industry pressures, anxiety and a crisis of identity. \u201cI mean, there\u2019s a reason why my first album was called High Expectations,\u201d she says, \u201cI was so scared to let anybody down. I think the problem is the expectation on young women to be this glossy, perfect thing, especially if you\u2019re making pop music. And nobody even needs to say that. It\u2019s just this unspoken rule.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MabelMabel\u2019s new self-titled mixtape is a toxic love letter to her 10 years in the music industry (Photo: Simone Beyene)<\/p>\n

Mabel has struggled with generalised anxiety disorder since she was a kid growing up in London, then Sweden from the age of eight. \u201cI was maybe six when I first started being scared about this and scared about that, and like what do people think about me, and am I doing good enough?\u201d<\/p>\n

Fame made things worse. She signed to Polydor at 18, but is keen to clarify that her team are nice people \u2013 \u201cI\u2019ve never worked with somebody that\u2019s been like a monster\u201d. Instead, her comments are directed at the industry as a whole. She says \u201cthe structure in general which has been created over a long period of time\u201d in the industry is harmful to women. \u201cIt\u2019s scarring, that projection of trying to define a young woman as a product.\u201d She had to conform somewhat. \u201cI don\u2019t think that there was investment in helping me become me.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019d had media training to stop her from \u201calienating people,\u201d and was taught \u201cnot to get involved in political things \u2013 to just be cute and sing the song and go home. That was really tough for me in the beginning, but I got really good at it.\u201d She began to notice the double standards with male stars. \u201cA man can be a bit of a rebel, because it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh he\u2019s cool.\u2019 Whereas if I did that, I\u2019m a mess. You can sleep around and the guy is being a rock star. Whereas if a woman does it, she\u2019s a slut,\u201d Mabel adds.<\/p>\n

The more success she enjoyed, the more she became someone who read and internalised all the negative comments online (\u201cIt\u2019s really hard not to\u201d). She would often suffer in silence. \u201cThere definitely have been days when I\u2019m just like, \u2018I\u2019m shit and nobody cares\u2019,\u201d she says. \u201c[There was] no duty of care whatsoever. And I think mentally, when I was really having a successful moment, numbers wise, I was really unhappy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LIVERPOOL,\u201cI was trying to figure out who I am as a person and as an artist. What\u2019s authentic to me? Because I\u2019ve been playing a role for a long time,\u201d says Mabel (Photo: Joseph Okpako\/WireImage)<\/p>\n

It left her feeling unworthy even at the point of her biggest achievements. Take the Brits in 2020, where she opened the show and won one of the three awards she was up for. \u201cI had such a sick year on paper.\u201d But she was so unhappy that after she won the award, she offered to give it back. She\u2019d read an article in the morning that said while she would win, somebody else should (FKA Twigs<\/a>). \u201cAnd I felt so bad about accepting it. I had the worst imposter syndrome. And there were all these horrible comments and stuff online, and I just felt I didn\u2019t deserve it.\u201d It\u2019s quite sad that she couldn\u2019t enjoy that moment. \u201cTotally. But one of the most important things now, and I have to remind myself all the time, is to enjoy it whilst it\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mabel is in relaxed and happy form \u2013 a garrulous host dressed in a white top and light blue jeans. Several things have brought her to this point: therapy; taking social media apps off her phone; animals. She took up horse riding during the pandemic, and I meet her two tiny Italian greyhounds, Tahini and Imani, who sit on my lap for a portion of the interview.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s family that has really helped, she says: her mum and dad live two doors up the road, and her house has a \u201crevolving door policy\u201d. Mabel watched Cherry write last year\u2019s acclaimed memoir A Thousand Threads every day for four years. \u201cOh my God, I was sobbing [when I read it],\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s so beautifully written. Of course, it\u2019s hard to know some of the things that she\u2019s been through. It\u2019s also sad to know that so much she experienced being a woman in the industry is similar to the things that I still experience. I felt like it brought us closer together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MANCHESTER,Mabel has a \u201crevolving door policy\u201d with her mum, Neneh Cherry, who lives two doors up the road (Photo : Gareth Cattermole\/MTV EMA\/Gareth Cattermole\/Getty Images for Paramount)<\/p>\n

She says she took a cue from Cherry. \u201cMy mum has always had and will always have boundaries with the things that she feels comfortable with and the people around her. And I think I never really had that until I let my family into my process.\u201d That includes her new fianc\u00e9, label executive Preye Crooks, son of ex-footballer and BBC pundit Garth Crooks. \u201cI would say he is a part of that inner circle around me to make sure that I\u2019m happy and I\u2019m enjoying what I do and I\u2019m being authentic to myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can hear the freedom on the new mixtape. Mabel scrapped the album she began making in 2022 \u2013 though some tracks were released as stand-alone singles last year \u2013 as she felt like she\u2019d lost her sense of self. \u201c100 per cent,\u201d she says. \u201cI was trying to figure out who I am as a person and as an artist. What\u2019s authentic to me? Because I\u2019ve been playing a role for a long time.\u201d She says the change when TikTok came along was confounding. \u201cSuddenly it was about sharing hardships, the exact opposite of everything I\u2019d been taught.\u201d<\/p>\n

She asked herself a question she hadn\u2019t for some time: what sort of music does she want to make? \u201cI never really asked myself since the beginning. Because I\u2019m a people pleaser, I think I found it way too easy to just let everybody\u2019s opinions come in. I committed to myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she also wanted it more casual, done on her terms. Mabel only started writing the tracks in January. \u201cI wanted to do it quick and put it out quick. I wanted to see what the process felt like, just writing music, not perfecting it or working too much on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MabelMabel scrapped the album she began making in 2022 as she felt like she\u2019d lost her sense of self. She recorded \u2018Mabel\u2019 at home with friend and producer Oscar Scheller (Photo: Simone Beyene)<\/p>\n

Rather than a fancy studio, she created it at home with friend and producer Oscar Scheller (PinkPantheress<\/a>, Shygirl). Mabel shows me her set-up at one end of her living room: a Roland keyboard, a laptop and some recording gear on a table with a photograph of her niece. \u201cRecording at home is quite vulnerable. There\u2019s nowhere to hide.\u201d More so than an expensive studio? \u201cThere you can wear a mask, and say: \u2018Okay, I\u2019m gonna be this person between 10 and six today. Oscar sees me having all these funny wedding meltdowns and interactions between me and my partner. He sees me and my parents. It\u2019s the most intimate environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mixtape is an imperfect snapshot of where Mabel\u2019s at, a succinct pop-facing set that showcases all of Mabel\u2019s talents: you\u2019ll hear R\u2019n\u2019B, Afroswing, pop, rap and dance. \u201cThis project was about each song being a different thing, letting me put all those things into this beautiful chaos that is me. Because I am so many different things. And there\u2019s almost rebellion to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While many tracks take aim at the industry \u2013 \u201cJanuary 19\u201d questions the constant need for validation; \u201cLove Me Gentle\u201d pleads for empathy \u2013 the mixtape\u2019s final track \u201cIs It Love\u201d is about Crooks. Mabel sings: \u201cI\u2019m used to toxic.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the least toxic person I\u2019ve ever met,\u201d she says now. So that was different to what you were used to? \u201cOh my God, so different. And that terrified me, because there was no conflict. I think with all my relationships I connected drama with being passionate. When actually it\u2019s like, \u2018No, it was just drama.\u2019 And with everything now, I just want peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the only thing changed in Mabel\u2019s outlook: she\u2019s redefined what success means for her. \u201cThe success is me releasing music that I love, and that\u2019s it,\u201d she says. \u201cOf course, it would be great to have all the numbers again, but I have basically reintroduced myself. In terms of the expectations, it\u2019s almost like releasing my first project all over again. I really just want people to get more of an idea who I am every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Mabel\u2019 is out now. Mabel tours the UK from 3 November<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mabel is past caring what people think. Take the genre-flitting pop star\u2019s new self-titled mixtape: she calls it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,14809,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-23415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-music-interviews","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}