Ella Mai<\/a>, returning to Queens also meant returning to a place that helped shape some of her formative years.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cI went back to my high school maybe four years ago and it\u2019s just so different,\u201d she says. \u201cBut a lot of my teachers are actually still there, so it was cool to walk down those halls and relive those moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even then, she believed she would become a singer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI had these dreams and in my mind, I was like, \u2018I\u2019m going to make it one day and I\u2019m going to be a singer,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cTo actually walk down the hall and have it happen, it was a very weird and surreal feeling.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ella Mai\u2019s relationship with football also started at a young age, when she began playing in England, inspired by her older brother.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy brother played football and I just wanted to be able to keep up with him,\u201d she remembers. \u201cOne of my best friends started playing, so we would just play in the playground. We were super competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n
She remembers being among the few girls around her who played the sport.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of the girls in my school at that age really played football, so we were like, \u2018OK, we\u2019re going to be the first to do it,\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
The lessons she learned as an athlete continue to serve her today.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt taught me discipline, having to go to practice and show up to practice on time, making sure I\u2019m keeping up with my stamina and routine,\u201d she says. \u201cBeing part of a team and knowing how to work with other people and competing. I think those are all really important lessons for a child.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Ella Mai ultimately sacrificed soccer to pursue singing and songwriting, she\u2019s remained an avid fan of the sport and rattled off a list of some of her favorite players across multiple generations.<\/p>\n
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Photo by NYNJ Host Committee.\n <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always been an Arsenal fan,\u201d she says, referring to the popular club team. \u201cMy dog is named Thierry after Thierry Henry. He\u2019s a French bulldog. Thierry Henry is my all-time favorite, that is my legend. David Beckham, although I\u2019m not a Man U [Manchester United] fan, I am English, so David Beckham was definitely up there. Jude [Bellingham]. I think it\u2019s a great time for the new talent to make their name. I think that\u2019s what\u2019s cool about the World Cup also \u2014 somebody always makes their name on the world stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
That global stage also provides a great opportunity for people from different cultures to come together. That spirit of connection resonates with Ella Mai, who gained a broader perspective after growing up between London and New York as a biracial young woman.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven before living between cultures, I\u2019m half Black and half white, so I was raised in a world that is different,\u201d Ella Mai tells Okayplayer. \u201cSometimes you\u2019re in a space where you feel too much of one side and you\u2019re in another space where you feel too much of the other side and people treat you differently. I think I learned that from a very young age.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to the World Cup, my early memories are just how joyous everybody is,\u201d she adds. \u201cThis is especially what people need to come together and just have a good time and have it be celebratory as opposed to divided.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Photo by NYNJ Host Committee.\n <\/p>\n
Just as sports can connect people from different cultures, Ella Mai is actively experiencing the way music can do the same. On a recent stop in China during her Do You Still Love Me? World Tour, the singer found herself on stage, worried about communicating with her fans.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was my first time in China, there\u2019s quite a big language barrier, but they were singing all the words,\u201d she says. \u201cThat to me is so interesting because, if I can\u2019t stand here and speak to you, it\u2019s quite hard to communicate, but when I get on stage, you can sing all the words, it just shows how universal music really is and how far it can travel. It\u2019s amazing to be able to say that\u2019s how far my music is reaching.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked what her younger self from Queens High School of Teaching would think if she could see this moment, Ella Mai pauses before answering.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019d probably just say, \u2018Well done,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cShe\u2019d probably say, \u2018I\u2019m proud of you.\u2019 And, \u2018It clearly pays off to stick to your dreams.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before becoming a Grammy-winning R&B star, Ella Mai spent her teenage years in Queens balancing a love for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-274970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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