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Kyle DijamcoFollowing the breakout success of “Boo’d Up,” Ella Mai is preparing to release her debut album. Her mentor and producer Mustard says they thought they were finished with the record, but ended up scrapping the whole thing and starting over because he just wasn’t satisfied.
“We had an entire album when she did her first little tour, and while she was doing that, she did a whole album. The last day, she had the whole album, and I told her, ‘Yo, we got to scrap the album…I don’t think this one is as good as we can make it,’” Mustard tells Billboard.
’When she did that [first] album, I wasn’t there too much because I wanted her to do her thing and work with other people,” Mustard says. “What I heard was good, there was a lot of good songs, but this wasn’t what we created and I wanted to get back to that.”
Mustard has produced numerous hits in his career,including Rihanna’s 2016 five-times platinum “Needed Me,” Jeremih’s triple-platinum “Don’t Tell ‘Em” in 2014, and “Post to Be,” by Omarion featuring Chris Brown and Jhene Aiko in 2014. But the producer says he’s most proud of Mai’s “Boo’d Up” being certified platinum.
“What people don’t understand, this is like my little sister. This project coming is like my baby,” Mustard says, explaining why he’s being such a perfectionist when it comes to Ella’s debut.
‘It’s all about her right now, and when the [platinum] plaque came, it meant a lot to me. That’s the first plaque on my record label,” he says. “Me having all the records I’ve had, none have ever gotten to the top five of the Hot 100.”
Mustard says he’s now putting the finishing touches on Ella’s debut.
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