Platinum in My Car: Ella Mai, Then and Now.
Written By Audree Saluta
Culture, Fashion & Live Events Contributor.
Ella Mai giving boss girl energy.
“Do you still love me” album cover.
Ella Mai’s sophomore album “Heart On My Sleeve” is one of her most visually appealing album covers.
In 2018 as a senior in high school, Ella Mai really defined my transition into early adulthood. Going to college, breakups, meeting new people–2018 was definitely a transformative year and the year I discovered Ella Mai. Since being discovered in 2015 by DJ Mustard and signed to his label, she has been releasing EPs on Soundcloud that perfectly resonate with the lives of young women. Her first EP in 2016 titled, Time, had the hit, “She Don’t” featuring Ty Dolla Sign.
Then her 2017 EP, Ready, gave us one of her top hits to this day, “Boo’d Up”.
This track went platinum in my car and started to gain popularity on the radio and in nightclubs. To take this song to the next level, Ella Mai released a music video and in the same year joined Kehlani on her tour as the opening act. “Boo’d Up” then went on to win a Grammy for “Best R&B Song” and that same year, she won the Billboard Music Awards for Top R&B Artist and Top Female R&B Artist.
Since then, Ella Mai has released a total of three studio albums.
All of which have a standout song or two that go viral. From her debut and self-titled album, Ella Mai, “Trip” sits at 180M views on Youtube and over 648M streams on Spotify. Numbers don’t lie, Ella Mai’s older songs continue to outperform her new tracks, with her most streamed songs still being “Boo’d Up” and “Trip”. Overall, I do feel like her momentum has slowed down a bit, but Ella Mai is still releasing music and currently on her third tour.
With the release of her most recent album, Do You Still Love Me? Ella Mai kicked off her tour at the end of 2025 and is still traveling around the world. I had the chance to go to her San Diego show and I have some opinions about it. For the most part, it was amazing, her vocals are clean and smooth, and she sang her most iconic tracks.
What was refreshing about this show was that her talent wasn’t drowning behind flashing lights and distracting stage setups–it was really just her, her band, and her few stage props like a yellow couch and phone booth. I really appreciated the simplicity of it and how the concert highlighted her raw talent.
Ella Mai brought us R&B that feels honest, moody, yet still so cool. With her unique sound, tone, and style, she could be singing about burning a cheating man’s house down and still sound so calm and collected. That’s what I love about her and that’s why she continues to shine in the R&B community.
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