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Mabel interview: I’m focused on creating music that will last forever

R&B revival: Finders Keepers star Mabel: Stephen Hallowes
R&B revival: Finders Keepers star Mabel: Stephen Hallowes

Musical pedigrees don’t get more polished than Mabel's.

The 21-year-old singer is quite rightly being recognised as one of the most promising names in UK R&B at the moment but her links to the music industry began at birth.

Her parents are Buffalo Stance star Neneh Cherry and Massive Attack producer Cameron McVey who, between them, made some of the most arresting music of their generation.

Despite her famous family, though, Mabel is a self-made artist with a pretty incredible work ethic, who made her breakthrough without the help of mum and dad.

“I was influenced and inspired by [my parents’] work ethic, but we kept it really separate,” she says. "There’s a difference between admiring them and copying them. I really wanted to find my own path.”

She continues: “I didn’t tell anybody who my parents were at first. I remember I put a song on Soundcloud and then I went to Sweden for a few weeks, just for a little holiday. I barely had any reception on my phone and then my management got in touch with me and said, 'You’ve had 20,000 plays overnight.' Annie Mac made it her tune of the week and I had to go back to London. My first ever radio interview was with Annie Mac on Radio 1!”

A succession of online releases in 2015 and 2016 made Mabel a hit with the blogs but it was the success of breakthrough single Finders Keepers that really announced her onto the world stage.

The single, a carefree floor-filler with 21 million YouTube views to its name, marked a dancier departure from the R&B slow-jams she specialised in previously.

“You know what? It’s my favourite tune," she says of its success. "I know I’ve got stronger songs to come, but there were people around me who were nervous about how my fans were going to react because it’s very different to what I’ve done before.

“I’m so happy that my favourite song is my fans’ favourite, too – it’s also my most successful to date. I’m just over the moon about that.”

Next year is sure to be huge for Mabel, especially after she was nominated for the Brits Critics Choice Award, but she refuses to be swept up in the hype.

“The important thing is that my music is getting a positive reaction and that people are connecting with it," she says. "The stuff that comes with that is amazing but I always have to think that I’m only as good as my last release. All the buzz can be very much here today and gone tomorrow, but my focus is creating music that will last forever.”

She might not have eclipsed the musical exploits of her parents just yet but be under no illusions: Mabel is making music to last for generations to come.