Photo: Capitol Records
Mabel is getting to live out a “childhood dream” in her latest music video.
“I wanted to create these parallel worlds of reality versus fantasy because I’m a big dreamer,” she says of the video, which allowed her to pal around with some of her favorite Pokémon characters. “I had so many imaginary friends when I was a kid, and it was honestly a childhood dream to just be dancing with Pokémon.”
Mabel admits she still gets “blown away” when stepping onto a music video set, and that it always gives her a renewed confidence in her performing abilities.
“That’s when I’m like, ‘Wow I get to like unleash all this energy and be sassy and give choreo and looks,” she explains about seeing the set-up for her latest visual. “It’s euphoric, and I almost feel like I switch off and this other part of me takes over. It’s honestly just the best feeling and chasing that high is why I do what I do.”
Capitol Records
The BRIT Award winner recalls being “obsessed” with Pokémon when she was younger and that the popular trading cards once dominated her life.
“Being in school swapping cards every day, taking all my cards and my binders to school and making my dad turn around because I’d left my binder in the kitchen,” she muses. “It was such a huge thing and it still is — my nephews now are obsessed with them.”
The new song comes on the heels of the dance floor banger “Let Them Know,” which was released last month and provided a first taste of Mabel’s new era. It’s been two years since the release of her debut album, and she says the global pandemic kept her focused on creating more “feel good” music.
“During the first lockdown [in London], I started thinking, ‘Okay, I still feel like my purpose as an artist is to make people feel good,’ so I’m going to focus on the good times we have had out, being with each other, the dance floor, the energy, and be positive about the times that I know that we are going to have, and look forward to that.”
Her goal is to put out “playful, high energy” songs to hopefully “soundtrack those moments” as the world attempts to move beyond COVID-19, saying, “I know that I’m doing something right when I look at a show and people aren’t even looking at me — I just see girls looking at their friends or people in their own world, feeling themselves.”
Mabel does say she has a “body of work” that she is ready to release “when the time is right,” working with producers and songwriters like Stargate, MNEK, Raye, SG Lewis, and that she’s let go of any insecurities she used to have as a young, new artist.
“The key word is ‘confidence’ and I feel like this is the moment when I’m ready to show people that I’m comfortable with who I am, and I’m going to wear that on my sleeve,” she exclaims. “I’m 25. I’ve been doing this since I was in my late teens, so I’ve grown up as a person and as an artist at the same time. I think realizing what I’m capable of and letting go of that fear has helped me make my best music.”
source: people.com
