About This Album
Mahalia simultaneously builds on the legacies of British soul and American neo-soul with finely rendered material full of deeply introspective and relatable insights. The singer/songwriter made her recorded debut in her early teens, by which point she had already attracted major-label interest. She launched her career with the Asylum label, where she issued the albums Diary of Me (2016) and the considerably more individualistic Love and Compromise (2019), the latter a Top 30 album in her native U.K. Since releasing the Isolation Tapes EP (2020), Mahalia has moved to Warner Music, the outlet for the Letter to Ur Ex EP (2022) and the airy and frank album IRL (2023). The Take a Daytrip collaboration "Life Size" appeared in 2024. A native of Leicestershire, Mahalia Burkmar is the daughter of musicians -- her mother was in Colourbox circa the 4AD group's 1982 debut, and her father toured with Erasure -- and started writing songs and playing the guitar as a preteen. Burkmar drew the interest of major record labels by the age of 13 and released her first collection, the independent Head Space EP, in mid-2012. After taking some time to finish school and hone her sound, Mahalia re-emerged in 2015 on Rudimental's single "We the Generation" and performed with the group on Later...With Jools Holland. Her second EP, Never Change, followed that December and was her debut for major-label Asylum. In 2016, Burkmar had an acting role in the U.K. crime film Brotherhood and released her first full-length project, Diary of Me. She followed it in 2017 with appearances on festival stages in the U.K. and a series of collaborative singles, including "Hold On" featuring Buddy, the Maths Time Joy-produced "No Pressure," and in early 2018, "Proud of Me" featuring Little Simz. Following the singles "No Reply," "Water," and "I Wish I Missed My Ex," Mahalia issued the five-song Seasons EP in late 2018. "Do Not Disturb" and "Grateful," along with the number 46 U.K. hit "Simmer," followed in early to mid-2019, before the release of her debu
