Definitely Mabel: the whirlwind up-and-comer on the scene

As a teenager growing up in Sweden and, later, London, Mabel McVey was prone to anxiety attacks. The condition was exacerbated when took her first tentative steps towards pop stardom. Before a performance, she would stand backstage gripped by nerves.

Fortunately, she had parents who understood exactly what she was going through.

“In a house of creative people I was very lucky,” she tells Hot Press. “It was recognised from a young age that lots of people have depression and anxiety. When I’m feeling frustrated I channel it into something positive – rather than just feeling shit.

“I was quite open emotionally as a kid. My parents said, ‘you’re one of us. You need to find a form of expression.’”

The 21-year-old understates the case slightly describing mum and dad as “creative”. Her mother is Swedish pop-icon Neneh Cherry, her father Massive Attack producer Cameron McVey. The couple met at Heathrow airport when they were both en route to Japan for a modelling gig. Mabel, their second daughter, grew up on the road and in recording studios.

This was ideal preparation for a nascent pop career that has already seen her clock-up a mega-hit with ‘Finders Keepers’ – a smoking hook-up with rapper Kojo Funds that has achieved 26 million views and scored her a top ten UK placing. 

“My parents are musicians. It was inevitable I would be influenced by them,” she says. “It can go either way: either you want nothing to do with them or you absolutely love the connection. When I was younger I was scared that people would never be able to separate me from where I had come from.

“I used to shy away from that. I was going to have a different name when I was older. But the older I get the prouder I am of my parent’s accomplishments, even though I’m my own person. I think about my mum when I’m performing and my dad when I’m in the studio.”

Not that she considered it as such at the time, but her childhood was glamorous. Massive Attack would pop around for tea; backstage at venues across the world, she would watch her mother go through her pre-gig warm-ups. 

“When you are a kid you don’t think about it too much. It seems quite normal. I thought everyone lived like this. It’s only as I got older that I realised that not every kid travelled the world like I did.”

The family was determined the industry not go to their daughter’s head. At age five she was told that, if she wanted to be a musician, she would have to learn an instrument. So she studied piano – an education that has stood to her (‘Finders Keepers’ was written on a keyboard in her home studio).

“They kept us grounded. Their message was that talent was the important thing. It’s about working hard. All the nice stuff – the travelling and touring – that doesn’t come from nowhere. It goes back to the songwriting. That’s where I get my work ethic – getting up every day and knowing my craft.”
Mabel was born in Malaga and divided her childhood more or less evenly between Sweden (living in the same converted school-house in which Cherry was raised) and London, where she is now based.

“I did 10 years in Sweden, eight in the UK. I feel I couldn’t choose one place. I’m from so many places. When I was younger it used to confuse me. Now I see it as an incredible asset. I have these two places from which to draw musical inspiration. That’s so helpful.”

Mabel is shaping up to have a whirlwind 2018. On the strength of ‘Finders Keepers’ and a mix-tape, Ivy To Roses, she is about to embark on her highest profile tour to date, including a stop-off at Dublin’s Academy Green Room on April 21 and Longitude in July. All going well, an album will follow later in the year.

“It sounds really cheesy but this is a dream come through,” she says. “It’s the best feeling – to travel the world and make people happy doing what you do.”

As for her anxiety – well it still returns now and then. But she has learned to pour her emotions, positive or otherwise, into her music.

“The first thing I want to do is communicate with people,” she says. “If I talk about it, then maybe someone else will be able to talk about it too. That I still get really nervous before a big concert is sick – it shows that I care.”

Mabel plays the Academy Green Room, Dublin on April 21 and Longitude in July.