Anglo-Swedish dayglo pop delight and one of the younger musical members of the Cherry clan, Mabel is really just like you or I, in that she fancies a night on the tiles. So she wrote an album about one! Titled About Last Night…, she discussed it with Buzz’s Carl Marsh.
The theme of your new album About Last Night… and the title sums it all up – but what came first? The songs that led you to base it around the aforementioned night out? Or was the theme always there from the start, and the songs had to be around that theme?
No, the theme came pretty early. I think we did Definition first. Then lockdown [happened]. And with everything kind of weird in the world, I wanted to create this kind of fantasy house party where everyone was invited, where everyone could be themselves, and I just used it as a little bit of escapism as well. I used it to process my last few years leading up to lockdown, which had been the busiest years of my career.
And when you were writing the songs for this new album, having completed Definition pre-lockdown, how hard was it to keep the songwriting upbeat – as we all had to live through a shit period?
I think first of all, I kind of needed a break on a personal level. So, when I did go to write the music, I think I was in a much more positive place. But also, I always say that my purpose as an artist is to make people feel good about themselves. So, even in the vulnerable, sad moments, I’m always thinking just about writing things that people can relate to… that will make people feel like they’re less lonely. And that’s always the way that I think about writing.
One of the tracks on the album, Overthinking, has that 80s vibe going on with the synths – it sounds like something you’d hear on Stranger Things. Where did the inspiration come from for that song?
I know – literally, we need to get it on Stranger Things! But, yeah, I sometimes really – no pun intended – overthink when it comes to the sound, where I’m going, and how people perceive me. I went into the studio that day, and they played me that beat; I was like, “oh my god!” It just makes me feel something, and that’s enough. It’s sparking an emotion. And I was just like, “cool – let me let me run with this.”
I think it’s all about whether you can own something, whether it makes you feel something, and other than that, none of it really matters. I remember thinking it won’t make the album, because it doesn’t make sense with the other stuff…
Why’s that? I think it fits perfectly.
Just what I said before – sometimes worrying about how people perceive me, whether it makes sense; do people want this Mabel or do they want that Mabel? But making this album just made me realise that that thought process is, like, completely pointless [laughs]. So there’s always going to be somebody that likes the Finders Keepers me more than the Don’t Call Me Up me. And then the people that like Don’t Call Me Up more than say Ring Ring… do you know what I mean? So I would end up getting trapped in a cycle where I wouldn’t be happy.
It’s the decision you have to make, and I think there’s only one thing – one question that matters – when it comes to releasing things. And it’s, “Do I like this? Does it make me happy?” Other than that, none of it matters. You’re never going to be able to please everyone. So, you’ve just got to please yourself.
Mabel’s About Last Night… is released on Fri 15 July via Polydor.
words CARL MARSH
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