The Insider

I was addicted to people’s validation

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Sometimes people just need to be told to f*** off,” says pop star Mabel. “I’ve got such a big mouth, I’m too sassy.” To be clear, she’s talking about trolls on social media. From 2017 to 2020, Mabel Alabama Pearl McVey had an extraordinary run of platinum-selling hits. There was the breakout Finders Keepers, the exquisitely brassy Don’t Call Me Up and the bursting sex pop of Mad Love. But then she hit a wall.

MUSIC

As her new album is released, Mabel tells Sam Moore how she overcame trolls and mental health issues, and why she’s so proud of her famous mum 

“I would go out there anticipating what people were thinking about me and what was going to come of the performance,” the 26-year-old says. “It was like, ‘Let me not give everything to these people because someone might say something horrible about me.’”

Her second album, About Last Night which is set to be released tomorrow, was created from these polarising experiences of fame and success. While unapologetically crafted to fill the dancefloor, About Last Night features deep introspection as Mabel wrestles with building herself back up from her mental health lows, the relationships that burned brightly and imploded, and the almost gleeful way society tears apart female self-esteem.

“Nothing can prepare you for this job,” she says from her London home, as she has her hair done for one of her first live performances since the pandemic began. “You wake up one morning and you’re standing on these big stages, but it’s a lot of responsibility for a young person. I guess it was too much too soon but I wouldn’t change any of it.”