Music became my way of processing things and a way to gain confidence.
— Mabel
You have to work hard as a woman for people to take you seriously.
Whenever I have a bad day, I tell everybody around me, 'Just so guys know I am having a bad day and I am nervous about these things,' and that makes all the difference.
I'm independent; I live by myself.
Relationships with cities are similar to relationships with people: being away from both can really make you appreciate what you have.
I'm just trying to be myself and encourage other young women to be themselves.
I think the best thing that I can do is be myself. I don't know about being a role model; I think placing that sort of title on myself is too much. It's trying to be this thing that puts loads of pressure on something.
That's why I love music - because I'm such a control freak, and it's the only thing that I can't really control.
Gigs are my favourite thing - even the not so good ones, because you always learn something.
I feel incredibly lucky to have grown up with creative parents and around creative people, many of whom live with anxiety. My mum would sometimes say that it was a beautiful thing, and that it would come in handy when making music - and it's made me a more empathetic person.
I think knowing where you came from and where you want to go is really important.
I've been making music since age five.
I went to Glastonbury when I was 14, and that was really fun.
What gives you real power is when you know your power. And I feel quite powerful.
Destiny's Child's harmonies remind me of Earth, Wind & Fire.
I'm pretty much writing all the time.
I'm the biggest Drake fan - my favorite is 'Tuscan Leather' because it's like three songs in one, and for somebody that's obsessed with keys, the outro has the best keys ever.
I had a difficult childhood. I had lots of anxiety and questions. I found the world scary and intimidating.
Just enjoy every moment - don't stress. Just be yourself.
I found being a teenager quite difficult, actually. I put a lot of pressure on myself, and now, looking back at it, I really wish that I had relaxed and just enjoyed it more.
I don't actually get that many DMs. I tell myself that it's because guys might be intimidated, but I'm not that sure.
When it's my show, I know that everybody is there to see me - but I like a challenge, and I like the fact that at festivals not everybody is there to see me, but I have the chance to convert people.
When I was younger, I would listen to Lauryn Hill, Destiny's Child, Justin Timberlake, Aaliyah: lots of '90s R&B.
I can't believe that I'm MTV's Brand New for 2018. Big love to MTV for even giving me this opportunity and to all the fans for voting.
I'm really good at the '90s slow jams. I've got that down. But I love to dance, so why wouldn't I make something I could dance to?
Growing up, I was confused about my identity: I felt like I wasn't black enough to be black, but not white enough to be white.
I want people to really care when I release an album.
It sounds really cheesy, but as a woman, I feel like I sort of found myself.
All my songs are things that have happened to me.
'Finders Keepers' is guaranteed to create a vibe. If I'm having a difficult show, then I know I've got that song at the end to turn it around, and the phones will come out.
Being a creative person, I want to feel the highs and the lows.
I think I took after my parents. Using music as one of my main ways of expression just felt natural.
I put a song on Soundcloud, and Annie Mac made it record of the week, and a month later, I signed my record deal.
Kehlani is so refreshing in terms of R&B.
I've always been sure of my vision, but I've been in meetings where men have been talking about me like I'm not there... I've been told I should be a certain way, and I wondered if that would have been the case if I was a man.
Young women look at me and think, 'She's really confident. She has always had it figured out,' but actually, I really, really haven't. That has come over time as I became a young woman.
I know I love going to my gym - I have a whole list of things I love to do by myself without needing someone else to make me happy.
I am very much married to the job.
A couple of days out of the month, I talk to my stylist, and we just get a big chunk of looks that'll last me a while.
I think there is a misconception that being open and honest and saying what it is you want is something we should be embarrassed about. But that's just not me. I am a very honest person. I always tell somebody what I am looking for, and I don't want people to waste my time, basically.
I have, like, 'Finders Keepers' fever now! Sometimes I go in the studio, and I'm like, 'That worked so well, and I wrote it in 45 minutes, so if I try wearing the same outfit and playing on the same piano, it'll happen again.'
There's so many R&B songs where guys are talking about a clingy girl, like, 'I don't want a girlfriend, and this girl's so clingy, and blah blah blah.' But I'm a woman, and I've been in situations that have been the reverse of that, so I wanted to tell that story.
Yes, sharing super-personal experiences is scary, but I can only get up on stage and perform it if I really connect with the music.
I grew up in a house full of musicians, and my mum really taught me that when you listen to an album, you respect that it's somebody's art, and that the B-sides are just as important as the singles, and we should really listen to the album all the way through the way it was intended to be listened to.
I wouldn't be who I am if my parents hadn't been musicians.
I've been in two long-term relationships and - this sounds awful - they were really helpful for writing heartbreak. It makes good songs.
I'm such a control freak that camping, for me, is difficult. I can't be this crazy, carefree person that wears the same outfit for four days.
I remember trying so hard to get into Bon Iver. I'd lie in bed listening with my eyes screwed up, like, 'This is just depressing me.'
Producing isn't my favourite bit about what I do, but the fact that I know how to do it gives me this sense of power in situations that are super male-dominated.
I moved from Stockholm to London, and I didn't want to work with my parents or have them help me in any way, I think just to prove to myself that I have my own talent.
