In stark contrast to today’s all-encompassing pop persona, Mabel’s arrival seven years ago was a sleek example of cool-press-only positioning. Early black-and-white photos in support of debut single Know You Better pictured her sans smile, usually overwhelmed by a bomber jacket emblazoned with a cutting-edge skateboard brand’s logo. Her backstory helped: her mum’s Neneh Cherry, while her dad, Cameron McVey, produced career-defining albums by the likes of Massive Attack and the Sugababes. Mabel was still only 19, however, and her early artistic persona – aloof hype-beast making nocturnal alt-pop – hung off her as awkwardly as her oversized fashion choices.
All that changed with 2017’s Finders Keepers. A featherlight love song with a killer chorus, it chimed with that summer’s rise of Afroswing and became a UK top 10 smash. Those muted hues were suddenly streaked with primary colours and lo-fi R&B was replaced with a cornucopia of genres including pop, hip-hop and electronic dance music. By 2019’s club-ready, Top 3 smash Don’t Call Me Up, Mabel was a fully fledged pop star, stating in an interview that she wanted to avoid making music you needed a degree to enjoy. She was adept at cherrypicking collaborators – ranging from UK rapper Not3s to dance music overlord Tiësto – and any criticism at her desertion of worthy outsiderdom was drowned out by her 10 Top 20 hits, a platinum-selling debut album and a 2020 Brit award for best British female.
