Singer Ella Mai Addresses Jacquees’ Situation: “When It Comes to Someone Trying to Monetize, Then It Becomes a Different Issue on the Label Side”
If you thought Ella Mai was trippin’ over Jacquees‘ remix to one of her latest tracks, “Trip,” then you thought wrong. In a sit-down with Hot 97, the “Boo’d Up” singer addressed the recent controversy surrounding the R&B crooner’s remake being pulled from the internet, and she laid all of the ongoing speculations to rest. Before we jump straight into what she said though, let us get you caught up.
During the latter part of the summer, Mai released “Trip,” the first single from her self-titled debut album. Not long after, Jacquees, who’s most known for hit songs “B.E.D.” and “Deeper” featuring Dej Loaf, decided to put his own spin on the three-minute banger. Almost instantly, that version skyrocketed, with some listeners even expressing that they liked his better than the original one. But, amid the uber-success of the song, the ‘QueMix’ was zapped from all digital platforms, leaving fans to believe that Ella Mai herself had something to do with the removal.
It was also reported that she had allegedly blocked Jacquees on Instagram, furthering the suspicion of it being some silent beef between the two. However, Mai didn’t seem a bit of bothered when Hot 97’s Ebro questioned her current stance on the situation. In fact, she even cleared up the rumor that suggested her being behind the yanking of Jacquees’ record and claimed that she and the Atlanta cantor are still cool.
“I didn’t play any role in it, to be honest,” the 23-year-old told the radio show. “I feel like my label made a statement, and there’s not really much else to say about it. People are gonna take it how they want.”
Following her statement, Ebro asked if she cared how people would take it, and she came back with, “I mean, [I do care] somewhat because I don’t want people to think differently than what the actual situation is. But a lot of it is [the fact that] people don’t actually know the real ins and outs of the industry, and I can’t blame someone for not knowing.”
She then insisted that the whole debacle was blown out of proportion and revealed that she doesn’t have any problem at all with someone covering one of her songs since that’s how she started out–uploading covers to her Instagram account. The countless “Boo’d Up” remixes that are still available on YouTube could support her argument.
But for her team, it was just the monetization of Jacquees’ re-do that raised a few red flags.
“There were like five-thousand different remixes to ‘Bood Up’, so it’s not that. It’s just when it comes to someone trying to monetize, then it becomes a different issue on the label side– like the whole business side,” Mai explained.
As for her hitting that block button on Jacquees, she said that she never even followed him and “you can’t believe everything you read.” In other words… we’ll just say the block never happened.
Take a look at Ella Mai’s FULL interview with Hot 97 and tell us what you think below!
Oh, and if you haven’t heard Ella Mai’s “Trip,” go ahead and listen HERE too…
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