Soho Rising: Ego Ella May

In June this year, Ego Ella May released her latest album, Honey For Wounds. The title and timing could not have been more apt. As the world became ever more fraught, a global pandemic compounded by a renewed debate on racism, the south Londoner’s LP was able to reflect these concerns, but also offer some balm. If it’s not quite how the 28-year-old singer-songwriter planned it, she’s happy if her music can help.

‘Honey is such a sweet, soothing thing, and it also has medicinal properties,’ she says. ‘So I want my music to be that soothing factor after you’ve had a really long day, or you’re just lost in life. I want you to forget about stuff for 40 minutes and just breathe, you know?’

May is saying all this from her bedroom in south London via Zoom, happily chatting away wrapped in a cosy cream jumper. If the air of calmness seems at one with her music, this is arguably just a surface thing. If Honey For Wounds is a beautiful listen, an assured mix of jazz, soul and R&B, it also dwells on some ‘very dark’ topics, such as sadness, loss and loneliness; this isn’t souped-up wellness muzak. Her influences include Stevie Wonder, Amy Winehouse and her namesake Ella Fitzgerald, and it’s that level of class throughout. Her stage name, by the way, is just her given names all lined up: Ego is a name from her parents’ Nigerian culture, meaning ‘my love is greater than money’, used more at home, while Ella May is the more British one used by friends. ‘But I’ll answer to both,’ she shrugs. ‘It’s not like you’re calling me Stacey or whatever.’ 

Honey For Wounds is a ‘diary’, which contemplates everything from tackling single life again (‘Table For One’), to what women are forever expected to think about (‘Girls Don’t Always Sing About Boys’). Written from an intimate place, the songs have ended up being alarmingly far-reaching; take the single ‘Give A Little’, which was released in the wake of the death of George Floyd. May recites a key line: ‘“Do I have to die for some peace, or a little bit of extra empathy?” That was just so weird, and so relatable to people.’ She obviously welcomes the huge surge of interest in #BlackLivesMatter, but it didn’t teach her anything she didn’t already know; if anything, May found the profusion of images and information online overwhelming. ‘If it’s informative for others, great, but for me it’s just triggering to see all that trauma online.’ Still, if the music contributes to the discussion somehow, it’s all good. ‘One of my favourite artists is Nina Simone, and she said, “An artist’s duty is to reflect the times”, and that rings in my head all the time.’