Words by Tim Hakki @TimHakki
We’ve already covered Mahalia’s breakout single ‘Sober’ which you can read about here. On this new song, the unpretentiously titled ‘Proud of Me’, Mahalia enlists the help of Little Simz to sing a song that’s chiefly about her authenticity. And no, this isn’t the kind of fame-baiting authenticity that Drake purports to have time and time again, this is Mahalia’s genuinely down-to-earth everydayness shining here alongside Simbi’s reflections on her own respectable career level. There’s a nostalgic pining in the beat here that faintly recalls Chance The Rapper as the nineteen-year-old rising star from Leicester keeps it simple, and in so doing, keeps it dazzlingly real.