Two years after her last album, the UK R&B singer returns with a fresh confidence and a deeper appreciation for Jamaican music.

Anyone familiar with Mahalia’s music knows that love has always been at the heart of her artistry. From her dazzling 2019 debut ‘Love And Compromise’ to 2023’s gorgeous ‘IRL’, the R&B star from Leicestershire has built her career around exploring romance and relationships in all their beauty, chaos, and complexity. It makes perfect sense, then, that she returns to this theme with her new EP, fittingly titled Luvergirl.

A major influence on the EP, with its dancehall and reggae-inspired sound, comes from Mahalia’s Jamaican heritage and a month-long trip she took to the Caribbean earlier this year. It was there that she immersed herself in the local music scene and gave herself the freedom to create without restraint. Unlike the more “serious” approach of her earlier albums, Luvergirl embraces a lighter energy, leaning into freshness, fun, and flirtation. That feeling is best captured in standout track Pressure Points featuring Lila Iké, a sultry, groove-heavy jam that raises the temperature.

That doesn’t mean the project takes love lightly. Instead, Mahalia presents it with a confident edge, showing control and intention in her storytelling. On the sensual Pick Up The Pace with Bayka, she sings, “Gimme touch and affection, don’t make me wait / Pick up the pace, baby.” Then there’s the commanding and club-ready Instructions, where she asserts herself boldly: “I don’t wanna go home until everyone here knows you’re mine / Let’s give ’em a show, baby.”

What Mahalia does take seriously with Luvergirl is rediscovering her voice in connection with her roots. One of the EP’s most striking moments comes with the forbidden love anthem Pity, which samples Tanya Stephens’ classic It’s A Pity and even features a newly recorded vocal from the reggae legend herself. The collection then comes to a close with the emotional ballad Farewell (Pretty Jamaica), a moving tribute to the country that shaped the record: “Green, black and yellow / These colours that you left in my heart / I can’t seem to forget ’em, no.”

Mahalia’s first two records, Love And Compromise and IRL, felt like companion projects, both wrestling with personal questions about love and the process of healing through it. Luvergirl feels different. Here, Mahalia arrives renewed and re-energized. At her core, she is still a romantic, but this time there is a sense of freedom, a feeling of release that sets the stage for a new chapter unshaped by the weight of her past.

Details

• Record label: Warner Music
• Release date: August 15, 2025