Despite having one of 2019’s biggest pop breakthroughs, Mabel was nearly broken by cruel comments. She talks about rebuilding her self-esteem in an unsparing industry
Mabel’s new house in north-west London is a work in progress. There’s a skip piled high in the front garden. Her mum, Neneh Cherry, answers the door and leads the way down a freshly painted hallway to the elegant chaos in the kitchen: visiting relatives dodge Ikea boxes and Mabel’s Italian greyhounds, sandy-coloured Tahini and silvery Imani, who has a cast on her front leg after a stairs mishap. Cherry takes Tahini and leaves Imani in her owner’s arms, swaddled in a blanket.
Everyone vanishes, leaving Mabel (Mabel Alabama-Pearl McVey, 26, second daughter to Cherry and producer Cameron McVey) sitting at her kitchen table, barefaced in a black vest and jeans. She has a warm assertiveness and a huge laugh, just like her mum’s. Her swish new home is the house that a heady pop ascent built: six Top 10, platinum-certified singles since 2019; a platinum debut album, High Expectations, that reached No 3; 12.5 million monthly Spotify listeners.
