Ella Mai “Tell Her” Lyrics & Meaning | Genius Verified - video Dailymotion

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Ella Mai is back at Genius to break down her new single “Tell Her.” The singer-songwriter shares the Destiny’s Child classic that inspired the track, opens up about being a lover girl, how she’s learned to set boundaries, her favorite parts in the song, and more!

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00:00I'm a Scorpio.

00:01I know I say it in every video.

00:02Everyone's going to be so tired of me, but we're very assertive people.

00:04We're very confident.

00:05That really is what Tell Her is.

00:06It's like, okay, I'm going to let you know.

00:08You either take it or you leave it.

00:16The initial inspiration for Tell Her was the fact that throughout this whole album process,

00:22all I did was listen to Destiny's Child.

00:23I think as a 90s baby, we all love Say My Name.

00:26It's literally the exact same context, just in terms of it's sassy and I love a bit of

00:31sass sometimes.

00:32I was really happy with the way it came out and everyone loved the song, so I was like,

00:34here, here's Tell Her.

00:35Here you go.

00:52From the jump, I just wanted to say I'm not standing for any bullshit.

00:55I don't stand in any lines.

00:57I'm not second to anyone.

00:59I'm giving you everything on a silver platter from the jump.

01:02No surprises.

01:03The second half of the verse, it is way more graceful than the first part of the verse.

01:21But I think it's just the contrary to the first part, in terms of like, I've told you how

01:26I am, right?

01:27I'm not going to take anything.

01:28But I'm also aware that like that can't be 24-7.

01:31You have to give and take in relationships and you have to compromise a little bit.

01:34So like, okay, cool.

01:36I understand you're up and you're down a little bit and stuff gets hard.

01:39And then we go back to, yeah, but make sure you do what you need to do.

01:42Yeah.

01:59Because Say My Name was already on my mind, as I said I was listening to it, I think the

02:03moment we started writing it and like the way it was coming together, and this is a song

02:07that everybody loves, so why not pay homage to one of my favorite girl bands.

02:11Did you guys want me to sing Say My Name?

02:13I could do a little Say My Name rendition.

02:14Oh girl!

02:15We would love it!

02:37I think it just, it just made sense.

02:55I, for sure, am a lover girl.

02:57I come off very, very like strong, which I am, don't get me wrong.

03:00I'm strong and I'm assertive and I'm confident and I know exactly what I want.

03:04But like deep down somewhere, all the way inside.

03:08And I think everyone's like that, regardless of your star sign, regardless of like your upbringing

03:12or whatever.

03:13Like I think at the end of the day, just as human beings, we all just want to be loved.

03:16We want to love.

03:17And I think that's the point of it all.

03:34I think boundaries are important in every single relationship.

03:45I think when you're younger as well, you kind of, you're not sure whether you can set boundaries

03:49in some aspects.

03:51And as you get older, I think you just grow more and you're just like, oh, this is what

03:54I'm going to deal with and this is what I'm not going to deal with.

03:56I think contact with an ex depends on what the situation is.

04:00Like I have many friends who are still cool with their exes and like their partner can

04:06be fine with it.

04:07And I think it really just depends on what the situation is.

04:09Obviously it gets sticky if it's like you don't know what the situation is.

04:11It's very sticky actually when I think about it.

04:13It's not the worst thing in the world as long as you've communicated and you know exactly

04:17what the situation is.

04:33Verse two is definitely not as harsh as verse one.

04:37And I am letting my guard down a little bit, but I think it also just makes it feel a little

04:41bit more conversational as like, okay, cool.

04:43This is what I want and these are my boundaries, but I'm just letting you know these are the

04:45reasons why I feel this way, you know, like I don't want to get hurt and these conversations

04:49need to be had.

05:05I think the perspective of the song, the way that I wrote it, I think was extremely important

05:10to me because I am a girl's girl for sure.

05:13At the end of the day, I'm a woman, so I completely understand everything we go through.

05:17And men don't understand half of the stuff that we go through.

05:19So I'm never going to be on here, you know, like bashing somebody.

05:23Like that's just, that was never my intention.

05:25So I wrote it from that perspective because in my opinion in a relationship, the way I feel

05:29and the way you feel, the person I'm in a relationship with, is what matters the most.

05:43You're going to find throughout the album, I'm a very reassuring person, but I also want

05:55to be reassured and to know that, you know, like you're in the relationship the way that

05:59I'm in the relationship.

06:00I don't think everything is necessarily always 50-50, but like we're meeting each other where

06:05we're both at.

06:06And then Tell Her was really just like, yeah, just reassure me sometimes or reassure whoever,

06:11whoever it is, but most importantly, make sure I know.

06:16My favorite part of Tell Her is probably the Say My Name, Say My Name part because I just

06:20love that song.

06:21Outside of that, I would say the, yeah, that's petty, but you can't afford a loss, only because

06:26I love that melody.

06:27I think it's really cool.

06:28The cadence is really cool.

06:29And it's fun.

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