Mahalia is an alt-R&B/soul artist who counts Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill among her biggest influences. The singer and songwriter made her recorded debut in her early teens, by which point she had already attracted major-label interest. She went on to sign with the Asylum label, where she has issued the albums Diary of Me (2016) and the considerably more individualistic Love and Compromise (2019), the latter of which peaked within the Top 30 of the album chart in her native U.K. Mahalia has also released a handful of EPs including Isolation Tapes (2020).