Get To Know: Mulaa Jones

Mulaa Joans is an enticing young singer-songwriter that has been steadily honing her craft, challenging herself to strive for songs that are rooted in candour, heartbreak and strength. With a voice oozing in richness, sensuality, swagger, complimented with a natural raspiness, Mulaa can pluck at the heartstrings of any audience with ease, and then break into a disarming chuckle on stage as if nothing happened. 

With recent backing from BBC Introducing as well as being on our list of ’10 Artists to Watch in 2026’ which you can check out here, Mulaa is proving herself as a force to be reckoned with already at just 19.

 With her debut EP £70 for Peace of Mind being released in 2024, and her follow up Nightime Religion released in October last year to both fan and industry acclaim. New Wave managed to grab a pocket of time over zoom the day after her sold out show at The Social in London, to talk her career so far, her new single ‘Phone Sex’, inspirations, pushing her writing and much more.

The roots of Mulaa’s journey began on social media, where she started posting covers on Tik-Tok. She began posting in her early teens and a particular clip of hers covering Etta James, really started gaining traction. This started a snowball effect, where Mulaa had thousands of people tuning in to her Tik-Tok to hear her take on popular songs. This transpired into Mulaa making the leap into moving from her hometown in Bath to London, to pursue her dream of becoming an artist in her own right.

Looking back on her early years, and discussing if there was a point where she realised she had a voice, Mulaa recalls that she has been singing for as long as she remembers. She credits her parents and the people around as driving forces behind her confidence as they were always so encouraging and never dimmed her light. In terms of her vocal style, she explains that she was never given any formal vocal training as it just wasn’t affordable, but she now sees that as one of her strengths. In the beginning of her journey, Mulaa acknowledges that she was mimicking a lot of other artists as she was still finding her voice, but she thinks the lack of formal vocal training in the beginning has helped her find her individuality as an artist. Granted, she now does have vocal training as she needs it to maintain her voice for recording and live shows, but she wouldn’t go back and change that about her journey.

“I wasn’t put in a cage and bound by all these technical rules”

Growing up at home, Mulaa was exposed to a lot of drum and bass music from her parents, which would come as a shock to many of her fans, as the music she has released is quite far removed in terms of genre. However, her songs are very direct and contains an unapologetic energy that drum and bass and electronic music is renowned for. Her dad was also a big fan of some of the classics like Michael Jackson and Prince, which checks out.

Speaking about developing her own taste that wasn’t directly influenced by her parents, Mulaa cites All the Little Lights by Passenger, The Boss by James Brown, Anti by Rihanna as well as Don’t Smile at Me by Billie Eilish as key reference points artistically. All these artists and albums had a lasting effect on her music output currently. The Don’t Smile at Me EP, changed her perspective on song writing as she realised there were no rules and you could be as left-field as you want, and it could still reach an audience, even if the meaning behind the songs were not obvious. 

With her writing process, Mulaa is able to self-reflect on her debut EP £70 For Peace of Mind and recognise that those songs do not come from a personal place, as she was still so young. 

“I hadn’t experienced much that I was willing to write about yet”

Fast forward to her most recent EP Nightime Religion, she is writing songs that are mostly rooted from her own personal experiences, as she has now been able to sit with some of life’s uncomfortable moments we all have growing up, and sing about them with a sense of clarity. She manages to create this connection with her audience without putting on any gimmicks which in turn has allowed herself to build a loyal fanbase of all ages. 

The EP itself was mainly created in a span of 6 months, excluding the title track, which was originally born just over a year prior, but needed perfecting at a later date. During this creation period, she wasn’t specifically working towards an EP, instead it was just treated as time to have fun making music and perfecting her craft. That lack of official deadline and pressure to release something, gave Mulaa more of a relaxed mindset, which in turn allowed her to move at her own pace while staying in a productive mindset. 

Delving a bit deeper into her writing process, Mulaa explains how writing is one of her favourite things, and she has always had a keen interest in literature, the art of storytelling, and the skill it takes to improve one’s writing ability. 

“I think I’m quite a fundamentally sad person, with a bubbly personality”

Mulaa is now committed in pushing herself to write songs that are cut with a level of honesty, even if that means discomfort comes with it. She feels this is only right, as in her day-to-day life she is never one to shy away from showing her emotions. As a result, she believes her music should reflect that, and she is able to portray her struggles and sadness in her lyrics but also inject her own style of humour. 

The evening before this interview, Mulaa performed her second headline show at The Social, in London to a rapturous crowd. I was lucky enough to be in the audience and saw first-hand the relationship she has built with her audience. 

“I trust my voice where I know that I can have fun with my songs in a live setting”

Speaking on the set-list, Mulaa states that her favourite song to perform from her catalogue is ‘Owe A Debt To My Liver’. For her, that song has a slightly different energy and style to her other ones, but not to the point where it sticks out like a sore thumb. On stage, she likes to make sure that her fans can come to her shows and expect a performance that is never the same, and to make sure that she doesn’t get in a monotonous routine of performing her tracks the same way each time on stage.

Speaking on her brand new single ‘Phone Sex’, Mulaa reveals that she came up with the concept of the song after over-hearing a young woman on a train talk about the difficulties having ‘Phone Sex’ with her boyfriend. Immediately, that sparked her creative juices and she got to work. Whilst the song itself shines a light on insecurities that many people having about opening up to their partner, giving the song a universal appeal, the concept is also specific enough to give it an extra edge, compared to your typical song about vulnerability. 

Looking to the future, Mulaa is focused on performing more live shows as well as having a more focused identity when it comes to her branding. This branding awareness solidifies that even though she is all about the music, Mulaa knows what it takes to get herself to the next level and is going to make sure she can achieve this in an authentic way.

With her brand new single 'Phone Sex’ out now and more shows on the horizon (Catch her at The Camden Assembly on the 23^{rd of} February as part of Good Karma Club curated by TV & Radio Presenter Abbie McCarthhy). 2026 is set to be a strong year for Mulaa and we are looking forward to following her journey.