Ella Mai Quotes

I want to work with a director who becomes my brother, my father, for two months. You give yourself over to that person.

When you have somebody writing or acting for you, you have to be free to have them hate you so you can get your ideas across without worrying.

Working with someone who's got your best interest at heart can make all the difference.

It's a great feeling being with a label that respects what I do.

I feel like that's a way people can change the way music is - to be guided by someone they believe in and trust. Larson and I really believed in each other. It was like brother/sister, father/daughter, we were laughing and yelling, that's how it is when you make an album! Essentially the trust was there and I got something great.

When I give over to somebody's vision rather than have an idea of what I need to do, it takes me to places I wouldn't have got to by myself. I'm always attracted to a strong director.

This was all very new to me and I did not want to ruin his film! So we worked hard on that basis of confidence that is needed to collaborate comfortably.

The biggest thing I have realized was that you have to choose your collaborators very carefully, and that not everybody can like you. The process of filmmaking is so difficult, there's no point in doing it unless you can do it the way you want.

I see my actors as my collaborators.

I say yes to everything if I like the overall thing that's being put out there. I'll do anything with David Wain.

I'm down to work with anyone as long as it's an organic collaboration.

Pete Krause has become a bit of a mentor to me. If there's anything that I'm struggling with right away, I'll go to him and I'll ask him questions. We've formed a really great relationship.

There's a synergy with Dre and me.

Shahid is a paternal figure to me. He's almost like a teacher. All my life, I've learned so much by watching him. I can't possibly consider him as competition to me. In fact, I would say, we're a team.

I only collaborate with the people I rock with in life, period. I rock with people where I really respect their craft and respect what they're doing. That's what collaboration should start from.

On my very first show, my partners in it, Oprah Winfrey and her network, and studio, Warner Horizon, who doesn't get enough credit, said, "Lady, we're going to let you call the shots the way you want to."

Movies are a collaboration, I feel, so I didn't think of myself as an authoritative figure as much.

The people I chose to work with me on this album are there because I have a personal relationship with them.

Chris Cutler was kind enough to offer his company as an umbrella, so now I can have all my back catalogue under one roof as it were, and it has the same feeling as with Daniel; this is a matter between friends rather than businessmen.

Working with David Bowie was very interesting, but I couldn't surrender to it. I should have let him produce a record for me, but I'm very perverse in some ways. He's brilliant, but the entourage were rather daunting.

It involved a lot of trust, but I love Bobby Harlow, and I loved the albums that he made.

I view the whole thing as a collaboration. As an actor, I always found that to be the most freeing thing, when the director would collaborate with you, so that together you'd come up with something exponentially better.

What you want in a mentor is someone who truly cares for you and who will look after your interests and not just their own. When you do come across the right person to mentor you, start by showing them that the time they spend with you is worthwhile.

Both Neil and I had done solo projects where we were the boss and I just thought that if he was willing to get into it, it would really be a good experience for him.

Netflix is amazing 'cause they trust the creator to do their job, and they trust us to do our job. They're really smart and just let us do our thing and deliver a great job.