Ella Mai brought her unique brand of throwback R&B to The Tonight Show Tuesday, performing a medley of single “DFMU” and “Leave You Alone.” Both songs appear on the British singer’s latest studio album, Heart on My Sleeve, which dropped earlier this month.
“DFMU” — which stands for “don’t fuck me up” — marks Mai’s first single since 2020’s “Not Another Love Song.” The song finds Mai pleading with a would-be lover, asking them to reveal their true feelings. “You got me questionin’, what have you done to me?,” she sings. “Used to be out of reach/Feel like you’re testin’ me, you’re the necessity/Full court press on me.”
Mai received her third Grammy Award nomination in 2020, with her self-titled studio LP competing for Best R&B Album. Her debut single, “Boo’d Up,” netted the singer a Grammy win for Best R&B Song in 2019. The track was also nominated for Song of the Year.
“R&B is not dead,” the singer told Rolling Stone in a 2018 interview. “We can make it mainstream again. Clearly, people love it.”