EGO ELLA MAY Announces New Album "Good Intentions" Out 20th March

EGO ELLA MAY

ANNOUNCES SOPHOMORE ALBUM

“GOOD INTENTIONS”

RELEASED 20TH MARCH EGO ELLA MAY (INDEPENDENT)

NEW SINGLE

“WHAT YOU WAITING FOR”

Today, award-winning British-Nigerian singer-songwriter and musician Ego Ella May announces her long-awaited sophomore album “Good Intentions”, released 20th March, the follow-up to her critically acclaimed 2020 debut “Honey For Wounds”. Pre-save “Good Intentions” HERE.

“Good Intentions” ushers in a new chapter for Ego, her most daring and ambitious work to date, beautifully blending warm jazz textures, alt-soul explorations, intricate harmonies, and lyrical storytelling.

Ego shares “What You Waiting For”, the album’s third single out today. A broken-beat groove co-produced and composed by Ego with Tom Excell. Speaking about the single, Ego explains: “‘What You Waiting For’ is one of my favourite songs to play live, this song is so fun! But it holds a deeper meaning about living life NOW, and about presence. Quite simply, don’t wait! The time is now. I wrote it about this album as a whole, and trying to conjure up more of a belief in myself and my gifts, and I kept saying to myself ‘If not now, when?’ It’s the anthem I play when I need a confidence boost!”

“Good Intentions” was produced by Ego herself, along with Alfa Mist, Beat Butcha, LVTHER, Melo Zed, TAVE, Tom Excell and more. Lead singles “What We Do”, co-produced with Wu-Lu, and “We’re Not Free”, with echoes of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”, are a glimpse into the album’s thematic richness, examining community, liberation, vulnerability, and the complicated beauty of everyday human experience. Guided by introspection and candid conversations with her inner circle, the album is equally shaped by the authors she loves: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Patti Smith, Chinua Achebe, Ayobami Adebayo, and Joan Didion.

To celebrate the release of “Good Intentions”, Ego Ella May will play a series of intimate in-store acoustic performances at Rough Trade locations across the UK. Access will be available via pre-order of the exclusive signed, limited-edition coloured vinyl or CD through Rough Trade, available HERE.

IN-STORE DATES

20th March Rough Trade East, London

24th March Rough Trade Nottingham

25th March Rough Trade Liverpool

Drawing from an expansive palette of R&B and neo-soul, with a deep respect for jazz — the latter she calls “the root of it all” — South-East Londoner Ego Ella May released her seminal debut EP “Breathing Underwater” via SoundCloud in 2014. Her debut album “Honey For Wounds” earned her Best Jazz Act at the 2020 MOBO Awards and Best Vocalist at the 2021 Jazz FM Awards, with her music published by media mogul Issa Rae’s Raedio and featured across major film and television including Insecure, Sex Education, Dear White People, Queen Sugar, The Jackal, and And Just Like That. Across collaborations with Ari Lennox, Theo Croker, and Kojey Radical, Ego’s debut was followed by her celebrated “FIELDNOTES” EP trilogy. In 2024, Ego Ella May made her Canadian live debut, playing the main stage of the Montreal Jazz Festival, and sold out her debut headline show at the legendary Ronnie Scott's in London. She was nominated in the Best Jazz Act category at the 2025 MOBO Awards.

PHOTO CREDIT: JELANI POMELL

Taylor Ohryn