What’s on Mavi’s Mood Board?

I wanted my album to feel like a child

stumbling through a yard, sticking their hand in dirt,

and like touching every turnip.

I wanted it to feel like the pink part of a sunset.

Watching something be pollinated.

I wanted it to feel like the cookout after the funeral.

Yeah, I definitely wanted the album to be super warm.

There's no barrier between you and the sun

in South Carolina.

I always say, like, it's hot like the slavery days.

[person laughing]

My dad's side is from Hopkins, South Carolina.

My mom's side is from Sumpter, South Carolina.

My granddaddy, he bought, like,

a bunch of acres of land from a white man.

We used to go pet the cows, feed them watermelons.

Like, you ever seen a happy cow?

Like, this is, it's something different.

Just walking around in the country where I'm from

is one of my easiest and best places to write.

I feel rooted to the ground,

and I think that is related

to just, like, being able to trace my whole lineage.

I can go in by headstone,

look at all of my family lineage, like through the 1850s,

and I think that's pretty magnetic for me.

Like it sings, like it's alive.

Like, you can see every blade of grass move.

You can see every ant in every ant pile.

[person laughing]