Ella Mai has earned a new certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Her Roddy Ricch-assisted song “How” is now certified gold, with over 500,000 equivalent units sold.
The song, produced by Bass Charity, Mustard, and Nic Nac, peaked at No. 16 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs chart, where it spent 16 weeks.
In a Vevo Footnotes, Mai revealed the story behind creating the track. “‘How’ is produced by Mustard and I co-wrote it with Varren Wade. The process of making the song was interesting because the production really makes you want to dance, but I wanted to write a song about heartbreak, so we had to find a balance.”
Regarding the Colin Tilley-directed video’s concept, Mai shared, “I love to tell stories. I play a woman who has been done wrong by her husband and seeks revenge. I really enjoyed embodying a revengeful character because, in real life, I am not like that at all.”
“How” appears on Mai’s sophomore album, Heart On My Sleeve, released in 2022. It’s the third song from the project to receive an RIAA certification, following “Not Another Love Song” (platinum), “DFMU” (gold) and “This Is” (gold).
The latter song appears on Mai’s Heart On My Sleeve (Deluxe), which was released in February 2023.
Further, “How” is Mai’s fourth RIAA award of 2024. In May, she earned her certification for “This Is” plus “Boo’d Up” (8x platinum) and “Trip” (6x platinum). The latter two hits are from Mai’s 2018 self-titled debut album.
Mai’s new RIAA award comes a month after dropping her surprise EP, 3. The three-track set was released without warning on the singer’s 30th birthday (Nov. 3).
3 included the No. 1 hit “Little Things,” which topped Billboard’s R&B Digital Song Sales chart. The other two tracks, “Hearts On Deck” and “One Of These,” peaked at No. 2 and No. 3 on the same chart, respectively.
Stream “How” by Ella Mai and Roddy Ricch below.
