Sitting inside the New York offices of Def Jam Recordings, Anella is rarely still. Conversations blur into handshakes, introductions fold into ideas, and somewhere between it all, his latest project Ask Me How I’ve Been takes shape—not just as a release, but as a reckoning.
Anella
For an artist who admits he hadn’t paused long enough to ask himself that very question, the mixtape arrives as something deeper than a collection of songs. It’s a checkpoint. A moment of clarity carved out of constant movement. “So, yeah, I’m in Def Jam’s office in New York right now,” he says, mid-whirlwind. “We’re about to drop a project called Ask Me How I’ve Been this Friday… shaking hands, kissing babies, signing babies, whatever people say. We’re not kissing babies—that was wild.”
Even in the middle of that chaos, Anella doesn’t separate creativity from promotion. “I think I’m always in a creative headspace… I’m an open book.”
No Rules, Just Instinct
From the beginning, Anella’s approach to music wasn’t shaped by industry expectations—because he didn’t know they existed.
“When I started making music I didn’t know there were rules,” he explains. “I thought music was about not having any boundaries… not having any distinctions.” That instinctive freedom now feels perfectly in tune with how audiences consume music today. “With streaming now… everything’s in one spot. I think it’s more about the message or the feeling of the music nowadays rather than the sound.”
Built in Real Rooms
Before label offices and release campaigns, there were small venues and long nights. Anella’s foundation wasn’t built online—it was earned in person. “I started doing live venues… I was getting paid like 150 for three hours,” he recalls. “And then I started developing a crowd—and that’s really where I found my love for music.”
That connection still sits at the heart of everything he does. “It feels a lot more spiritual when I’m face to face with people.”
Even now, as audiences grow, the intention hasn’t changed. “I write all my music as if I’m talking to a mirror… I’m not trying to speak to 20,000 people at once.”
When Passion Becomes Pressure
As his career expands, so too does the pressure behind it. What once felt effortless now carries weight. “I made my art my way of living… there’s that voice in my head now that’s like, oh, this has to be good—someone has to like this.”
Instead of resisting that shift, Anella has embraced it, using it to shape Ask Me How I’ve Been into his most intentional project yet. “This is the first project that I picked out all the music and brought it to them and said, ‘this is what I want to put out.’”
Anella
Writing Through Conflict
Much of the mixtape wrestles with internal struggles—often disguised as relationships. “I write music about struggle… a lot of the problems I have, I personify when I write music.”
On Can’t Have Both, that tension becomes explicit: “You can either go out and have the fun and that comes with the problems… but you can’t have both.”
Elsewhere, Gone Girl captures the spiral of trying to understand someone else’s decisions, only to turn that lens inward. “I’m going to try to do the same thing you did… and then realising, oh yeah, this is hectic. I don’t need to do this.”
Honesty at All Costs
Anella’s defining trait is his unfiltered honesty—something he recognises cuts both ways. “My biggest perk… and also the biggest downfall… is how honest I am.”
But when it comes to music, that honesty is non-negotiable. “I’d never have a problem being honest when it comes to making music because that’s where I feel it the most.”
Finding His Identity
Compared to earlier releases, Ask Me How I’ve Been feels more cohesive—less like fragments, more like a full picture. “They were all pieces of me… but if you’re not me, it’s hard to connect.”
Now, that clarity has arrived. “This project is me… it’s a lot easier to listen to and be like, ‘oh, this is who this guy is.’”
It’s not just artistic growth—it’s personal. “I’ve definitely grown as a man… I’m comfortable with not being comfortable.”
Letting Go to Move Forward
Growth hasn’t come without sacrifice. Anella speaks candidly about the need to leave things behind. “As much as I enjoy this, there are downsides to it… I have to let go of these activities… even some friends and relationships.”
At the same time, he’s no longer chasing approval. “I’m not scared to put out what I like… people are going to label it whatever the hell they want.”
Why Ask Me How I’ve Been Matters
The project’s title isn’t just a phrase—it’s a realisation. “I really sat down and decided to ask myself like, ‘yo, are you okay?’”
It’s a sentiment that stretches beyond the music itself. “I think we all forget to enjoy where we are because we’re so focused on where we want to be… check on people… tell somebody you care, even if it’s yourself.”
A Beginning, Not a Peak
Despite the clarity of this release, Anella is sitting on a vast archive of unreleased material—hundreds of songs waiting for their moment. “I have like five to 600 unreleased songs on my phone… that I would put out right now.”
They’re not held back by fear, but by timing. “If I were to put it out now, it wouldn’t be appreciated for what it is… I have to build that trust first.”
That patience speaks to a bigger vision. Ask Me How I’ve Been may feel like a defining moment, but it’s framed as the start of something much larger—more structured, more intentional, and quietly expansive in its evolution.
Looking ahead, collaboration is firmly on his mind. “My number one dream collaboration is Adele… and we would call it Adella.”
But more than that, it’s about building something collective. “How can I build a community if I don’t have a community of my own?”
Anella
As the conversation winds down, there’s a sense that everything is just beginning to click into place. The chaos, the honesty, the pressure, the growth—they all feed into an artist who finally stopped long enough to ask himself the question. And now that he has the answer, he’s ready to keep moving forward.
Interview with Anella by Henry Finnegan, March 2026. Instagram: @finneganfoto | Facebook: @finneganfoto
mgk Sells Out The O2 For The First Time With A Chaotic, Genre-Hopping Spectacle
Share Thing