Meaning of “Boo’d Up” by Ella Mai

“Boo’d Up” is a song by English singer and songwriter Ella Mai. The lyrics of the song see the singer (Ella) talking in a remarkably excited way about her significant other whom she is head over heel in love with.

So what really is the meaning of the phrase “boo’d up”?

Contrary to popular belief, the phrase wasn’t created by Ella Mai. The “boo’d up” is a slang term that has a number of meanings. One of the most notable meanings of this phrase is to be in a romantic relationship with another person. For example: John boo’d up with Mary.

The phrase can also mean the process of taking your romantic relationship with your lover to the next level —i.e., making the relationship more serious.

That said, in the song, Ella is basically saying there’s nothing in this world she loves doing more than being “boo’d up” with her lover.

“Boo’d Up” was originally written by an American singer and songwriter named Joelle James in 2014. Speaking with New York City-based music magazine The Fader, James said she wrote the song in a period of just 15 minutes.

According to James, the song came about when she met a boy whom she really loved but didn’t have the courage to tell him how she truly felt. James told the above-mentioned music magazine that the only way she could express how she felt for the boy was through “music and a song”.

At the time James wrote this song wrote, she had a recording contract with Chris Brown’s label CBE, which is an imprint of Interscope. Having being dropped by the label after they unsuccessfully tried to launch her career, James moved to rapper Jay-Z’s Roc Nation where she met DJ Mustard, who made some modifications to the song.

Facts about “Boo’d Up”

• Despite being originally written by Joelle James, singer Ella Mai and music producer and DJ Mustard later modified it to become the song’s co-writers.
• In addition to co-writing the song, DJ Mustard also produced it.
• The track was released for the first time on February 24th, 2017. However, it only became a hit in 2018 (more than a year after it was first released). The track can be found on Ella’s third EP titled Ready.
• The music video for “Boo’d Up” features American singer Khalid.
• The song hit the number 8 position on the US Billboard Hot 100. Owing to this, the track became the first song of Ella’s entire career to chart in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. It later went n to peak at number 6 on  that same chart.