She’s famed for pop hits Came Here For Love and Just Got Paid, but now Ella Eyre is also using her voice to speak up about perceptions on race.
The 26-year-old star, who is half-Jamaican, half-Maltese, has been in an inter-racial relationship, which she prefers to keep private, for almost four years and feels that there needs to be more positive representations of relationships like hers.
“I don’t feel like there is enough inter-racial dating that’s presented in a positive light. I also don’t think there are that many inter-racial couples in the public eye who get given the same limelight as others. I think we still have a long way to go where that’s concerned,” Ella says.
“I’m mixed race, so technically I’ve always been inter-racially dating, so I’m less aware because that to me is the norm and that’s the way it should be.
“I think people just assume that I’m single because I’m so private about my relationship. We’ve been living together for two years now and I’m just boringly happy with him!”
Check out: what to watch to educate yourself about racism
What to watch to educate yourself about racism - slider
1 of 23Dear White People
A Netflix series following several Black college students at a largely white Ivy League school – based on the film of the same name (which can be rented on Amazon Prime).
2 of 23Fruitvale Station
Michael B Jordan stars in this biographical film about the events leading to the death of Oscar Grant, who was killed in 2009 by a BART police officer, Johannes Mehserle. Available to watch on Netflix.
3 of 23Malcolm X
A biographical film of activist Malcolm X, directed and co-written by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington. Available to rent on Amazon.
4 of 23Hidden Figures
The true story of three African-American women working at NASA as mathematicians, starring Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Johnson. Available to rent on Amazon Prime.
5 of 23Dark Girls
A documentary about the prejudices and cultural bias dark-skinned women face around the world. Available to rent on Amazon.
6 of 23Get Out
A horror film written and directed by Jordan Peele starring Daniel Kaluuya as a man who uncovers a disturbing secret when he meets the family of his white girlfriend. Available to rent on Amazon.
7 of 23Just Mercy
The true story of lawyer, Bryan Stevenson, battling to overturn the wrongful murder conviction of Walter McMillian. Available to rent on Amazon.
8 of 23Selma
This Ava DuVernay-directed film is based around Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo) and his followers' historic march from Selma to Montgomery. Available to rent on Amazon Prime.
9 of 23Mudbound
Two Mississippi families – one Black, one white – confront the brutal realities of prejudice, farming and friendship in this Netflix series.
10 of 23The Color Purple
Based on the Pulitzer-winning book by Alice Walker, the film follows Celie, a black woman growing up in the early 1900s. Available to rent on Amazon.
11 of 23The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
Many of the interviews that have been shared on social media this week feature in this film – a documentary about the Black Power movement through the eyes of Swedish journalists and filmmakers who'd travelled to report on it. You can buy the film on DVD.
12 of 23The Hate U Give
This movie, based on the book of the same name by Angie Thomas, tells the story of Starr Carter, who witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend by police. Available to buy on Amazon.
13 of 23I Am Not Your Negro
Told in the words of James Baldwin, through personal appearances and the text of his final unfinished book, I Am Not Your Negro touches on the lives and assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr and Medgar Evans to discuss how the image and reality of Black people in America today is fabricated and enforced. Available on Amazon.
14 of 23King In The Wilderness
An HBO documentary chronicling the final 18 months of Martin Luther King Jr's life. Available to stream on Amazon.
15 of 23American Son
Kerry Washington stars in this film about an estranged interracial couple awaiting news on their missing teenage son in a Florida police station. Available on Netflix.
16 of 23When They See Us
A series created, co-written and directed by Ava DuVernay about the events of a 1989 rape case, and the Central Park 5, who were wrongly imprisoned for a violent rape and assault. The series is available on Netflix.
17 of 2313th
This documentary by Ava DuVernay includes scholars, activists and politicians, analysing the criminalisation of African-Americans and the US prison boom. Available on Netflix.
18 of 23See You Yesterday
This sci-fi film sees two teen prodigies trying to master time travel, as a tragic police shooting sends them on a series of dangerous trips to the past. Available on Netflix.
19 of 23If Beale Street Could Talk
Barry Jenkins wrote and directed this film, based on James Baldwin's 1974 novel about a Harlem couple torn apart by a wrongful arrest. Available to watch on Amazon Prime.
20 of 23Belle
Amma Asante's film is inspired by the 1779 painting of Dido Elizabeth Belle – the illegitimate mixed-race child of Sir John Lindsay – alongside her cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray, which hangs in Kenwood House, London. The fictional story centres on Dido's relationships within her family and wider society, amidst the reactions to the Zong massacre, where slaves were thrown overboard from a slave ship and the owner filed for the losses with his insurance company. You can hire Belle on Amazon Prime.
21 of 23Reggie Yates: Life and Death in Chicago
Many of Reggie Yates' ongoing documentaries and Extreme series for BBC Three are important watches. This documentary, which saw him travel to Chicago to examine gun crime in 2016, is available on iPlayer now.
22 of 23This Is England
The Shane Meadows film that spawned the Channel 4 series shows the development of skinhead culture in the 1980s in the UK and how it became hijacked by racist voices. The film is available on Amazon Prime.
23 of 23Shame In The Game: Racism In Football
This BBC Three documentary, still available on iPlayer, examines the devastating impact of football racism in the UK, as incidents soar and players at every level of the game call for drastic action.
This week sees the start of Black History Month in the UK – but Ella believes that we shouldn’t stop there by marking it with just one month on the calendar.
She says, “Black History Month is the kind of conversation that all generations should be aware of and we need it to understand and represent black history appropriately. I don’t actually think it should just be restricted to one month – it should be taught in schools as part of the curriculum. It needs to be a conversation that’s happening across the board.”
Ella attended the UK’s Black Lives Matter anti-racism marches. The protests took place globally in June following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which she found inspiring.
She says, “I think it was really important for me to go and be surrounded by that powerful energy. But it was really frustrating at the time to read what was being written [negatively] about the demos and then to be there and have a completely different experience – I thought it was really positive and encouraging and inspiring. What was even more inspiring was how many young people were there.
“It’s important to carry this forward and make sure that this is a really important part of the lessons we teach younger generations. Across the board, I think everyone is having to take a great big look at what’s going on. Racism in the music industry exists as much as it exists in lots of industries.
“I just think it’s really important that we keep putting the right message out there and make sure that everybody is taking a look at what they’re doing.”
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Ella has admitted to suffering with anxiety in the past and uses “meditation, talking and exercise” to help. She and her boyfriend also have a new French Bulldog puppy, Iggy, who is currently keeping them busy with toilet training.
She says, “I got a puppy a few weeks ago, so I’m trying to get out of the house as much as possible to avoid him having wee and poo accidents in my house!”
Dating app, Badoo launches Season Two of its brutally honest content series; The Truth Flirts with pop sensation, Ella Eyre. Watch the first episode now on Badoo UK’s YouTube page.
October is Black History Month.
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