Mario released his latest album, Glad You Came, back in December, marking his first full-length project under his New Citizen Label and Epic Records. The creative control over his music, he tells The Source, comes with a bit of healthy pressure.
“It inspires me to challenge myself to be both selfish and selfless with my art,” he says. “The most important thing to me is whether we can listen to this album 10 years from now and still feel like it’s timeless. And whether it shows growth. To me, it does both.”
Glad You Came sees Mario singing about love, success and failure, but one of the most personal tracks to him is “I’m Sorry.” “I’ve ended so many relationships hoping I didn’t say the wrong things—or regretting that I didn’t say ‘I love you’ to someone I lost,” Mario explains. “That track takes me through so many emotions every time I hear it.”
Mario’s currently on the road with Mary J. Blige and Ne-Yo on Mary’s For My Fans tour, which he prepared for with some prayer, meditation, pacing himself and simply visualizing his future. Now that he’s brought Glad You Came to the stage, he says he can’t wait for fans to see him on tour solo.
“It feels amazing to perform a single like ‘Keep Going (Aaaaahhhhh)’ because the sound reflects a more mature version of me that fans haven’t seen before,” Mario says. “Glad You Came is an album that’s meant to be experienced live, so I’m really excited for people to see that even more when I hit the road for my solo tour.”
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