Following up her 2022 album Heart on My Sleeve, Ella Mai dropped her surprise three-track project 3 as a gift to fans in celebration of her 30th birthday in November 2024. 3 serves as a new chapter for the singer-songwriter where she celebrates the intricacies of love. “My sophomore album was still a love album, and so was my debut album, but I think it was just kind of taking you through the tribulations of a relationship, the ups and the downs, where this one, I feel like I kind of just want to celebrate love,” she tells Apple Music. The project opens with the flirtatious finger-snapping anthem “Hearts on Deck,” where Mai playfully asserts her power by letting her partner know how irreplaceable she is. On “One of These,” which samples CeeLo Green’s 2004 hit “I’ll Be Around,” she gushes over her lover and how he meets all of her desires. The final track, “Little Things,” showcases Mai’s appreciation and devotion to her partner through small, meaningful gestures. “I feel like R&B, especially right now, is very toxic, and that works; I love it too, because we all have that side to us,” she said. “But I remember growing up and really appreciating the music that really was solely about love and the fact that it does exist and that you can find it.”