Mario dropped in on Nick Cannon Mornings to talk about new music, mental health, using his voice as a platform, the current state of social media and collective of community, and more.

Mario spoke about his new project, ‘Close’, and revealed that he wanted to drop an EP. The R&B singer told Nick, “So the single is out right now, I was planning on dropping a whole EP this summer, actually last month, I just been on pause, I’ve put everything on pause. Because I’ve in a completely different space, I’ve always been an advocate for Human Rights, an advocate for spiritual balance, advocate for mental health.” He continued, “Coming from Baltimore, coming from where I come from, and what I experienced, now for me it was like, what can I do, to really focus on what’s happening to us my platform, my voice in another way. And I didn’t feel like putting music of right now, it just didn’t feel right.”

Mario then talks about the importance of music and how this is the first time he’s felt that he can put out music that means something and not meant for radio or mainstream. He says, “How do I use my power and have it be something that is an ongoing thing. It’s in perpetuity, not just right now.” He then talks about his upcoming song, ‘Rewrite It’.

“It speaks about rewriting our narrative, controlling our narrative. One of the things that inspired the title and lyrics was, looking at the state of social media, the state of the collectives in our community, a lot of times when we get triggered to do something, we step up. We’re usually triggered by the things we see, it’s like a wound that’s been there, but we just had a band-aid over it, and then somebody threw some alcohol or salt in it and now it’s exposed and we’re going to fix the problem”

The Baltimore native also talked about being vigilant in music, the responsibility of celebrities, being desensitized to social media, becoming more critical thinkers, and more.

Check out the full interview below: