Is Maya Jama the voice of her generation?

Maya Jama is the hottest name in podcasting and Stormzy’s girlfriend. She tells Samuel Fishwick about equal pay, raves and life in a London power couple 

"I feel like no one’s an expert on relationships,” says Maya Jama. “I’d be silly to say do this and don’t do that because I ain’t got a clue about relationships myself. You just gotta go through it.”

Jama, 23, is asked for dating advice a lot, as the Instagram generation’s fun, young agony aunt. “I don’t feel like the average 23-year-old,” she says. “Inside I feel at least 45, sometimes.”

Even if the country has had enough of experts, it can’t get enough of Jama. There’s her podcast, When Life Gives You Melons, which returns for a second series this week to cover every “ladies’ issue” from “foot fetishes to first loves”. There’s her slot hosting Radio 1’s Greatest Hits on Saturdays, there are the Tube billboards plastered with her face for her new fashion collection with PrettyLittleThing.

Then there’s her own long-term relationship with Stormzy, the doyen of UK grime, with whom she’s flown off to Ibiza this week to support his inaugural Merky festival. They’re the Energy Crew’s power couple.

Jama has spent the past few months batting away questions about whether they’re still together, but there’s no trouble in paradise, she says.

On the latest episode of Melons season two, which dropped yesterday, she reveals she wants to marry him

(it would be his real name, Michael Omari, on the registrar’s list). “I was always like: ‘No, I don’t think it’s for me’,” she says. “I had an image of me being like some bachelorette rich auntie with loads of kids in some mansion, just maybe with like 10 toyboys, when I’m old. But since this relationship I’m like, well I do want to get married and I do want to have kids.”

So what has she learned about relationships? “Obviously, you’ve got to have trust,” she says, leaning back in a swivel chair in a Kensington studio, kitted out in a red denim two-piece. “I feel like it’s just about friendships, really. In my experience, the best relationships are the ones where you’ve got an actual friendship, and genuinely like each other, and want to spend time with each other. Regardless of the sexual side or cuddly side, it’s actually about liking each other as a person.”

Of course, there are many types of modern relationship. “Tinder’s the sexy one, where people want to hook up quickly,” she says. “But then I’ve met people who have got married from Tinder. Of course you’re going to have to swipe through a few dick pics on an app like that. But you might find the love.”

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Men can learn a lot from her podcast, though, she says. “If you are trying to get to know the average woman, or the everyday girl, or work out how a woman’s brain works — listen.”

She spends a lot of time bouncing ideas for the podcast off the lads in her life. “My boyfriend and my brother are just normalised by it because I’m like, ‘periods, blah blah’ a lot. They’re fine. But I’ve got guy friends who are like, ‘yuck’ — and hide, or run away.”

She forces the conversation anyway. “It’s something to be spoken about. Every woman has one. Well, most women — sorry. It’s normal. It shouldn’t be shunned.”

Social media is a subtle instrument for forcing that conversation. “People speak up more about stuff that bothers them. There’s a lot more openness nowadays, I think. That’s probably why there’s more conflict, because people are more honest and open about things.”

Jama has a love-hate relationship with social media. “It’s beneficial but it’s also a pain in the arse. I wish it didn’t exist, but I need it for my work. Life was easier when social media wasn’t around.”

It’s certainly a Catch-22. On the one hand, Jama’s social reach is a money- spinner: it’s how she landed her PrettyLittleThing fashion line. “The owner did a poll on Instagram: ‘Who would you like us to work with?’ He didn’t even know about me. But I was the most requested. I’m the people’s choice.” But it’s also landed her in hot water — earlier this year tweets from 2012 resurfaced in which she made offensive comments about skin colour.

She apologised profusely (she was 16 when she wrote them, although didn’t use that as an excuse). But even Love Island now makes her reflect on the nature of the modern goldfish bowl.

“Love Island’s changed a bit. They don’t show as much. Last year it was a more wild. As an 18-year-old it’s scary going on telly and being watched,” she says. “We’re all human. Everybody makes mistakes. We all do silly things. When it’s being documented the whole time, you’ve got to be careful. Everyone’s going to f*** up at some point. But when the whole world’s watching it’s more of a f*** up than if you’re just down the road and your mates know that you pissed yourself or something. It’s very different to the whole nation watching it and tweeting about it and attacking you. It’s scary, but it’s how TV is.”

She’s has her own horror stories. “I covered the last World Cup for Hyundai, which was amazing. But it was right when the ‘f*** her right in the pussy’ thing was happening.” It was a misogynistic YouTube meme in 2014. “We’d be trying to record links and someone would run past shouting ‘f*** her right in the pussy’. I’d just be like: ‘P*** off’. Shouting in their faces.”

12 of Maya Jama's best looks

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Her new radio shows (she’s also co-hosting with Scott Mills and Chris Stark on Fridays) mean more work. “It just means I can’t go raving on Thursdays and Fridays. But I’ll weekday rave instead. It’s less busy, there aren’t as many queues.” For real?

“I actually don’t rave, I’m chatting s***. I go to my friends’ houses and drink. That’s my rave. Or they’ll come to my house and we’ll have games nights until 4am. Articulate’s the fave. Some people play Monopoly but I can’t get into it — it’s a bit too serious for me.”

Why so serious? “I’m the most awkward person talking about money. If I lend someone money I won’t mention it.”

Equal pay is a hot discussion topic on the new season of her podcast, and her guests share their advice on how to approach discriminatory wages at work. “I was saying earlier, I didn’t even know about the issue until it came out in the press about the gender pay gaps in media and entertainment,” she says. “I didn’t know it was still a thing. Ignorantly, I thought it was gone. I’ve never had to ask for a pay rise. I’ve had a manager who talks about money for me.”

Indeed, the national football team seems the only threat to her current roll. On Tuesday, Stormzy stopped his set in Ibiza to watch England beat Colombia on penalties.

But Jama? “I support Sweden. I’m half-Swedish. I don’t know the chants, so I was singing happy birthday in Swedish when we played Germany.” It should make for an interesting Saturday.

When Life Gives You Melons can be downloaded via freyalingerie.com/melons

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