They say time is a healer, and after rapper Stormzy and Love Island host Maya Jama were seen looking joyously happy and loved-up out and about on holiday in southern Greece, we’re convinced it must be true.
Stormzy and Maya split back in 2019 after four years together, but last week the co-ordinated couple, both wearing white, were spotted walking hand-in-hand around Hydra island with eyes only for each other.
He was reportedly encouraged to win her back by the other significant lady in his life, his mum Abigail Owuo, and it seems Stormzy, 30, has been giving Maya, 29, the relationship equivalent of the red-carpet treatment. He is said to have flown her out in a private helicopter and organised a secluded villa with private chef and spectacular views overlooking the sparkling Aegean Sea.
The pair haven’t officially confirmed they are back together, but you only have to look at the photographs to strongly suspect they’ve rekindled something special.
After meeting in 2014 – Maya later admitted she “fancied him from the start” – they became a power couple of British culture, with Stormzy regularly professing his love for her in his music, and Maya standing firmly by his side as he navigated his way from unsigned grime artist on the streets of Croydon to the most successful British rapper of all time.
“We were so young when we met, just beginning our careers,” Maya told a newspaper earlier this year. “I was starting at MTV. He’d not even released a single at that point. We were just little babies.”
To many, they were the poster couple for young love and hope; they connected spiritually and emotionally, both growing up in immigrant families and grafting for what they wanted from life.
“I don’t think either of us knew it was going to be such a big thing,” Maya said later. “We were just, ‘We’re young and in love and we’re going to go for it and work really hard. We’re just together.’ We never really did red carpets. We didn’t do any of that stuff.”
Despite their youth and growing fame, they seemed unflappable during their four-year relationship. They moved in together in South West London and became dog mum and dad to Rottweiler puppy Enzo. And then, at just 24, Stormzy said he was ready to pop the question.
“I’m still so young but I want to propose,” he said. “It’s going to happen and I will do it right. She is so sick, she is the best.”
However, everything was not as rosy as it appeared, and they announced their shock split in 2019. Rumours emerged that the rapper’s head had been turned by Brit Award winner Jorja Smith, who shared his manager.
Stormzy has always categorically denied cheating but does admit to disrespecting Maya and their relationship. Last year the Croydon-born star opened up to the BBC’s Louis Theroux, accepting responsibility for his “mistakes“.
“I didn’t do what a man should do to fully appreciate, love and care for his woman,” he said. “I learnt from that and OK, if I don’t ever want to feel like that again, and I feel like God will bless me with an amazing woman and a family and marriage and all of that, I have to do all of the necessary work to never be in that situation again.”
While Stormzy has avoided any new serious relationships, preferring to “just wait for God” than embrace the dating scene, the last four years have looked somewhat different for Maya. In a move that all but dashed any hope of her reuniting with her rapper ex, she got engaged to American basketball player Ben Simmons in 2021, but called it off nine months later, reportedly due to their hectic lifestyles, prompting a fresh flurry of excitement for fans of the pair.
Stormzy, who’s known for pouring his heart and soul into his lyrics, has made no secret of his desire to win Maya back.
You only have to listen to a snippet of his hit song Lessons to see it. With lyrics like, “You gave me the world and then I gave you disrespect, hand on my heart, this is my biggest of regrets”, and, “Until you’re ready to forgive I’m always wishing you the best”, it’s clear he’s been waiting.
“I’ve never loved anyone how I’ve loved her,” he admitted a few years after they split. “I would love to be the man who she needs, I would love to do all the things that make this work. I want to marry her, I want to have her children.”
Time away from each other seems to have done the couple the world of good, and now it appears that over the summer they have rekindled their romance. Clearly the years apart have given them both a chance to reflect and work out what they really want from a life partner.
Speaking to Vogue for her cover interview this summer, Maya said her needs were simple.
“Actual love,” she confessed. “That’s all I ever want. Just real love. I want a best friend that I’m in love with. And I have had that before.” While she didn’t directly name him, now that we’ve seen how happy they look back by each other’s sides, the identity of the “best friend” seems obvious.
Stormzy has also addressed his personal growth and journey of self-reflection, sharing what he hopes his future has in store for him.
“I do want a family of my own, and I want to get married and I want to settle,” he told Louis Theroux last year. “My idea of an amazing future is having my home and kids running around it and my missus being there. And we’re going to eat dinner at the dinner table.”
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