[Music] better shake your booties for black girl NES better shake your booties for black girl neres hello hello how are you good how are you I'm doing well I'm happy to talk to you I am so pleased and honored to speak with you thank you for taking time out of your busy busy schedule to come on our platform to us it's absolutely my pleasure thank you for having me thank you Mayhem it it marks a very bold reinvention of your early sound how did you approach blending in Nostalgia with Innovation for this album you know
I think what I tried to do was push myself uh musically from like a Sonic perspective and some of the the choices that were made with instrumentation of the music but I tried to embrace the dark arts of my early songwriting and there's like sort of a way that I approached Melody writing and intervals and uh the kind of poetry that I was doing so I think instead of trying to kind of completely reinvent myself I thought a lot about like what is what does it mean to to feel proud of who you are and
o own that piece of yourself um I feel like as a woman I feel like sometimes pressured to constantly outdo myself or to constantly reinvent and change and I on this record I tried not to put that pressure on myself but rather just to say this is who I am I love that I love that it feels like this album is going to be very cathartic not only for you but for for fans for us to to be able to connect with your music music thank you thank you you you've described the creative process as
reassembling a shattered mirror what were some of the most personal and cathartic moments for making Mayhem I think what was the most cathartic was uh when songwriting would flow really easily and the music felt like an earlier time in my soul and like it coming out made me go like oh that's still there like this is still a part of who I am and I think for a long time I felt uh criticized sometimes by the industry as a woman in music I was often the only woman in the room for for most of my
career um and a lot of people I think tried to say that I was Ma you know made that like I was I was made I was made to become what I became um but in working on this album it was cathartic in saying no like the I'm the creator of me and these were my inventions and this was this was my gift and this was my vision um and it belongs to me and it took me it took me nearly 20 years to gain that confidence oh wow wow it's such an beautiful journey to
see the trajectory of your career and you're so multi-talented obviously in the music space and the in the movie space and we've seen the singles so far being released Abracadabra disease die with a smile and it's really set the tone for the album's themes that chaos and transformation what do you hope listeners will take away from the full 14 track Journey that we'll get in Mayhem I hope that listeners will have a good time I hope they will smile I hope they will laugh if they need to cry there's some there's some tracks in there
to cry too um and I hope that they know that through all the Mayhem of life and and our personal Mayhem that we carry every day that there can be a happy ending and that the chaos can end too that there there can be like an exhale and that's why the record ends with die with a smile because I I found love in my life and I found a partner in my chaos and that's real and I got to I got to say that too and I think I used to feel like the Romanticism of
like being a tortured artist was I don't know the way to be and I've actually found that in my in my health and in my relationships with my family and my friends and sticking to my values that um I put my Artistry first and I put being a human being first and that that that that is what will carry the quality of my work forward and the the quality of my life as well um so I just I would just say I've changed a lot but the Mayhem is still it's still alive I just have
to I just like I keep it in the music now and I keep it on the stage you mentioned that this uh album will make us cry I got very emotional during the Super Bowl performance that you recently delivered for us and you know that tribute was a surprise for audiences how did you prepare for such an emotional and high-profile event you know I rehearse a lot I rehearse a lot I practice a lot I really do believe in like having discipline with your Craft um and also uh one of my best friends since I
was four years old lives in New Orleans and she was there during the terrorist attack and I spoke to her shortly after it happened and she was you know sharing with me what her experience was like as a mother living in New Orleans during that time and then a couple weeks later the fires happened in California and then she was calling me to comforting me we were comforting each other and I would I'd say the best way that I prepared for that performance is just like through my friendship and um bringing that with me that
like we have to we have to like you know basically hold each other's hands through these times um and it's I got to tell you it's a real privilege to get asked to sing during during a time like that because it just um I I couldn't believe that I got the call actually and I just really wanted to show up and it was a real honor it it was so beautiful and I mean I F felt like a sense of healing listening to your performance thank you in that moment um you're also set to headline
Coachella in April so can fans expect a Mayhem themed spectacle I'm definitely bringing Mayhem to the desert um I'm I'm like I I've told everyone this I it's probably like at nauseum repeating that I like lose sleep over over Coachella um I just want it to be great and um I'm just like putting as much work into it as I can um I'm just so excited to see the fans and you know you get a time slot and you get a couple hours make people smile and I'm just going to I'm just going to give
it my all if you had to pick one song from Mayhem that best represents where you are in your life right now which one would it be you know I think it might be shadow of a man that record um is about feeling like I was in the shadow of men my whole career but that I learned how to dance in their Shadow so the lyric is um I'll dance in the shadow of a man and if you could describe Mayhem in three words what would they be I've you know I've answered this before but
I think it's the same answer I say um dark hard poetry I absolutely love it I I really look forward to this I know it comes out on March the 7th and this is just absolutely stunning to be able to talk to you thank you you're so nice thank you I loved talking to you thank you I love talking to you thanks for taking the time to speak to black girl nerds I appreciate the conversation love you bye love you [Music] back shake your Bo for n better shake your booties for black girl nerves
