 What's up y'all it's your girl Brianna Imani and you're back with another talk of the town interview and who do we have in the building today? Abby Jasmine. We know my girl Abby Jasmine in the building. My twin honestly. We're twinning today. Do you see the material like from the bucket hat to the black to the black. We hear with it. How you feeling? I feel good. It's a good day to have a good day. It definitely is a good day to have a good day. It's nice outside. We chilling. We vibing. So we're going to start this off with a game. You're going to finish my sentences, but I'm going to start them for you. So example if I were to say my name is Abby. Right. All right. Perfect. Just wanted to make sure we was here. Okay, okay, okay. All right. You ready? Yeah. Okay. My goal to brunch order is eggs and a bagel and grits and a mimosa. Wow. You want to know what I thought you was going to say? What do you think I was going to say? Chicken and waffles. No. No. So like... No. Very cliche answer. I know. Yeah. All right. So your brunch order is like a breakfast order. Yeah. With a mimosa. With a mimosa. Okay. My friends would say that I am crazy, annoying, loud, talkative. Sounds like a good term. Yeah. This chapter of my life is called... Growth. Love that. If you want to keep me happy, don't. Don't come around me. Wait. If you want to keep me happy, don't come around me. Yeah. Don't come around me when I'm just in my funk. Okay. Like just leave me alone. Yeah. Okay. I understand that. All right. The most underrated song on my playlist is... The most underrated song... Oh, Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake. That's right. You think Sexy Back is underrated? Now it is. I never go to a party and get to play Sexy Back. Oh, girl. You don't be going to a party. I'm not allowed. I went to some spot a few days ago called Friends and Lovers in Brooklyn. Okay. They definitely had that. They played it. They played it. They had that on their rotation. That's my type of party. I think you got to go to, like, I guess the right spot. Yeah. But okay. So Sexy Back. I don't know. You got another one that you could give me. Underrated. Let me see. Underrated. I don't know. Underrated. Underrated. All right. What's the underrated song of yours that... Oh, an underrated song of mine, I would have to say FML by me. Okay. Okay. If you want to impress me... If you want to impress me, you got to be yourself. I don't like that fake shit. Period. Okay. An artist I could listen to all day is... Oh, Frank Ocean. I love Frank Ocean. Love Frank Ocean. Love him. Okay. If I could only eat one meal for the rest of my life, it would be... A bagel. I love bagels. Really? Yeah. A bagel. I love bagels. Freshly baked out the oven. Abby, that is not what I was expecting for you to say. I love bagels. I could eat, like, a sausage, egg, and cheese anytime. Bacon, egg, and cheese. But it has to be on a bagel. Okay. Plain bagel. Plain egg bagel, sesame bagel, everything bagel. It's the flavor. You ever had a French toast bagel? I have had a French toast bagel, though. Those are blessing. I love me an everything bagel. I like plain bagels. And French toast bagels are cool. That's not only sweet. They're interesting. And raisin. But it's a cinnamon raisin bagel. I don't like raisins. I'd be picking the raisins out of my shit. I like a good cinnamon raisin bagel. Okay. My favorite song I wrote is... That's a good question. Probably M.I.A. Oh, I like that song. I like that song. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And my biggest turnoff is... My biggest turnoff is being stink. Like, if you just stink, your body odor stink. Okay. Stink. Your breath stink. Your head stink. Yeah. Like, attitude. Okay. And that's what I was about to say. I wasn't sure if you was, like, stink. Okay. Okay. And that's what I was about to say. I wasn't sure if you was, like, stink or stank. No, stank. But both. Honestly, both. Yeah. But you stink. Okay. If you stink, don't come around me. I can't do business with you if... I can't do business with you if... If you... I can't do business with you if you just do too much talking and not enough action. Like, I need to see the fruits of your labor. You know what I'm saying? People will say all day, this is what I do. This is what I do. But you never see it. Where is it? Yeah. Right. You got to see what people are working with. I got to see it to believe it. Right. Okay. And now the last one, growing pains is going to be... Amazing. Amazing. We can't wait for it. Growing pains coming out on the 22nd. Yes. Very, very, very excited. We're definitely going to get into that. Okay. Before we do, I really just... I was looking forward to this conversation because I feel like in a lot of ways outside of just what we're wearing right now, I can relate to a lot of the things that you talk about, a lot of things you sing about. I love that. And even in seeing your personality, you always seem to have a good vibe. So I'm very, very happy to have you here. First also, I want to say happy Mother's Day to Marley's mommy. Thank you. I am a dog mom myself, so I know how we could get about our dogs. My child. How was your Mother's Day? I mean, Marley aside, but also for your mom. I had a good Mother's Day. I spent it with my mom, but she got her gifts and then she just went to sleep. Okay. So then I just took a nap. I definitely took a good nap on Mother's Day. I had a good Mother's Day also. That's nice. All right. So now... Do you watch College Hill? The new one? No, I haven't, but I've been seeing clips. Little snippets? Okay. So there was something that happened recently with Jocelyn in New York. I saw it. When New York said her dog had passed away and Jocelyn thought that... And she was crying. Yeah. And Jocelyn was like, a dog is never that serious. I don't get how people get like that. A dog is that serious. A dog is definitely that serious. Do you feel like being a dog mom has helped you in terms like learn anything about yourself or just like... I definitely, no offense to people with kids, but I definitely see the parallels of like nurturing something. Absolutely. You know, like obviously a dog isn't the same as having a kid because the kid, like you have to have it for like 18 years and then even after that you got to take care of the kid. But dogs, I feel like are way... Like I just learned how to nurture more and I feel like one day it'll prepare me for like actually taking care of like a human. I completely agree. Yeah. I'm here with you. I definitely agree. Shout out to Romeo. Shout out to Marley. So talk to me about growing up because I know that both of your parents were musically inclined and they were involved in the music industry. So talk to me about that and how the way that they raised you with music led into you being where you are now. Yeah. I definitely think growing up I treated music more so like a chore or something that like I had to do because like my parents were like so musically inclined. My dad was like the music director at my church and like people would see me growing up. I would sing at church, things like that. And I felt like that was like kind of expected. But I was saying this the other day, like I kind of used music growing up as like a bargaining chip. Like whenever my parents would get tight at me, I'd be like, I'm not doing this anymore, you know. But as I grew up, like I just felt like it was something that came the most natural to me. So I definitely think that them like raising me like that helped. Okay. So now you were singing in the church choir. I was singing in the church choir. I was in the church band. I played piano in the church band. He was heavy on it. He was definitely letting him use you all the way. Okay. Glory. Love that for you. So what was the reaction? I mean, your music isn't too like, it's not too intense or too crazy when it comes to like sexual stuff, but it is considered to be like secular music. Yeah, it is. So what was the reception of the music that you were making by your parents? So my mom still does not listen to my music. Really? Yeah. I make like a clean song or two so that she can listen to it. My dad loves my music. Like he listen to it all the time. I mean, he was in your song. Yeah. So I definitely got that. Okay. So she's not on board yet. No, no, no, no. Not yet. But like she, that's just how she is, you know. Like I'll get her one day, but yeah. And you know what? I think the, a good thing about the music that you make is it's so versatile. So I mean, I feel like there's just been something for every move that I'm in. Like, I feel like even when it comes to the sound, I feel like there's so many different artists that I feel like, wow, like this one might give me Kailani Boz. This one gives me Cash Pays Bobs. Um, and so I think that eventually there'll be something that, you know, everybody's an ace for her. And she's like, okay, this is the one. And now she likes a couple of them, but she's not going to it's not in rotation yet. Not yet. Okay. So talk to me about when you first realized though that this was something that you were going to do because you said that it was something that you felt like was a chore. So where did it go from being a chore to being something that you actually were like dedicated and wanted to do? Um, I think it happened around maybe I had just turned 18 and I moved out my house and I didn't really have any sense of direction. I was going to actually join like the Air Force. So, yeah, I can't picture me doing that at all. It was just something like, like my mom was just like, either you go to the Air Force or that's it. And I was, I was like, well, I'm not going to the Air Force. Right. So you figured it out. So yeah. So I'm going to get out of here. Um, I have recorded a couple songs and it wasn't something that like, I was just having fun doing it, you know, and then I dropped a song and the reception on it was, was good. So I just, I was like, okay, maybe I should, you know, try it out, see what happens. And then, you know, the journey has just been crazy. I'm, I'm, this is not me. I'm going to make an assumption, but I'm not saying that this is what was responsible for it. But you already had traction. You already had attention. Yes. You were very big on Vine. Um, so a lot of people like were already clicking with your personality. They liked your vibe. So you put in our music was like, you already had a base. Yeah. And then you gave them something more to look forward to like, Hey, not just someone trick pony. I got more things that I could do. But even when you were making your vines, you were like rapping and stuff like that. So people kind of had an idea. People are always asking me to like do music and stuff like that. And I was like, girls, shut up. Like I'm not a rapper. I don't do none of that stuff. And now I'm like, really? Yeah. I used to always tell people like, I'll never do that. Like that's so surprising to me because I, because I really felt like in watching it, like in watching your old vines, I'm like, it's so obvious that you would be doing what you're doing now. Yeah. It just wasn't something like I couldn't tell you what I wanted to do. Like even growing up, like I used to want to be like, I just want to do random shit, like be like a psychologist or shit like that. Like I just, I don't know. It was just something that never crossed my mind. I guess even, even when I was doing the vine stuff, like I never really thought about like how I could monetize this or I just like making videos. Like I just like making people laugh, like that type of thing, you know, and it worked out. It did. It worked out really well. So at what point did you start trusting your process? I would say, I would say after, I would say around 2019, when I was working on my last project, Who Cares, I was just really locked in. And I just, that's when I kind of figured out like how I wanted to do things, like how I wanted to present myself, how I wanted my music to sound, how I wanted to look, you know. So it was definitely during that time just being locked in the studio with my producers and just really creating something from the ground up and making it all feel like super cohesive. This was like, that was something I was like, all right, like, okay, pen game getting a little better, you know, like, yeah. Yes. Because when I was listening to Trap Mom, Trap Mom is good. Trap Mom is good. Don't do that. I love the humbleness, but like Trap Mom is good. I feel like it's fun, it's vibe-y. Yeah. Even still on there, there's different, like, different moves that you can get from the songs, but the difference between Trap Mom to me and like Who Cares is like, with Trap Mom, it's like, okay, I can rap and I sound good, so that's what I'm doing. Yeah. But Who Cares is like, no, I put everything into this, like you're gonna feel what I have to say and I'm also, I got bored. Yeah. Like, it all came together very, very well. Yeah. So I definitely see the growth in that. Thank you. Now, you came from Staten Island. Staten Island. Right? Yep. How did you feel, like, did you feel like you got support from your city? Was there support to give, like, what is life like in Staten Island? Oh, okay. Well, that's like a, that's not a question. Okay, yeah. Okay, so life in Staten Island, I always felt like it was, now, like after I left Staten Island and like moved out and like branched out. Mm-hmm. I kind of looked at it as a bubble. Like, it's really like its own little thing. It's like a snow globe in a sense, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Just like, they do their own thing. They got their own. But it's, the culture, I feel like, is still similar to, like, out here, Brooklyn. Not too much. Mm-hmm. But, like, we got the same slang. Like, we talk like how y'all speak. Like, we, it's kind of the same in that sense. But only thing is we got to take the ferry. I was telling Cleo when she came here. Like, I literally don't know anybody that's from Staten Island. Now, I guess I know you too. Yeah, no. But at the time, I was like, what is even in Staten Island to do? Yeah. And she told me about myself. She was like, don't sleep with Staten Island. You know, we got stuff going on. Yeah, Staten Island got some talent. You know what I'm saying? Like, we out here, I just feel like, and I will say this, they support who comes from there. Like, I do get a lot of support from people I went to high school with, just people overall on Staten Island that know about me. I do get a lot of support from them. Okay. I'm not going to downplay that. But, yeah, you got to come to Staten Island. You got to take the ferry? Yes, I have taken the ferry. But, like, it was only once. And I had like a, it was like my school did some kind of like community service day type of thing. Yeah, I went to Staten Island. Yes, this was around Hurricane Sandy. Okay, yeah, they got it. So, yeah, so we went over there and we were like canvassing the neighborhoods and all that kind of stuff. But I never really experienced, like, a day-to-day life in Staten Island to know what it really is. Let's go to Staten Island. I don't know where I would take you. All right, we're going to have a day in Staten Island where Abby Jackson will stay tuned. Okay. So, did you know Clio growing up? Yeah, not growing up, but like we knew of each other. But, like, we, I didn't really like start linking with Clio until maybe, like, 2017, 2018. Okay. But, like, we, it's small. So, like, we all Facebook, like, we was all friends on Facebook, that type of thing. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. So. Because y'all kind of have a, I'm not going to say like a, well, I will say like a similar, like, online personality, but also making music on the back end. Yeah. I saw y'all linked up and rolling around. Yeah. I was like, okay, I love seeing the girls together. She's sweet. Yeah, it's definitely like seeing the girls together. And you have a lot of, like, female cosines. A lot of the ladies really fuck with you. I also saw you with Tia Corrine. Yeah, that's my girl. Love her. Yeah, y'all have, like, similar vibes, in my opinion. Yeah. Never met her yet, but y'all have similar vibes. How do you feel about the ladies in the upcoming music space right now? I think everybody's doing their thing. I try, I try to, like, be super tapped in, but sometimes I just get caught up in my own little world, but I really love what Myla Dawn is doing right now. Mm-hmm, yeah. Brooke. Mm-hmm. Who else? Tia, obviously. Do you listen to, from an R&B standpoint, like Journey Montana? Of course, of course. Love her. Shout out to Journey. Yes, yes, yes. We love her too. I was just talking to her yesterday. That's my girl. We have a song together. Yes, I really, really love Journey. She just had a video shoot yesterday. It was yesterday. I was supposed to go, but my car was in the shop. Isn't that the worst? I feel like, every time I feel like life is actually, like, doing what it needs to do, I have a car issue. Bullshit, yeah. It's always a car issue. Okay, so, how do you feel about the way that your music has been received thus far? I genuinely enjoy looking at the reception. Like, I love looking. I like reading any type of review. Even the reviews that people are like, well, you could have did better on this one. You know, it's not my favorite. Like, cool. But I think the reception so far has been, like, overall very positive. And that just motivates me to keep going, because, like, even when somebody says, like, oh, this isn't, this isn't, you know, that also motivates me to keep going, because, like, all right, now I got to, you're wrong. And I think that that's something that's so important, being receptive to, like, what you hear. Sometimes people just be talking out their ass. Absolutely. Talking just because they know how. But a lot of times, what people say is very constructive. Yeah. Do you read comments? It depends. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don't. Like, if something of mine goes, like, viral, like, I've been viral on TikTok a couple of times, and I did the, on the radar, I did not look through those comments, because those kids on TikTok are mean as hell. But when I did look at, I did look at some of them, and a lot of them were nice. Yeah, that's what I was about to say. I was like, that's crazy. But some of them were really mean. But, like, I just take that one hater, because, like, I don't have a lot of haters in my day-to-day life, you know what I'm saying? Like, people don't come up to me like, yo, I hate you, you suck, you know? So, like, I just take that one person, and I'm like, all right, I'm gonna let you fuel me for a little bit, you know, go to the studio. And you know what? When you really look at who's the people behind the pages, they got, like, one follower following 5,000. Absolutely. They're so, like, irrelevant that it's just, like, they want to go against the grain and say the opposite of what other people are saying. It has nothing to do with you. So, what are your thoughts on just, like, the R&B space today, you know? Like, it's an ongoing conversation about whether or not R&B is dead. So, as an R&B artist, how do you feel about that conversation? Well, I'll say this. One time, right before I dropped two cares, like, I was talking with, at the time, I was signed to Cinematic, and I was talking to them, and I was like, listen, I want to be, like, an R&B artist. Like, I don't really want to rap, for real. Like, I could sing, like, I'd rather sing, you know? And somebody told me, they were like, listen, R&B is dead, it's never coming back. And I was like, for real? But at the time, like, nobody was really, like, coming up in that space, and then that year, LMA had booed up, and it had gone, like, number one or something like that. So I was like, okay. So what was that? Yeah, I'm not going to listen to what nobody has to say. I'm just going to do me, you know? But I feel like the R&B space is constantly changing, and even, you could even hear, like, R&B will never die because the elements of R&B are always around, you know? Like, you can even hear rappers, like, doing, like, melodies and stuff like that. Rappers got R&B songs, too. Right. You know? So I don't think R&B could ever die. I can't kill something that has so much, you know, shit. I don't have the word you're looking for, but I will piggyback off of what you're saying by saying. I think it's so insane for R&B as a whole genre to be dead when you have so many subgenres within it. That's what I was, yeah. And so I'm like, I don't have the word, but, like, I get exactly what you're saying because, like, another conversation that's had, that's being had right now is about drill, that's arguing, is drill dead. And I feel like not to say that I think it is, but that's more of an understandable conversation to have because it's just a subgenre of rap. Of rap. You want to say rap is dead because you can have a different, a subgenre disappear, I don't know where, where people are rapping, like we've never heard before. Right. But I think that with R&B, we don't have much of, like, the 90s, like that old-school type of R&B, there's no guy groups, there's, like, very little, like, girl groups. Shout out to Flow, love them. I was going to say Flow, flow, flow, flow, yeah. Definitely love them, but there aren't really as many as there were before. So I can see a certain era of R&B being dead but not the whole day. I can see that too, yeah. So who are, like, some artists that you like to work with? You don't have a lot of, like, features. I don't because, because most of the time, like, I'll do the song and then the song will be completely done. Like, I don't really leave opens. I just go in the studio and I'll just finish the whole song. Do it then, yeah. And then by the time I'm, like, do y'all hear something on this, it's time for the song to come out. So, yeah. I don't know. I really want to work with, I really want to work with Bea. I love Bea. Yeah. I love Bea. I love Victoria Monet. Oh, no, okay. That's my girl. She just dropped a pop. She just dropped a pop. But it's a call. It's a call. Party favors. Something. She dropped it. She just dropped it. And with the visual too. Really? Yes. After we get off, I'm going to tell you. Yeah, I'm going to tell you. Like, it really, really is. I love her. Yeah, she's involved. Yeah. Okay, so Victoria Monet, Bea. Who else? I really, really, really want to get in the studio with Caitranata. I love Caitranata. Yes, I love Caitranata too. Okay, that's a good one. I wasn't expecting you to say that. I like that. That's that versatility. Anybody else? Any guy? I was going to say any guys. Let me think. Probably. Okay. Future is always, he's always been on my bucket list. I love Future. Okay. That's my toxic king. But I also say Lucky Day too. I love Lucky Day. I love, I just love all their music. It's just so good. Yeah, it is. I love it. It really is. So, you know, you touch briefly on your experience with cinematic and I know that growing pains is literally going to be your first independent album. So, so, so excited for you. So, how important to you is your independence in the music industry? I'd say it's pretty important because I just feel like being independent, you kind of have the space to do whatever you want. It's a blessing and a curse because like I said, you can do whatever you want. And sometimes what you want to do is not necessarily beneficial. But I like having the freedom to like move how I want to. I've been definitely meeting a lot of a lot more people. I'd say like when I was with the label, I didn't really reach out to people that much because, you know, you have somebody that's kind of the liaison. Right. Do the speaking for you in the sense, you know. But now I've just been meeting so many people. I've been going to writing camps. I've been just meeting all these new creatives that I probably would have never met if I was still signed because I was in that little bubble. Right. And just really like kind of complacent a little bit, you know. And that's the worst place you can be is complacent because there's no really room for growth. It's just like, all right, I'm here. Cool. This is never going to change. I get whatever I want, you know, but now actually having to work for it, it makes all the fruits of your labor kind of like 10 times better. Yeah. I mean, I have been having this conversation basically all week, meaning like last week into this one, because I know we just started, but about how I have been very complacent in a lot of different areas. And I was saying the exact same thing. It limits your growth a lot. And sometimes you don't realize how much the complacency may settle in because you may just feel like you're comfortable and you're happy with what you're doing. But a lot of the times it's like, no, you're not giving your, you're starving yourself of the opportunity to do more. Yes. So definitely happy for you that you were able to identify that and move beyond it. You also talked about just now doing the writer camp. So I know you were a part of Abby's writer camp. Shout out to Abby. We love her. Love her. And then you said that from there stem like a collective of women that you all started like writing together and working together. Yes. How's that going? Okay. So that camp, I didn't even really know what to expect from that camp. She just asked me to like come in and like talk to the girls. So I'm like, all right, whatever. Cool. So I had walked in the first day and there was this girl, her name is Janelle, Janelle Mack. And she was sitting in the corner and she was like, girl, I've been waiting to meet you like literally for so long. And I was like, really? Like me? Like, okay. She's like, yeah, girl, I got songs that I've written for you all that. Like I knew the universe would like put us in each other's past. And since then like me and her like we were like this, like we write together. That's so nice. She's written on my new album. I've met this other girl, Davey, that she introduced me to Jay, who's the producer who did most of the production and the mixing and mastering for my album. Okay. So that writer's camp actually stemmed like a lot. I've been able to do my own writer's camps. We just did one maybe like two, three weeks ago in Jersey. Oh, that's dope. That was, it was interesting. Not interesting. No, but interesting. You know what somebody says, interesting is because that's like a PC word. No, it was interesting in a good way. Okay. I learned a lot just about how like other artists, writer's camps are done. I realized that most artists do not show up to their writer's camps. So they were kind of surprised to see me there. And they were kind of surprised to like get my feedback in real time. Like I had to go into one of the rooms, like they wrote a song for me and I had to go in and be like, Oh, he wasn't feeling it. Yeah, like, I mean, but that's what they need to hear. That's what they're here for. And that's another thing too. Like I don't like to waste people's time. That's my biggest thing. Like if we're going to be in the studio and we're going to work on something of mine, like I want us all to be on the same page collectively. I want us to also learn from each other, like see what everybody can bring, you know. So that was definitely an experience. I would definitely do it again. Maybe on a smaller scale. Okay. It was so many rooms. There was like three rooms and I had to... There was a lot to bounce into. Yeah, I feel that. I was overwhelmed, but... But you did it. Yeah, it was cool. For the people. That's actually really dope. It was fun. Because I don't really see a lot of artists doing stuff, like like giving aspiring artists like opportunities to work with them and like kind of like build their craft. So that's really nice that you... That's unfortunate because people miss out on a lot of good talent by just not being open to work with people, you know. Like I was like that for like a long time. It's like, all right, I got my producers. I know how to write cool. I don't need to work with anybody else, but you really do. Like especially if you want to get farther in your craft, like you have to have new sounds and new energies around you, you know. So now when you talk about like someone writing on your project or collaborating on a project, what goes into that? What does that process look like when it comes to writing collaboratively? Okay, so usually what I'll do is we'll pick out a beat and then I'll go in and I'll do some like melody references. If anybody else has some melody ideas, like they'll go in and do them. And then we kind of just piece everything together and then we'll sit and write to the melody. And then that's pretty much it. Usually it involves some sort of like group note Google doc and we're all just typing away. It probably looks like to everybody else, it'll look like bullshit. But y'all know and that's all that matters. We get it. So how do you feel about the conversations that it had when it comes to like ghost writing and people talking about like people who write their music versus people who don't? What is your standpoint on that for one? And two, how do you feel about people that have stuff to say about that? One, most of the people who have things to say about ghost writers and things like that aren't really in the music industry nine times out of ten. I don't, a lot of the opinions I see like on Twitter and things like that, like y'all don't even know half of this stuff. Like your favorite artist has a ghost writer. Literally, that was what I was going to say. So I don't, I think everybody needs a job. You know what I'm saying? Like there's a job for everybody. So if the singer just wants to sing, let the singer sing and then let the writers write. You know, like me personally, I like to be involved in what I say. But I don't care if somebody has a ghost writer. Yeah. That doesn't, that doesn't. I mean, the only time that it really like, for me, I feel like a singer singing and a writer writing is what establishes like a performer from an artist, I would say. I think as long as you have some kind of involvement in what is being written and it's true to your sound, your voice and like, what you would say, then if somebody can articulate it in a way that you may have not been able to or make it sound a different way, I don't really think that there's anything wrong with that. I feel like there's a very negative stigma that comes behind ghost writing. But as you said, some of your favorite artists literally have ghost writers too. I just watched. You seen the Whitney Houston movie? Not yet. Well, not the newest one? Yeah. No, not yet, not yet. It's on Netflix, first of all. You gotta watch it. I will. But the whole, like there was a whole premise of the movie where the guy that she was signed to, I forget his name, he was like, do you write? And she was like, no, I just sing. And he would just play her records and like, if she felt it, if she felt like she wanted to sing it, then she would sing it. And like, that's cool. Like I said, literally a legend. Right. And she didn't really, you know, write, but like that doesn't take away from everything that, like her legacy or anything that she's done, you know. I completely agree. Okay. Very well said. So we touched on it real quick and then kind of got off track. That's my fault. Sorry. I'm a gem in that. So like, I will talk to you in circles. Everywhere. Yeah. But let's talk about this new project that is coming out. Once again, May 22nd. Yes. Make sure that y'all tune in. What are the vibes? What can we expect from your newest project? I'd say you can expect similar to my last projects. Like I don't like to just stay on one genre sound. Like I like to bounce around a little bit so you can definitely, I feel like there's something there for everybody, you know, like, yeah, great writing. I had a lot of help this time. So usually like when I write and do things like by myself, like I'm the only person that'll kind of critique it, you know, but now I had people that were really just trying to help me get the best project possible, you know. So you can just expect a lot of good music. Okay. Well, as expected, that's no surprise. Now talk about your cover art because your cover art gave me very much like Alicia Cara here. Don't know if that was the intention. No. But that's like what it gave me. Now, when you put out like the documentary style trailer stuff, that didn't give me that same vibe. But I want to know like what is the significance of the picture with you sitting down holding that cake? I think, okay. So I knew that I wanted to do something that symbolized growth and I felt like one of the biggest things that everybody can relate to or that symbolizes growth in my opinion is your birthday. Like you're another year older, another year wiser. So I definitely wanted to use like the birthday theme, like a sad birthday though, because like, you know, there's always like that melancholy kind of feeling. Absolutely. Like my birthday is next month and I'm like, ah, shit. My birthday was last month and I was like, ah, shit. I'm older. Like what am I doing? But yeah, that was the biggest thing. It was just something that symbolized growth to me. And yeah. And I also like, I kind of had the idea of it coming out around this time too, so around my birthday. So like that was like a little bit. Okay. Wait, so when's your birthday? June 2nd. Okay, so that is pretty close to your birthday. Okay. So we are going to, okay. First, any features that we can look forward to that you willing to spell or any like tea on the project? Okay. So I have some videos coming. I've been, you know, we've been working on that. I have a feature from Fergie baby. Have you heard of Fergie baby? Oh, of course. Yeah. We love Fergie. Absolutely. Okay. So Fergie on a project. Shout out to Fergie. I got Alex Molly. She's really dope. She's from, I think she's from Brooklyn, but she's, she's really dope. You should tap in if you haven't. Okay. She's R&B. Yeah. She's like very funny. Yeah. I have, I have some other features too, but those are like the two that I'm like very excited about. Okay. Okay. So now we're going to get into more of like the side. Okay. You know, this month is very important month. It's mental health awareness month. Is it? Yes. Okay. I wasn't aware. Yes. It definitely is. Yes. So we are in mental health awareness month. And I know that you have been very open about things that you've overcome, such as like overthinking. Yes. And just anxiety. Right. Once again, things that I can definitely relate to. How are you? Let's start there. How are you feeling? I'm alive. And that is the most important thing. I think just getting up and showing up for yourself is one of the things that is just the most important. I've been a little anxious, but it's just because like the project is coming out. I feel like it's a lot of pressure on me, but overall I'm doing, I'm doing good. I'm, I'm feeling good. That's good to hear. That's very good to hear. Like I said, that anxiety and overthinking are both things that like I struggled and still do struggle with now. And I think it's good that you said that, you know, your anxiety is something right now that you know it's kind of natural. You have an upcoming project. Yes. And I think it's always important to separate like your anxiety from just being anxious because sometimes like being anxious is a natural feeling. Yes. You know, like we have something very big coming up. So it's natural for you to feel anxious. But I'm happy that you are in a good space. I'm in a great space. That is so good to hear. How would you say, or what would you say helped you get to where you are now? Especially like, you know, you're around a lot of different energies. Yeah. You are like touching hands with a lot of different people, having conversations with a lot of different people. How have you not only maintained but improved your mental health throughout that process? I would say a lot of it is just kind of just going out there and doing it. You know, like I was, I was home a lot of times, you know, just by myself. And even when it came to like Vine and making music, like I wasn't really like the outgoing type like that. Now I kind of have to force myself to like go up to people and be like, hey, like my name's Abby, you know, like that. And even when I meet a lot of people and I'm around a lot of different energies, I always give myself time to decompress. So whether I'm at a party, I'm at an event, I'm at the studio, I always try to take time to just be alone, whether that's like going to the bathroom and just like, you know, like you just have to take a second to breathe most of the time. And so something I was thinking about the other day was Summer Walker. Yeah. Because she is very open about like her social anxiety. Yeah. But people often get on her about like how she is on social media versus like how she is on stage. Right. Some people feel like she knows what she's like at this point it's like you're a celebrity, you have these shows for a reason. You should be putting on other people feel like, well, y'all chose to make her famous and you knew exactly what you were getting. I agree with that. I do as well. So I was going to ask you what's your perspective on that is and like do you think it's realistic for people to expect people who are struggling with things mentally to like automatically break through them just because they've become famous? No, I don't. I think that, yeah, I think like you said like a lot of times like people are choosing these people to become famous and a lot of times it's nowadays it's like kind of overnight, right? Yeah. Like you could wake up one day like just in your crib and the next thing you know like I spiced you're at the Met Gala. Literally in a year. Those things don't, it doesn't, I don't know. I just don't think that those things and those feelings go away overnight. You know like after a while I'm sure it gets easier and easier and easier but you know. And I'm sure there's like a level of like I guess like adaptation I'll say for lack of a better word is where it's like you have to get used to like to what you said like it happens sometimes it can really happen overnight so it's like just because I'm famous now it doesn't mean that I'm not still dealing with things like you know I've been dealing with. Also, but I lost my train of thought because you pulled out the Gatorade and I thought about no no no it's not even about that you can drink whatever you want but I thought about something that I saw you talking about with the electrolyte. Oh you like that? I love that. I love that because. Hold on let me give them the backstory before you go into it. Give them the backstory. So this is my listen. Free game right here. This is free game. If y'all want to take this idea take it run run across the world with it alright. Boom. Be fast because I might do it first. You out here. You getting drunk. So backstory. I was at a party and there was Cosmigos involved and there was no chaser. So I'm like ah shit no chaser Cosmigos I'm gonna wake up with a hangover but I did have Gatorade. So boom we need and I'll tell you this I mixed the Cosmigos with the Gatorade you could say it's nasty you could say it's disgusting I don't care but I woke up the next day I woke up the next morning and I did not have a hangover so we need an alcoholic beverage that hydrates you but gets you lit at the same time I call it electrolyte the name is a work in progress you could change it but the idea is there the foundation is there. That was like a mini infomercial right there like you sold it honestly like I'm somebody that I could drink I could take two shots in the next morning I'm like I could definitely tell that like I drink last night so I was like wow not only is that a great idea I hate that you're just giving it up like that I don't have the time because it's such a great idea so how do you balance like getting lit you smoke I dabble now okay now you dabble okay wow yeah so you dabble how do you maintain like your I don't know what to call it like liquor weed all of that while you're in these social settings where it plays such a big part right um so as of late I haven't really been smoking or drinking like that just because I've been so busy and like been a grommel you have to have time to do those things you know I'm saying like I don't have time to like physically like y'all see when I came in here like that was this is about to be the first time I smoke all day like in like two days so I just try to I try to balance it out you know like if I feel myself getting too lit I'm just gonna leave but when I'm out and about like I'll have like one drink one blunt that type of thing I don't need to be too lit like I'm getting old so heavy yeah my body is yeah my body does not process those things the way that it used to and I could just go out and drink a whole bottle of Hennessy I can't even touch Hennessy no you have posted something with your friends and I was like this is my first shot this is my last shot first shot first shot Patron last shot Henny I was like what is happening right now like it's no way it's no way that I would even be able to think about doing that so yeah so I will I will say sometimes if I go out though like I'll have like a shot of tequila and then like towards the end of the night I might end it off with some Hennessy just because I'm feeling a little just for a little razzle dance a little little sprinkle little sprinkle of Hennessy that is so crazy to me a little sprinkle Hennessy that hasn't caught up with me yet though but I know it will don't say that not gonna wait it will though so in terms of like your social life in general do you feel like you have like do you have a lot of friends that you like grew up with do you have a lot of like industry friends how would you say like your friends are made up most of my friends are my team so like my manager like we're literally best friends that's my son yeah what's up gang what's up yeah like everybody I work with is kind of like they're all family so like we hang out a lot like we go out we have drinks we do dinner yeah that type of thing like I like I like creating family environments you know like I like in more intimate yeah I like things to feel like natural you know I do have like industry friends and stuff like that but I feel like I'm like the going out friend though like you know how you have friends that like okay you got some friends that you like text when you feel some type of way you have some like I'm like a going out friend most of the time like but with my friend group like I I'm just I'm more pregnant I wouldn't even like you don't strike me as the going out friend if anything you would be like the versatile friend because I can't lie okay I'll take that I'll take that yeah because I definitely have like a couple of like going out friends but most of like my friends friends are like the going out friends come out with my family friends yeah we could just stay in a crib chill yeah I'd say that cuz you get me a like a chill because I do like to be in a house too yeah like let's just chill smoke one watch TV or like let's go out let's go to dinner right I'm like a go out to dinner friend too though okay see your verses how I like to eat um so now let's talk about your fashion sense okay you have a very unique fashion sense okay love it okay I feel like you change your hair like you change your underwear I feel like every time like I always see you in a different hair color um how would you describe your style if you had to describe it I would say my style is just overall I like to be comfortable like I just like to be super cozy so I just wear anything so whether that's like jeans like what I got on now like I just like to be comfortable mm-hmm so I would just describe it as cozy fly cozy fly okay like that um do you have a favorite brand shout out to tear by the way black owned business I love to hear um my favorite brand right now though I really like suey I love their jeans they're the they're probably the only brand that I get jeans from just because I feel like their jeans are just you could just wear them like okay all the time okay um so now what would you say is like something that people don't know about you or something that people would be surprised to hear about you um I don't know if this is something that like people know I'm a very private person like I when I was like on Vine and Twitter like like when I started I was very like out in the open like I tweet all my feelings that type of thing and the older I get the more I realize I don't like people in my business yeah I felt that um which is kind of like a blessing and a curse for the career occupation that I chose because people want to know you people want to know like what you're doing what you're about and I'm just the older I get the more I just like to keep things that I love close to me and not really want it maybe that's selfish but I just don't like sharing sharing certain things with the world like a very private person and a lot of times I mean I'm saying this as an overthinker I think a lot of times when the more information you give people the more opportunity you give them to speculate and have comments and like a lot of times depending on like how impressionable you are you can think that something is really really great you share it and people like have that shit to say about it and now it's like now I'm second back saying like when it was something that really like made me happy so I can definitely understand that but one thing you're not private about is you're man you're man you're man you're man you're man um cause a lot of the time I feel like hi there man from social media especially like if they have like a name if they they have like a lot of traffic like going to their pages but you're very open about your relationship yeah y'all look so cute thank you um how has that been like having like being in a relationship while like maintaining your career oh I mean like we're that's like my best friend okay saying okay like everything I tell him everything like even shit that I'm sure he probably don't even want to hear like I really I'm very open with him and I think that also doesn't I think that also like translates so why I don't feel the need to tell social media everything cause a lot of these bitches do not have friends you know what I'm saying so they go and tell the gram all their business and like I'll just tell my man you know I'll just tell my friends you know so um he's great though like we're about to make five years next year we've been together for a very long time this is my longest relationship ever so wow yeah that's that's fire yeah that's real fire but he also produces for me so like okay yeah so like he produced half my album he produced all of who cares like he oh wow so you see so there are situations where you can mix business and pleasure and it works very well absolutely I love that as long as y'all have an understanding of like this is what it is you can absolutely mix business with pleasure and that's also like I think it's good that he works or like he's in the industry because I don't know if you watch rap shit have you ever seen rap shit no but um one of them like as she was like going up her boyfriend was like coming to the events with her but you could tell that he was just like getting real bitter like real standoffish and eventually like he had his little hissy fit and like went off but he wasn't ready to adapt to that lifestyle so having somebody who's already in the lifestyle who can understand I'm sure it goes a very long way he definitely understands something else I wanted to talk to you about was um your activism because you use your platform for a lot of good um I know during the pandemic you were like raising money for bail like for people to get like bailed yeah and then you did like the polling spring with the water project for the water crisis in Africa which is so so so dope once again like I was saying before I don't really feel like a lot of people use their platforms for like good so shout out to you for that um what else do you see yourself doing if anything for it doesn't even only have to be the community but for just people in general like how would you like to use your platform um I definitely am very passionate about um people being in or getting people out of jail that serve um nonviolent sentences especially for marijuana related um crimes that's something I just did um maybe like a couple months ago we were I did a collab with Edie Parker who does um they have a foundation where they you know they pay off bails and they raise money to pay off bails for people incarcerated for weed I don't think anybody should be in jail for weed so people sell especially when they let people get off scot-free for doing a lot more they're smoking a little dope but that's a different context so I definitely um I'm going to be using my platform to raise more awareness to that and also like sometimes I'm not gonna lie to you sometimes I just be giving money away like if someone is like I'm not gonna lie no during the pandemic I used to get on Twitter I was like yo who need an 8th and then I would just send people like $30 $40 here and there I'd be for a president yeah that was back then um no no 8ths anymore but um some weed collabs coming out so I will be giving out 8ths okay so yeah that's dope now are you doing this like are you hosting any events are you like or is this just gonna like we gotta wait around and see when it comes about oh so I think we're doing an event the first I think we're doing one in DC and then I should have some available at my release party which is next Friday okay we should have some DC you want to turn alright so now what else can we expect coming from you we got this dope ass project that's coming out what other things do you want to get into anything outside of music yes I want to start acting this year okay I feel like that's my next step like I want to do some sort of film I like to um I like to write scripts like I write scripts and stuff like that I wanna do like a short film we definitely gotta connect cause that's like what I do for work I develop scripts that's so dope what kind of stuff would you want to what kind of stuff would you see yourself in is it like comedy you would definitely give me like comedy I don't know if I could be like a serious actor like Denzel oh no yeah no that's very sad you took it to the extreme don't know about that you might be able to like switch it up I have to kind of take myself out of being me to do serious acting I could always be like my goofy self anytime cast me to be the funny friend I'll do that I think it's just me getting over myself just to do anything though you have to kind of get over yourself a little bit okay well we will definitely be looking forward to that anything like that like web shows like a web series I play on twitch a lot I play games on twitch I like to play video games you have an expanded network I think that's really really dope what kind of games do you play I play all different types of shit I play sims I love sims love mods I love a good mod and I don't know what you was about to say but I once I discovered they had the wicked whims that's exactly what I was about to say wicked whims was the first mod that I ever had loaded I was like ooh y'all not supposed to be doing this what I was watching yeah check it out sims got me through the quarantine honestly yeah me too I opened up a store club and sims yes living very much vicariously through all of my sims shout out to sims anything else anything else that we can look forward to or anything that we didn't get to touch on that you want to talk about I don't think so I feel like you covered every base like this is the most in depth interview I think I've had in a long time oh period I know that's right and it's crazy because I feel like we still have massive talk about but there's always something to talk about and there's always time to come back so at post project post project we're going to have a catch up see how everything is going how the project is received we're definitely going to be in tune though growing pain may 22nd let me show y'all check that out yeah any last words before we wrap this up girl um stream growing pains may 22nd that's it yeah stream going pain follow me abby jasmine everywhere period well thank you for coming it's been such a good conversation with you very very fun looking forward to hearing an album thank y'all as always for tuning in we will see y'all on the next interview