TRACK REVIEW: Megan Thee Stallion - Body

TRACK REVIEW:

Megan Thee Stallion

PHOTO CREDIT: Colin Dodgson for W Magazine

Body

9.6/10

The track, Body, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PBYGu4Az8s

The album, Good News, is available via:

https://open.spotify.com/album/7lQouCmPggSsg1972D3TiE?si=vvdjqWrOQ9ijnXW2xZxGAw

RELEASE DATE:

20th November, 2020

GENRES:

Hip-Hop/Rap

ORIGIN:

Texas, U.S.A.

LABELS:

1500 Certified/300

PRODUCERS:

Avedon/Buddah Bless/Cool & Dre/D.A Got That Dope/Helluva/IllaDaProducer/J. White Did It/Juicy J/Tay Keith/Benjamin Lasnier/Lil Ju/Mustard/Pooyandeh/J. R. Rotem/Scott Storch/Cody Tarpley

TRACKLISTING:

Shots Fired

Circles

Cry Baby (ft. DaBaby)

Do It on the Tip (ft. City Girls and Hot Girl Meg)

Sugar Baby

Movie (ft. Lil Durk)

Freaky Girls (ft. SZA)

Body

What's New

Work That

Intercourse (ft. Popcaan and Mustard)

Go Crazy (ft. Big Sean and 2 Chainz)

Don't Rock Me to Sleep

Outside

Savage Remix (ft. Beyoncé)

Girls in the Hood

Don't Stop (ft. Young Thug)

__________

THIS year has seen some truly fantastic…

PHOTO CREDIT: Campbell Addy for Rolling Stone

albums arrive that have left a big impression straight away! Among those is Megan Thee Stallion’s album, Good News, which has just arrived and is getting some fabulous reviews! It is a stunning album from one of the finest talents in music right now. I want to get down to reviewing a track from the album but, before then, there are a few things that I need to cover off. It was only in March that Megan Thee Stallion released the stunning E.P., Suga - but there was controversy and disruption regarding the release. This article from Vanity Fair explains more:

“By the end of 2019, Megan had firmly established herself as an unmissable technician and lyricist who volleys crisp, hard-edged syllables. Her social media ecosystem was a seemingly inexhaustible well of motivation and intrigue for fans, who continue to follow her parallel pursuits as a college student taking two online classes this semester. The year 2020 looked like it would bring more of the same for the Houston rapper. In a profile from last week, she told Rolling Stone that she hoped to release Suga on her late mother’s birthday, May 2.

The plan appeared to take a sharp turn on Sunday, though, when Megan went on Instagram Live to say that a contract dispute with 1501, whose CEO is the former MLB player Carl Crawford, would prevent her from releasing any new music. #FreeTheeStallion trended on Twitter. On Monday, Megan sued 1501 and Crawford; the suit is ongoing, and Crawford has denied Megan’s allegation that he and his label were trying to block her music, in interviews with Billboard and Variety. But on Wednesday, Megan announced that not only would she be releasing Suga after all, but that it was coming out on Friday. (Later in the day, Complex reported that 1501 was still trying to block the release, before the judge denied Crawford’s emergency motion to dissolve the restraining order.)

PHOTO CREDIT: Adrienne Raquel for GQ

On Wednesday evening, Megan said that she couldn’t weigh in on an ongoing legal matter and would let her lawyers handle the dispute: “I’m just happy I can put my music out.” (On Thursday she wrote on Instagram, “I am NO ONES PROPERTY.”) Only one of the songs from Suga has been made available so far, and she said she was focused on how the rest of it could portray new emotional aspects of her work after a year when she became so closely associated with her stardom”.

I didn’t mean to open this review with quite tense and unhappy subjects but, this year, Megan Thee Stallion has gone through quite a lot of trial and tribulation. It has not been an easy path to her album and, as we have seen in the news recently, Megan Thee Stallion has said that she was shot in the foot back in July by Tony Lanez at a pool party. There was a big reaction on social media when she revealed the incident and there were a lot who felt she fabricated it – there was quite a lot of negative backlash and unkind comments. It was a hugely unsettling incident that is still reverberating. I want to bring in a feature/interview with GQ where the shooting incident was described:

“It isn't so much the incident itself that's upsetting her, though to listen to her explain what happened that night in July is tough. In her honeyed alto voice, she delicately tells me how she left a pool party in the Hollywood Hills and jumped into an SUV with the rapper Tory Lanez and two others. She didn't even put clothes on over her bathing suit. The night was over; she was just going home.

Megan often tells herself, “Always trust your first mind”—her way of saying, “Listen to your gut.” That night, her first mind told her to get out of the car and find another way home. She tried exiting the vehicle to call for a different ride. But her phone died, it was late, she was in a bikini, and everyone was telling her to just get back in, so she did, even though there was an argument brewing. Megan doesn't want to get into the specifics of the dispute—who started it, what it was about—but ultimately it doesn't matter. As has been reported, when she tried to get out of the car again and walk away, according to Megan, Lanez started shooting at her feet, wounding her. She tells me the rest with disbelief still in her voice. “Like, I never put my hands on nobody,” she says. “I barely even said anything to the man who shot me when I was walking away. We were literally like five minutes away from the house.”

After he shot, she says, Lanez begged her not to say anything. She says he offered Megan and her friend money to stay quiet. “[At this point] I'm really scared,” Megan says, “because this is like right in the middle of all the protesting. Police are just killing everybody for no reason, and I'm thinking, ‘I can't believe you even think I want to take some money. Like, you just shot me.’ ” (A lawyer for Lanez denied that the rapper offered Megan and her friend money.).

Megan confirmed that she had been shot. People accused her of lying. Eventually, in August, she went on Instagram to name Lanez as her assailant. He denied it, creating a controversy that spawned insults, jokes, and memes made at Megan's expense. Stories were leaked to the press, including screenshots of Lanez's text apology. Members of Lanez's team fabricated emails to undermine Megan's account. Somehow, before the Los Angeles County district attorney had even weighed in, the case had been tried on social media—and improbably Megan had become, to some people, more of a villain than a victim. To her, the comments of critics seemed louder than ones from her supporters”.

I want to head away from that incident, as there is a lot to cover when talking about Megan Thee Stallion. Her family and upbringing was hugely important when it came to the rapper making a way into music and knowing that is what she wanted to do. Although Megan Thee Stallion lost her mother fairly recently – trying not to make things tragic again! -, it is clear that she was instrumental in the ambitions of her daughter. In this interview with The Guardian, we learn more about Megan Thee Stallion’s mother and her role:

“Women have been central to her rise. Megan’s mother, Holly Thomas, who died last year from brain cancer, was a debt collector who doubled as a rapper known as Holly-Wood, and was Megan’s first manager. As a child, Megan tagged along to studio sessions, listening to her mother spit through the walls. “It was normal,” she tells me. “It was: OK. Ladies are rappers. This is what my mom is doing.” She quietly decided she would follow in her footsteps, but was short on the confidence she has now. “I would start stealing [my mother’s] CDs, the instrumentals. And I would write, and I would just always keep it to myself – nobody knew I wanted to be a rapper.”

Megan is known for her freestyles. Her first took place at a college party aged 18, where she hoped to catch a guy’s eye. “All the boys were rapping. This one boy, he was real fine and I was like: I got to let him know that I can rap too, I can’t be in here just acting shy. I had to just step in the circle”.

Not only was her mother a huge role model and source of influence but, throughout her family, there were/are strong women helping to mould her. It must have been quite an informative and fascinating upbringing being raised around such powerful and influential women.

I want to draw from the GQ feature, where we get a glimpse into the early life of Megan Thee Stallion:

“That self-confidence comes from being raised by strong women. Megan Jovon Ruth Pete was born on Feb. 15, 1995, and grew up on the south side of Houston. “It was me, my great-grandmother, my grandmother and my mom,” she says. (Her father, Joseph Pete Jr., who she’s described as a “full-time hustler,” was in prison on weapons charges for the first eight years of her life.) “They were all polite Southern women, but so sassy, smart and strong: ‘You don’t need a man to do anything for you,’” she recalls them saying. And although only her grandmother remains — her father died when she was 15; in March of 2019 she lost both her mother (due to a brain tumor) and her great-grandmother — she says, “Because they put that in me, nobody can tell me the opposite: ‘My mom told me I was great, so that must mean I’m great!’”

Her mother, Holly Thomas, was a bill collector who moonlighted as a rapper named Holly-Wood, and Megan soon began quietly creating her own rhymes. “I grew up watching her writing [raps] and going with her to the studio, which I thought was normal. I started writing, and I would sneak her CDs with [instrumental versions of hip-hop hits] and rap over them”.

Not only is Megan Thee Stallion’s family important, but Texas (her home state) is very important. There are notable and huge artists who hail from Texas – including Beyoncé -, and there is a real sense of pride that those in the Lone Star State feel. It is a very busy and eclectic state when it comes to music and artists coming from that area – Houston seems particularly fervent and creative.

PHOTO CREDIT: Adrienne Raquel for GQ

Whilst a range of subjects and themes can be heard through Megan Thee Stallion’s work, as we see from this NME interview, she is eager to give a shout-out to Texas:

“On the importance of shouting out her ’hood, Megan explains: “I just felt like me being a black woman from the ’hood, my side of town, I want people to know that you can come from not the ‘best’ area but still grow into the person that you wanna be. Tell people where you came from. Because look where I’m at now. I’m a product of my environment, baby!” She talks with such enthusiasm, ease and rhythm that at times it sounds like you might be hearing sneak previews of the next single.

That unabashed hometown pride is not uncommon among the incredible stars that Houston, Texas has birthed: from Beyoncé and Solange to Normani as well as Meg, there is no end of megastars ready to acknowledge how the city has shaped them. My own expectations of the South were completely subverted by a brief trip to Houston; I anticipated racial tensions but was greeted with broad warmth and openness (as well as unparalleled barbecue). Megan beams: “It’s that Southern hospitality! There’s so many nice people in the South. They ask how you’re doing; they wanna hold the door for you…”

I have given a bit of background regarding a lot and is giving so much back! Maybe this comes back to the women in her life and how she was raised, but Megan Thee Stallion (Megan Jovon Ruth Pete) is this benevolent human and businesswoman who is making some big changes.

There are a few artists who give to charity and do a lot for others – including Taylor Swift -, and it is humbling seeing Megan Thee Stallion give so much. Throwing back to the NME interview, and we see how she is making a difference:

“Along with finishing her education while becoming one of the hottest rappers in the world today, Megan is dedicated to helping others, be it hosting last year’s ‘Hottie Beach Clean Ups’ in Santa Monica or launching her progressive beauty pageant in West Hollywood, to which she gifted a grand prize of a $2,500 scholarship fund. She also released ‘Girls In The Hood’ merch lines, designed by young black female creatives, and aims to create a more regular scholarship programme. “I don’t wanna say too much,” she teases, “but we got a lot coming.”

She envisions that Hot Girl Shit – her ingenious and inclusive unofficial branding – will eventually embody a host of different ventures: “A whole big ole brand, whole big ole company – it’s gonna be worldwide, okay? I really want it to be just a plethora of things.” She sounds giddy at the possibilities: “I’m really working on my dynasty right now”.

There are quite a few other areas and things that I want to tick off before I review the single, Body. I feel it is important to give a wider impression and background to an artist before reviewing the music. There is so much to admire and cover when it comes to Megan Thee Stallion that I just had to include it here! I want to nod back to women in Megan Thee Stallion’s life and, not only how they inspired her as a person, but the way she carries them through her music. The confidence, boldness and strength we hear through her lyrics goes back to her mother and grandmother.

PHOTO CREDIT: Orin Fleurimont

Just to reintroduce that informative GQ story, and there is a link between those inspiring women and the way Megan Thee Stallion is laying down the truth as a songwriter:

“The earliest moments of Megan's career were mostly tumult-free because of her mom. “I always just said, ‘I'm going to call my mama. She'll know what to do,’ ” she says with a sigh. “Now I can't just call my mama, but I'm always thinking, ‘Okay, what would she do?’ and sometimes I don't know, sometimes I do be bumping my head. I'm only in my 20s! But she's there.”

It was more than just business advice and etiquette, though. So much of what Megan raps about, and how she raps about it, and who she is as a woman, is inherited from her mother and grandmothers, she explains. One of her grandmothers, whom she called Big Mama, taught her about the importance of self-reliance; her other grandmother taught her to always be sweet. And her mother, she says, taught her how to be tough. Confidence was instilled early and reinforced by all three women, who were constantly in Megan's ear with affirmations. “They were always like, ‘Megan, you're great. Hundred percent,’ ” she says. “They would always make me feel really, really good. They would always be like, ‘And you don't need no boy or nobody coming up to you trying to tell you, “Give me this, and I'll give you that.” ’ And I'd be like, [imitates her voice as a seven-year-old] Yeah! I don't need no boys at all!”

With Megan, it's never just the words. She has a way of delivering filthy lyrics that can absolutely knock you flat. It's the way she curls her lips while she says a line or raises her eyebrow right before she drops down in a squat. As a performer, she doesn't ask for permission or forgiveness or even confirmation. “I know this about me,” she says. “This is my pleasure, this is my vagina; I know this vagina bomb.

PHOTO CREDIT: Dana Scruggs for TIME

Sometimes you just got to remind people that you're magical and everything about you down to your vagina and to your toes is magical.” In the grand tradition of Trina, Lil' Kim, Missy Elliott, Jill Scott, and other female artists who write lyrics that simply drip with horn, Megan's message—and the way she shares it—isn't for men.

“I feel like a lot of men just get scared when they see women teaching other women to own sex for themselves,” she says. “Sex is something that it should be good on both ends, but a lot of times it feels like it's something that men use as a weapon or like a threat. I feel like men think that they own sex, and I feel like it scares them when women own sex”.

From the women who have shaped Megan Thee Stallion, I feel like she wants to carry that strength through her music and help influence girls and young women. There is a lot in her music that will mould and transform women. As we learn from W Magazine, there is a lot of thought and weighing up when it comes to her messages – but it is clear that her music is resonating with girls and young women:

““I love the fact that I have a voice, and I love the fact that I do inspire a lot of girls, and I didn’t realize it at first. I was just being me,” Megan had told me back in New York. “Some of the things I say, I realized that some women might really wanna say them. So I just keep all of these things in the back of my mind when I’m writing. I’m not gon’ say I feel pressure, but sometimes I will get a little tingly because I just want to put out the best music for my fans as possible. I don’t like to disappoint them. So when I’m recording, I’m super hard on myself. I’m just always like, Okay, I need to go harder than that. I’ll write and rewrite a verse about eight times”.

There are a few more things that I need to discuss – bear with me! -; one thing that caught my eye when I was reading an interview in Vogue was Megan Thee Stallion’s sex-positivity. A lot of those in Hip-Hop are quite judgemental when it comes to dating and sex. When she was asked about whether sex-positivity was genuine or part of a persona, Megan Thee Stallion had a refreshing answer:

“In real life, I’m really about what I be talking. Men are free to do what they want to do, date whoever they want to date and women should have the same options, without judgement.

Sometimes people try to put you in a box, right, and they try to put their views on you and they try to make you behave how everybody in society feels you should behave. But this is my shit! This is my body, my mouth, my lyrics, this is what I want to say, this is how I want to act. I really want people to stop caring about how other people want them to live and to start to live for themselves. Cos I’m living for myself and I’m doing damn good with myself!”.

I will come onto how there is this connection and supportive network between women in Hip-Hop but, before, I wanted how there is this false impression and cliché attached to strong Black women. Coming back to the NME piece, and Megan Thee Stallion was keen to dispel the stereotypes:

“When so many black womxn are speaking out about their experiences while helping to lead the charge of Black Lives Matter, our conversation naturally moves to the pressure created by the Strong Black Woman stereotype. The expectation that black womxn will support others with fortitude and infallibility – emotionally, financially and even physically in roles as caregivers – can be damaging to a lot of us.

“Let me tell you, black women are strong,” Megan states matter-of-factly. “We can be going through whatever and still put on a good face. I know there were times that my mother might have been going through things but I never knew, because she wanted me to feel safe and okay.”

She goes on to explain that a lot of black womxn make those sacrifices for others as mothers, sisters, partners and that it’s no small feat. “But,” she adds, “half the time it’s because we’re trying to protect everybody else. Sometimes it gets bottled up until we burst”.

I just spoke about how Megan Thee Stallion has this sex-positive attitude but, alongside that, I think there is this sort of double standard imposed on women across all genres when it comes to sexual expression and how they talk about their bodies. Whilst Hip-Hop and Rap has this reputation when it comes to men and how they discuss women – quite negatively and seeing them almost as possessions -, women like Megan Thee Stallion get judged in a way that men do not! Many of us have heard her collaboration with Cardi B on WAP; it is a song that received some criticism regarding the themes of sex and its provocative nature. This interview with Elle goes into more depth regarding the double standards regarding sex and the reception WAP received:

“Not that she’s one to stay down too long. At the beginning of August, Megan joined forces with fellow cheerful rapper Cardi B for “WAP,” a slick, buoyant ode to their lady parts. Over a sample of Frank Ski's 1993 single "Whores in This House,” Cardi and Meg trade sexual innuendos about how they want to be pleased, a topic central to both rappers’ sexually-charged lyrics.

But “WAP” also sparked outrage and criticism from men, who blasted the rappers about their lyrics. Hip-hop has never had an issue with men express their sexual prowess through degrading lyrics about women’s bodies, but when two of rap’s biggest female stars do it, it’s considered “raunchy” or, as CeeLo Green put it, “salacious gesturing to get into position.” Megan responded to the complaints on Twitter, writing, “Lol dudes will scream ‘slob on my knob’ word for word and crying about WAP Face with tears of joy bye lil boy”.

On what the outrage from “WAP” revealed to her, Megan says, “Although we have so many incredible women in hip-hop killing it right now and in the past, there’s still a shift [that needs to happen] around the perception of a woman owning her sexuality. Powerful women who have agency over their bodies aren’t something to look down on”.

Going back to stereotypes and false impressions, and I think there is a perception that women in Hip-Hop are trying to tear one another down and there is this rivalry that dictates their music. Rather than there being this edginess and dismissive nature, there is a lot of community and support between women in the genre! I think, because it is still male-dominated and women do not get the attention they deserve, having this network and supportive attitude is the best approach. In an interview with The Guardian, Megan Thee Stallion talks about her approach when it comes to settling beefs:

“This has been her approach when it comes to music. Though beef is a staple of the genre, and a cattiness stereotype plagues women in rap, she has struck up visible friendships with female rappers such as Rico Nasty, Maliibu Miitch, Lizzo and Kash Doll, and had Minaj on a song that sampled Miami rap duo City Girls. In a genre that continues to pit women against each other, she remains the quintessential girl’s girl, stressing she favours collaboration over competition.

“Women, we naturally want to be the best,” she says. “And I can’t be mad at the next girl for wanting to be the best! Why would I get mad at you for saying you the baddest? Why can’t we both agree that we bad, and that just be that?”

This is an attitude that harks back to a previous female rap golden age. Megan was just one in 1996, when the link-up Ladies Night was released, featuring Lil’ Kim, Missy Elliott, Angie Martinez, TLC’s Left Eye and Da Brat. Two years later, Vibe magazine ran its Rap Reigns Supreme cover, fronted by Foxy Brown, Lil’ Kim, Missy Elliott and Lauryn Hill. Then came years of relative drought for women in rap. But the landscape for women has now never looked so fertile, with a plethora of diverse artists forcing the industry to push past gendered framings: Doja Cat, Saweetie, Tierra Whack and more in the US; Little Simz, Ms Banks and Stefflon Don and others in the UK.

According to Megan, the time when “the world thought it could only be one queen” has passed. “Women, we were always great,” she says. “When a woman raps, majority of the time, she’s really rapping – she actually spitting”.

The last thing I want to document before I get to reviewing Body is how Megan Thee Stallion is maintaining artistic control. I guess, after the delays and pains concerning Suga, there is this determination for the rapper not to let others become too heavy-handed and controlling. So many women in Hip-Hop have to struggle for control and say but, as we see from the interview in W Magazine, Megan Thee Stallion is eager not to be directed and controlled:

“Maintaining control has been a long-standing issue for artists in the music business—historically more so for women rappers, who face being exploited not just contractually but also for their looks and sexuality. Megan pushes for autonomy. “A lot of times a lot of stuff is still happening where people do try to control your image; they try to put together a plan for you. But I have a lot of freedom,” she said, noting that she directed her video for “Captain Hook,” a song on Suga. “Anything you see that’s Megan Thee Stallion, that’s something that Megan Thee Stallion did”.

Body opens up, and there is a blend of the steamy and confident! From ecstatic moans that can be heard in the introduction – and play the way through – to the fierce and assured delivery from Megan Thee Stallion, one is instantly hooked by the song. Riding the beat and riding the wave, the chorus slams into view: “Body-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody/Ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody (Mwah)/Body-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody/Ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody/Body crazy, curvy, wavy, big titties, lil' waist (Yeah, yeah, yeah)/Body crazy, curvy, wavy, big titties, lil' waist (Mwah)/Body-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody/Ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody”. I have already brought in subjects including sex-positivity and affirmation and, from the get-go on Body, one can feel Megan Thee Stallion assuming control and telling it like it is! The video for Body premiered on 20th November, and it is still trending on YouTube. It is a stunning and memorable clip. Megan Thee Stallion’s way with words and her incredible delivery is like nothing else around. There are awesome newcomers like Bree Runway who are amazingly powerful on the microphone and sport incredible lyrics but, to me, Megan Thee Stallion has an advantage! This is clear when we hear the first verse: “Look at how I bodied that, ate it up and gave it back (Ugh)/Yeah, you look good, but they still wanna know where Megan at (Where Megan at?)/Saucy like a barbecue but you won't get your baby back/See me in that dress and he feel like he almost tasted that (Ah, ah, ah)/Num, num, num, num, eat it up, foreplay, okay, three, two, one/You know I'm the hottest, you ain't ever gotta heat me up/I'm present whеn I'm absent, speakin' when I'm not thеre/All them bitches scary cats, I call 'em Carole Baskins, ah”.

The chorus is this addictive and compelling mantra where the words ‘body’ is ridden in this very physical and seductive way. It has a different tone to the verses, and it provides a brief pause before Megan Thee Stallion is back at the front with another incredible verse. I love her delivery and the passion and strength she injects into everything she does! One is helpless to resist and refuse her drive, power and undeniable confidence - “If we took a trip on the real creep tip (Yeah)/Bitch, rule number one is don't repeat that shit (Don't repeat that s*it)/Rule number two, if they all came with you/They better know exactly what the fu*k they came to do (Yeah, yeah, yeah, woah, woah)”. Through Body, there is this positivity and panache where Megan Thee Stallion is both seductive and straight-talking. She is not going to let anyone mess her around but, at the same time, she has this pride in her body. Alongside the stirring and striking lines, there is some humour that makes you smile: “The category is body, look at the way it's sittin' (Yeah)/That ratio so out of control, that waist, that ass, them titties (That waist, that ass, them titties)/If I wasn't me and I would've see myself, I would have bought me a drink (Hey)/Took me home, did me long, ate it with the panties on (Ugh, ugh, ugh)”. I think Body is such a busy and bustling song that one needs a few spins to absorb it and take everything in! It is a highlight from an amazing album and shows that, if proof were needed, that Megan Thee Stallion is one of the strongest and most potent voices in Hip-Hop right now! Maybe my review has not done her true justice, but I was eager to cover the track as Good News is getting such high praise. Body is surely a late contender for one of the best singles of this year!

I want to briefly pull in a couple more interview passages before wrapping this up - just to give you a fuller impression of a remarkable artist. In Good News, she has released one of this year’s best albums and many are calling her a Hip-Hop legend of the future. I can see her rising to the same iconic levels as Beyoncé, Missy Elliott, and so many women that have helped transform music! Not only is Megan Thee Stallion busy with music but, as we learn from this interview in Variety, she has other irons in the fire:

“As if a demanding music career weren’t enough, she’s also pursuing a bachelor’s degree in health administration at Texas Southern University, with the goal of opening an assisted-living facility. At the same time, she’s a big horror-movie fan and has begun work on the screenplay for a film (“It’s gonna be something that definitely blows your mind; you’ve never seen it before”), and starred as a vampire private investigator in a comic “Hottieween” YouTube series directed by Teyana Taylor last year. She has multiple branding deals in place or in the works, including for her “Hot Girl Summer” brand, which she’s trademarked. And her formidable social media game has played a huge role in keeping her profile up. “It’s nothing that’s planned out,” she says. “I just get online, and my team doesn’t even know until they see it and ‘Oh sh–, look at Megan”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Chad Wadsworth for Rolling Stone

I started by looking at subjects that were quite raw and sad but, as many of us have been struggling during lockdown, I wanted to quote from an interview in DAZED where Megan Thee Stallion was asked a very interesting question:

“Do you have any advice for dealing with loneliness and making sure that you’re still connected with people while socially distanced?

Megan Thee Stallion: I know when outside was open and we were free to be out in the world and hanging out, nobody really necessarily utilised FaceTime as much as I feel they could have. It would just be like a quick call, and that’s it – but now everybody’s kind of forced to get to know each other a little better. I would say definitely utilise your FaceTime, your Zooms – there’s a lot of people just getting in random group chats, and I feel like that's super cool because you never know who you could connect with, you could have something in common with. So I would just say just be nice, be friendly, because there are a bunch of people that want to talk to you, too”.

Make sure you go and investigate Good News, as it is one of the most important and best albums of this year. I wanted to review Body as it is my favourite track from the album. Megan Thee Stallion is an amazing artist with a very long future ahead of her. She is an incredibly strong and powerful women who…