With a decade of her life imprinted on the internet, one could search "Queen Naija" and find just about anything concerning the beloved R&B maven. She launched her career when she first took to the American Idol stage for the show's 13th season. However, she connected with an even wider audience on YouTube, and it didn't take long for her infectious personality to resonate with other young women.
The familiarity further aided in bolstering Queen's music career. Since 2017, she has delivered several hit singles, including the RIAA-certified Double Platinum tracks "Medicine," "Karma," and "Butterflies." In 2020, fans were blessed with Queen's official debut offering, Misunderstood, and a little over a week ago, she returned with her first mixtape, After the Butterflies.
In our exclusive interview with Queen Naija, she told us this project marked a significant shift in her artistic narrative. She revisits the subject of love and romance, but this time, she's opening up about the chaotic waves in her current relationship with Clarence White. Anyone known to be chronically online is familiar with Queen's ex-husband, Chris Sails, and the turbulent breakdown of their marriage. Yet, she has kept her rifts with White closer to the chest—that is, until After the Butterflies's arrival. It's a new era for the royalty-named talent.
"There comes a point where that always dies down in every relationship, where you're still in love with the person, it could still be a healthy relationship, but you still go through things. So, I was at a very dark—in a rough patch in my current relationship. And, of course, I'm an artist, so I'm gonna write about it [laughs]."
Read through our expansive conversation with the songbird as Queen chats with us about her new mixtape, its inspiration, working with her star-studded list of collaborators on the project, why her collaboration with Monica is one of her favorites, wanting to link in the studio with Pharrell Williams, and realizing no matter where her future takes her, she can survive anything, even if it had to be alone.
This interview has been slightly edited for clarity.
HotNewHipHop: Thank you so much for speaking with us! We're excited about the project. Let's jump right in: tell us about the inspiration behind After the Butterflies and what led you to this point. This one isn't an album?
Queen Naija: At the time of recording the music for an EP, I was recording music from the way I felt in those moments. And I was pretty much in a moment where like, it was a dark place. Like, in my current relationship—everybody knows that I was in a relationship before, and I came out of it. It was abusive, and it was not healthy. I came out of it, and I was happy. And then, when I met my current partner, there was a beginning thing, that fresh new feeling. When you get those butterflies—which is why I made those songs "Butterflies, Pt. 1" and "Butterflies, Pt. 2."
But then there comes a point where that always dies down in every relationship, where you're still in love with the person, it could still be a healthy relationship, but you still go through things. So, I was at a very dark—in a rough patch in my current relationship. And of course, I'm an artist, so I'm gonna write about it [laughs].
"I have to be okay with loving myself without the help of a man and be okay with being alone if it had to be that way. And really doing it myself. It did give me a new strength of like, okay, this is what I want. I want a family, and I want everlasting marriage and love, and I'm all about that. But at the same time on the other side, if life happened to go a different way, I think I would be okay."
In those moments, I pretty much was like, a little scared. I was actually very scared because the public saw one failed relationship. And I was fearful that it would be embarrassing to see another publicly failed Queen Naija relationship, which would probably make me kind of crawl into a hole and not share anything else with anyone. So, I kind of was bracing myself and prepping myself for that.
But I'm also an overthinker sometimes. I was trying to explore the idea of being alone. I'm embracing it and embracing myself while being alone. So that's pretty much what the music is about.
You have been so vulnerable about both of your relationships. In this new era, what lessons did you learn about yourself in this process of putting everything in your music once again?
I've learned that you got to really just, you really need to rely on your own self and heal your own traumas. You can't expect someone else—not that I expected it. But no matter how good a person makes you feel, you still have to be responsible for giving love for loving yourself.
I have to be okay with loving myself without the help of a man and be okay with being alone if it had to be that way. And really doing it myself. It did give me a new strength of like, okay, this is what I want. I want a family, and I want everlasting marriage and love, and I'm all about that. But at the same time on the other side, if life happened to go a different way, I think I would be okay. I think I would be okay with doing it with the help of prayer. Just really blossoming into like, I don't know how to really say. Just with doing things on my own, discovering new things on my own, and finding joy in those things.
That's beautiful. Returning gently to the mixtape, you've called on a handful of people to help you round out those features: the legendary Monica, Ella Mai, NBA YoungBoy, and the one and only Eric Bellinger. Talk to us about those collaborations and the essence of those tracks.
Well, you know "No Fake Love" with YoungBoy was already released. To be transparent with you...you don't have to put this down, or you can word it however you want. But that was the song that I kind of wasn't excited to put out at first because I was supposed to been put that out in 2022. That was supposed to be like, a fresh record for the summer of 2022. I'm a person that when things get old to me, I'm ready to move on to the next.
The reason why it had got so old and didn't drop in 2022 is because I was waiting on a feature from a rapper who told me he would get around to it, but he never did. And then, while waiting on him, a couple of other people that I reached out to responded, and one of them was YoungBoy. I thought about it and asked people around me, and they said I should definitely do it.
Because you know, it would be a great way to bring out this different side of YoungBoy. And also, it's just good, too. He has a big fan base, I have our fan base, it's going to be good. So, I dropped that this year already. But he was very pleasant to work with. I judged him. I judged him before...because of the persona that he gives, I judged him before working with him. But he was actually a gentleman, and people liked the song. It was just very fun. And it was a sample record from a movie. So, that's one of the things I liked about it.
The reason why I did "All or Nothing" with Ella Mai, or what happened behind that, is that we toured together for Mary J. Blige. And I thought it would have been perfect just to do a song with her. We been supposed to have done a song together, like a while back. But yeah, this happened to be the vibe that she felt most comfortable with. And she loved it, she hopped on it. And that vibe is just pretty much like a West Coast kind of feel. I wanted to come into her world a little bit because people know my world. The boppy, kind of West Coast cadence and beat or whatever, I wanted to kind of merge our vibe together.
And so, we brought our worlds together on that record. Just pretty much saying how we want all or nothing. You don't want to have half of someone's heart, you want the whole thing. It's like, you really want to be serious. You want the person to be serious about you just as much as you are with them, or it's nothing at all. So, that's what that's about.
The song with Monica, "One Of Them Days," is actually my favorite. I've always wanted to work with someone before me who passed the torch down, and that's definitely Monica. She's a legend to me and the R&B world. I was able to bring back out that old-school vibe with her in a song—she has a song called "Don't Take It Personal." And we're just in the song talking about wanting to be selfish. Because I never really got a chance to be selfish. I always worry about how my man feels or how my kids are, I never really got a chance to do me and only think about myself.
"The song with Monica, 'One Of Them Days,' is actually my favorite. I've always wanted to work with someone before me who passed the torch down. And that's definitely Monica. She's a legend to me and the R&B world. And I was able to bring back out that old school vibe with her in a song."
I was just exploring that idea and that song and that those are real emotions. And I was feeling like a lot of times, I would pull up in my parking lot late at night or after a studio session, and I wouldn't want to go and house. I just want to be with myself, you know. So, that's pretty much like what that was about.
The song with Eric Bellinger, he came in real clutch [laughs]. Man, I ain't gon' lie. I went through a few features, and he was the one that really suited the song. He went perfectly with it. It's called "Taboo." And this song, he helped me—he pretty much brought out the spicier side. It's about me exploring the idea of having a sneaky link. Although I'm always too scared to do something like that, I've always thought about it, because I've always been the one to get cheated on.
So, I wanted to think about, like, dang, what would it be like, if I was the one doing the cheating? What is it like? Is it a good feeling? Like, even though it's probably—I don't know, in that moment, it probably is. But I was just exploring that. And that's taboo to me. I'm big on just being a loyal partner. But if it had to be that way, and I had to have a sneaky link, I feel like "Taboo" is the thing that you're not supposed to want to do. But it feels good. You get what I'm saying? So, that song was a little bit...it was a real, kind of a little spicy kind of song. Are we missing anyone? No one else is right. I think we got everybody. I hope I didn't overshare!
You're just fine! I appreciate the details, trust me [laughs]. And all of the features were a great balance—I also have to say I love that collab you did with Ari Lennox.
Aw, thank you!
You're a heavy-hitter in R&B, and you've obviously partnered with incredible talent. Who is a dream collaborator of any genre? People expect you to link with a certain type of artist, but who are your picks for someone you'd like to work with?
Hm, I can't think of anybody right now in production-wise. I mean—well, actually, I've always thought it'd be super dope to see what me and Pharrell could create. I just love all his music. And then, artist-wise, I would like to start doing some records with people on the edgier side [laughs]. On the toxic side, a little bit more.
I've always mentioned Brent Faiyaz, I think we would sound super dope together. I think SZA is super edgy. I would love to see how that is. Because I'm more, I feel like, maybe I could be wrong. But I feel like I'm more on the sweet side of things. Like, sometimes I talk my stuff, but most times, I keep it really sweet and glittery and stuff like that.
"I've always mentioned Brent Faiyaz, I think we would sound super dope together. I think SZA is super edgy. I would love to see how that is. Because I'm more, I feel like, maybe I could be wrong. But I feel like I'm more on the sweet side of things. Like, sometimes I talk my stuff, but most times, I keep it really sweet and glittery and stuff like that."
Who else who else can I see? I've always—there are some new artists coming up that I think are super dope on the rapping side, like female rap. I really think that Doechii is super fire. I really like Lady London. She's cool. I like really lyrical people. I've always wanted to work with J. Cole, speaking of lyrical. So, I mean, I could give you a rundown on people, but that's just a few.
Ooh, a Queen Naija and Doechii link would be fire! For this Ladies First series, I always like to highlight women in the industry supporting women. Who are some ladies who have reached out with kind words or just encouragement when you needed it?
I would definitely say Ella Mai has been one of those people who check on me even when it's nothing business-related. She'll check on me and just ask how I'm doing. I can say that H.E.R. has—Gabby has checked on me a couple of times. Without me even thinking that she was thinking about me, she's always sweet. SZA has always been supportive. She'll comment under my Instagram posts and buy songs or whatever.
And who else? Who's really been solid? Latto, too. She's always been super positive. Who else? I'm sorry [laughs], this is my first interview of the morning so my mind is all over!
It's all good, I completely understand. Well, we made it to the end because this is my last question. It's harmless; I ask this to everyone I interview. So, we know that celebrity in and of itself is an illusion. People have these expectations of who you are or what your relationship is like, because of a parasocial relationship with you through social media. When that veil of celebrity is removed, what is something about the heart of Queen Naija that doesn't always translate to the public because they are fooled by the illusion of the industry?
I feel like a lot of people who are not in my core fan base, they don't take the time to get to—they don't take the time to go and do their research on me. I can't say "get to know me" because they don't know me personally. But if you really take the time to do some research, and go watch my videos from where it all started, you could pretty much see my personality and my spirit through there. That's why a lot of people fell in love with me.
Also, [people can't see] how down to earth I am and how I'm really not superficial. I'm just really a regular person, just like everybody else. I guess sometimes I could say...the industry will like...it includes trolls and people digging up very negative things about you that may not be true. I just, I just feel like, I don't know. That's hard to say because a lot of people say that I come off as who I am.
But I'm just a normal person. Like, a super duper normal person [laughs]. I don't even—I still go to the nail salon, and I don't care. I still walk into Walmart, I really do not care. And people be like, "Queen, why are you without security?" Maybe I still think that I'm still just unknown? I'm like, "Oh, for real? You see me under this mask? You can tell who I am?" [laughs] Just, if people really just take off the lenses of what social media puts on me, I guess. Then, you can see that I'm just a regular-degular-schmegular girl.