The chaotic Zoom session gathered hundreds of DJs and media members, including Billboard Canada, to listen to the track and hear from the rapper herself.
Cardi B
Two nights before its official release, Cardi B gave a first listen of her new single “Enough (Miami)” at an exclusive online listening party. Over Zoom on Wednesday night (Mar. 13), nearly 300 radio hosts, DJs and media — including Billboard Canada — from across the world gathered to hear the “I Like It” rapper talk about the new single.
The new song — which she teased in a minute-long snippet on her Instagram — comes out this Friday Mar. 15. On it, she delivers an aggressive, fast-paced and domineering flow over a drum-heavy beat with enough bass to make your toes curl. With lyrics about her dominance of the rap game and her growth as a musician, it's a club banger we’re sure to hear a lot of over the summer.
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“I hope you guys like it because right now I feel like we’re in a state of music that I don’t know what people like anymore,” she said, introducing the track. “I come from the stripping world, y’know, so I like to make club bangers, I like to make fun music.”
Cardi hasn’t released an album since 2018’s Invasion of Privacy which includes some of her biggest songs, including “Bodak Yellow” and “I Like It.” She’s said that since becoming a mother in 2019, and again in 2021, music has not been her top priority. The pressures of touring combined with a lack of need for money, have led her to focusing on her home life.
Fans have long wondered when the next full-length project would come, and it seems their waiting will soon be coming to an end. The 31-year-old mother of two released a freestyle on Mar. 1, and will now follow with “Enough.” During the online gathering, Cardi spoke about her hiatus and upcoming plan to release an album this summer.
“I took a little break, I came back on social media. I dropped a little freestyle and everything, y’know just to wet my feet. A week later, I’m dropping this single, and the next announcement is not going to be a single, it’s gonna be an album,” she said. “I’m back outside, I’m tired of sh-t holding me back. It’s been six years since I’ve dropped an album, so I’m gonna drop an album this year.”
The event itself was reminiscent of Cardi's chaotic personality. After an hour-long delay, the rapper was on with hundreds of others on Zoom, who often spoke with overlapping praise and questions. As she sat in a Los Angeles home, getting her hair and makeup done, expressions of adoration drowned out her every attempt to talk. She displayed a genuine sense of respect as she sought feedback from those whose opinions she respects. The overwhelming feeling was clear: the people love Cardi B.
“I’m glad that you guys like it and everything, because at the end of the day, the DJs is the people that know the best. You guys move the music, so if you guys like it, I’m really grateful, I’m really thankful,” she said. “And if you don’t like it, tell me, so I can work on my sh-t.”
Where there’s an album, touring follows closely behind. With the upcoming project, Cardi B could be back in Canada to perform for the first time since her 2019 OVO Fest appearance. She was also billed as a headliner at Montreal's Osheaga festival in 2021, but a Covid cancellation prevented her from playing. Could she be back? Either way, new music is most definitely on its way.
One of the WWE Hall of Famer's daughters starred in the singer's "Mine" music video in 2010.
If singing didn’t pan out, Taylor Swift could’ve made her name in babysitting. In a recent interview with WREGNews Channel 3, pro wrestler Jeff Jarrett revealed that the 34-year-old pop star used to watch his three daughters when she was a teenager — something that was extra meaningful as his wife Jill Gregory had just passed away.
“She’s a friend of the family,” Jarrett told the organization. “Very good to my family during a very dark period in our family. My wife got sick and she passed away, but Taylor was like a big sister and came over and took the girls, baking cookies and just kinda hung out at the house.”
“I can’t say enough good things about Taylor,” he continued. “Just a sweetheart. I still call her ‘our girl’ and now she’s hanging out in the NFL circles.”
Gregory died in May 2007, just a few months after Swift released her self-titled debut album. The WWE Hall of Famer also clarified that Swift “was never on the Jeff Jarrett payroll,” implying that the 14-time Grammy winner watched over the girls — Joslyn, Jaclyn and Jerlyn — out of the kindness of her heart.
The “Anti-Hero” singer has been friends with the Jarrett family since she moved to Hendersonville, Tenn. as a teenager to pursue her music career. In 2010, she cast Jaclyn to play a younger version of herself in the “Mine” music video, for which the wrestler and his kids all flew up to Maine to shoot with several other young family friends Swift casted to play her future children.
“I know all of these families personally for different weird uncanny reasons,” the singer said in a behind-the-scenes video at the time. “I’m just excited that they’re going to be in the video because I just didn’t want them to be strangers, the people playing my future family.”
Almost fifteen years later, Swift is now embarked on her global Eras Tour, which most recently set up shop in Zürich for two shows starting Tuesday (July 9). Exactly one year and a day prior, the superstar released the re-recorded version of 2011’s Speak Now, featuring an updated take on lead single “Mine.”
Watch Jarrett talk about Swift above.
This article was originally published by Billboard U.S.
