(released) january 8, 2020

okay, here’s the tea LOL. when i was 17 years old, pine & ginger got signed to a major label and, per the contract, i (the main artist on the song) was restricted from releasing music until i delivered a follow-up song to said label. pine & ginger got signed in the spring of 2017, love em leave em came out january 2020. it was a frustrating couple of years, but within that time, i really got to hone my craft and figure myself out. so, in hindsight, i’m hella grateful for it. the reason it took so long was because (as you can read on the ‘pine & ginger’ page of my site) i was not trying to get boxed in as a dancehall artist, and the sub-label i was signed to focused primarily on tropical sounds. i tried really hard to keep everyone that was involved on ‘pine & ginger’ on ‘love em leave em’ too; that took more time to coordinate than was necessary. (hindsight vision is seriously 20-20). anyways. i kept trying and trying and trying to make songs that fit the vibe, and none of them felt right. eventually, we ended up going with a song i wrote in may 2017 (look, lol). another thing that dragged the process out was the label really wanting a woman rapper on the song. obviously, i was like hell yeah. but they (label) kept trying to force collabs that simply would not make sense if they came to fruition. so, frustrated with the pace, in the summer of 2019 i asked my friend (who i’ve stanned since i was literally 15) Kari Faux for the feature, she said “let’s do it,” and the rest is history. i’m so grateful she was down—there was a point in 10th grade where i only listened to her. and the song is super fun!! and it’s produced by my faves Bad One & Valleyz! i just wish i identified with it more! i was 17 when i wrote it, and less intentional with my messages then. like, i was literally in a loving relationship with a guy when it came out, haha. but i do love shaking the table and saying shit in ways they haven’t been said before, and love em leave em definitely does that. i also love that i got to make hilarious promotional skits with the homies & do the music video with my beautiful friends (maliyah, ken, & sanj) and miss kari babyyy. i wrote it myself and it came out hella cute! i appreciate the whole journey and all that it was. grateful for jailyn who did our makeup, myai who shot the cover art, and taylor for shooting the BTS! in complete honesty though, i wish my attachment to the song was stronger. for a while i just saw it as a ticket to independence. once i released it, i was freeee. but this song was the first one of mine featured in a MOVIE! (Like a Boss starring Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne, & Salma Hayek). like come onnnnn. that’s fucking fire. it’s mine, it’s apart of my story, and i’m so happy it exists.

SKITS