Anticipation for Cardi B’s sophomore album remains high following the success of her singles “WAP” and “Up,” with the latter song recently debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In a new conversation with Mariah Carey for Interview magazine, the Bronx rapper shared how she’s feeling about her forthcoming full-length—and even received a little pep talk from Mimi herself.
“You probably want to talk about your new album and we can get into that,” Mariah asked. “How are you feeling about it?”
“I feel like I’m missing some songs,” Cardi told Mariah. “Everybody’s rushing me to put it out, but I don’t know if it’s the right time. When I do interviews, I like to be in people’s faces. I hate Zoom meetings. They’re just so weird. I like to do listening parties. You can’t even tour. That shit’s wack as fuck.”
To that, Mariah told Cardi to “take your time” and “make it the best album that you can.” She asked if the rapper has a song like “Be Careful”—the third, more melodic single from her 2018 debut Invasion of Privacy—which the pop icon calls “one of my favorites.”
“I do have a song like ‘Be Careful,’ but I think it’s more personal. People were saying, ‘You need to be softer. You need to talk more about yourself.’ And I was telling them that it’s really hard for me to do love records and express myself like that because I never do that. I don’t talk about love and shit.”
Cardi continued, “People always have crazy expectations, especially when it comes to female rap. It’s not like it’s a competition, but people are always comparing and comparing and comparing. It’s almost like they want to see you fail. I hate the feeling when I don’t do something really good. So I want my shit to be good because my last album did so well, and if this one doesn’t do well, I’m going to feel really sad.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Cardi discussed her successful career as a stripper and how it made her feel “on top of the world” when she was a highly requested dancer.
“When I started stripping, I was making probably $500 a night,” she explained. “As I got bigger, I was making $2,000, maybe $5,000. When I got really popular on Instagram I was making $7,000 to $10,000 a week. I felt on top of the world. I felt so untouchable and so sexy because there were rappers that all these girls lust over who would come to the strip club and request me to go to their section. They would request me. If I’m so trash, why are these guys requesting me? I’m getting paid for my looks. Nobody’s going to spend money on you if you’re ugly.”
Cardi said on Instagram that the interview was probably an all-time fave. “Thank you to @mariahcarey! I really loved talking to you! It felt so good to speak with someone who could feel and relate to everything I was saying! This might be one of my favorite interviews I’ve done!”
Read the rest of Cardi and Mariah’s Interview mag conversation here.
