Young Money songstress Shanell is more than a singer/songwriter.
She’s a choreographer, the creative director of the “I Am Still Music” tour and most importantly, she’s Nobody’s Bitch.
GlobalGrind sat down with the beautiful singer to talk about her forthcoming mixtape Nobody’s Bitch, rumors surrounding her and Lil Wayne’s relationship, her celebrity crush and of course, her music.
Check out our exclusive interview below!
GlobalGrind: “Two Seconds Too Late”… everybody loves it. What was the inspiration behind doing that song?
Shanell: I’m big on not falling in love and being a boss and running the relationship. But I fell like a punk for somebody and that’s when all the love songs I’ve ever heard in my life all meant something to me. I was just telling a story and that’s really a real story.
Has there ever been a time when you thought “Damn. I was two seconds too late”?
All the time. I’ve been the bad guy in most of my relationships. But he got me.
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How long have you been touring? It seems like forever!
It has. This one was probably the last six months. When Wayne got out of jail, we chilled for a couple of months. But he was ready to work and I just went in. I started working a month before the tour starts, just putting everything together. So it’s been non-stop.
You’re the creative director of the tour. What is that process like?
It’s actually fun. I’ve been doing tours and before I was strictly working as me as an artist. I was a dancer, so it was what I was used to doing. I listen to the music and I see pictures in my head. For instance, I was trying to do this with Wayne’s “How To Love.” It sounds to me like a roller skating sound song. I can see it as couples skating. So I was trying to build this roller skate scene. That was the funny part about the rehearsal process because I brought skates. The girls were excited and as soon as we got them on those skates, they were falling all over the place. I learn new stuff that I might not have tried to do if I didn’t put it in the show, and it’s fun to see a vision in your head come to life on the stage.
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What are some of your favorite moments while touring?
My favorite moment was actually on stage. It was the first time I actually stepped out onto the stage. It was an arena show. I should’ve remembered the city. I stepped out onstage and it was me as an artist. And in that light in front of a bunch of people, I saw all these faces and I just started smiling. I’ve dreamt about that and to see it happen? In front all these people? I just wanted to stand there. You gotta appreciate those things. That’s a whole lot of ears and people that are depending on you to take them to another place for an hour and a half.
Do you ever get nervous before you go on?
Every time. We had five shows in a row. The nervous time gets shorter and shorter. Then once we get that two days off, that next day, it feels like you’ve never been out there.
How would you describe your musical sound?
I just call it fusion music because it’s a little bit of everything. It’s just a fusion from what I listened to growing up. I listened to Cyndi Lauper, I listened to Red Hot Chilli Peppers, I listened to New Kids on the Block, I listened to Mary J. Blige and Wu Tang. I grew up listening to all of this stuff. So it comes out when I’m working. I don’t differentiate it and separate it. I don’t know how to do that. I barely know the difference between R&B and hip-hop music. It’s all fused together. I think that’s the new generation of even the listener, because the internet has made getting two different types of music so much easier that I think people are starting to broaden their ear.
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Who are your musical inspirations?
Nobody. I’m an ’80s baby. I love the ’80s. So that sound is my inspiration. I think for an artist coming into themselves to paddle yourself behind somebody…I guess it’s cool for some people. I just never idolized anyone. It was the sound and the feeling of that kind of music.
When did you start dancing?
Since I was a kid. I had a little crew back in the day called Young & Unique. We used to do all the neighborhood picnics and I started choreographing back then. Then when I went to high school, I went to a performing arts school. That’s when I really trained and took what I knew how to do naturally and just put some structure to it.
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Let’s talk about your mixtape Nobody’s Bitch. That’s a very bold statement. What was the inspiration behind you coming up with that title? It seems like a rebuttal to a lot of rumors regarding Lil Wayne and people’s perception of you.
Exactly. I put out Shut Up and Listen first because of all those things. I’ve worked too hard and too long for y’all to not really get it. So I’m not going to go off just yet. Listen. Shut up and listen. I don’t know why females don’t really buck unless you’re a rapper or something. I can hold my own. Just to speak for all women out there working hard who don’t get appreciated for what they do, that music is gonna speak to them. It’s for them to party to, for them to bump in their cars, the sticker to put on their windshield. Nobody’s Bitches stickers, Nobody’s Bitch t-shirts. It’s a bigger statement than what I knew it was going to be. I’m a professional woman, but at the same time, the statement speaks for me too. From the hardest chick on the block to the executives. It speaks for all women.
What’s your favorite thing to do besides making music?
Riding horses.
You can ride horses?
Not all the way, but I’m trying to get there. I enjoy that. I love animals with fur. I’ve been trying to do more of that, but I just need a place to do it.
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What’s your favorite liquor?
Vodka. I’m a Vodka girl. Apple martinis are my little fun drink. Every city we went to, I would meet up with one of my Twitter followers that I know and just have lunch with them or something. I’d say: “You have to be able to drink an apple martini with me.”
Do you have any celebrity crushes?
Yes. Johnny Depp. I loved him since he was Charlie. But I have another crush. I’m scared to say it…Common. How did I not see this before? He’s very handsome.
If you were sent to a deserted island and you could only bring three albums with you, what three albums would you bring?
You gotta have something ratchet for your ratchet days and ratchet moments. You gotta have something that has a lot of emotion and feeling for those days. I have to have a Lil Wayne collection of music. I guess Tha Carter IV right now for when I just wanna feel like RAWR! I’d bring a Prince album because that has a little bit of everything on there. That’s an inspiration. Prince, to me, without anybody knowing, he did all types of music. It was rock, it was pop, it was R&B, it was soulful. And nobody even realized. It was just real music. That’s what I want my album to be. And if I could say I wanted to be as good as anybody, I would say him. Third album would be Francis and the Lights.
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Do you play any instruments?
Yeah. For the drums – I’m almost there. I’ll be Sheila E behind Wayne.
Rihanna picked up drum-playing too.
Really? We could have a drum-off, RiRi!
I got a single coming out with your boy Wayne and Drake. That’s going to be fun. I’m actually in the process of writing the treatment for the video. That’s the next step and hopefully we get that shot and out before we go back on the road!
