I feel like stylists and photographers are starting to come around to how to style and photograph Megan Thee Stallion. She’s got some great angles and, in my opinion, she’s very styling dependent in still photos. When you can see her dance and talk, there’s never an issue – you can see how sexy and sweet and beautiful she is. But still photography took a minute to catch up. That being said, I friggin’ love this W Magazine editorial with Megan. She looks amazing here. She was photographed months ago, and the interview took place just days before Trey Lanez shot her in both feet. Some of the quotes feel so prescient in a horrific way. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
On being criticized: “It’s really mind-blowing to see the nasty things that people say to you. I don’t know if people think you not gon’ see it… I feel like just being an artist, waking up every day, voicing your own opinions is a risk… Just talking. Being real is a risk.”
On the lockdown: “I’m not an introvert, but I do like to sit down and take some time to myself.”
Inspiring girls & women: “I love the fact that I have a voice, and I love the fact that I do inspire a lot of girls, and I didn’t realize it at first. I was just being me. Some of the things I say, I realized that some women might really wanna say them. So I just keep all of these things in the back of my mind when I’m writing. I’m not gon’ say I feel pressure, but sometimes I will get a little tingly because I just want to put out the best music for my fans as possible. I don’t like to disappoint them. So when I’m recording, I’m super hard on myself. I’m just always like, Okay, I need to go harder than that. I’ll write and rewrite a verse about eight times.”
Naturally sexy: “I feel like I’m just naturally kinda like a sexy person. Like, I’m not trying to be. But now it’s, like, a public thing. And I’m always dancing. I always got on shorts. So it’s like, ‘Look at her, dancing again.’ Well, I was gon’ do that anyway… Twerking was supposed to be a thing that was sneaky fun—like, bad. And now it’s a thing where it’s supernormal, it’s very casual, you see everybody doing it. Let me say this: Different body types offend different people. So if you are maybe smaller, twerking doesn’t come off as offensive, but when you got the assets, then that’s when it comes off as, Oh my God, what the hell is going on? It becomes a sexual thing. But I can’t help it that I got this body. I’ma twerk, and it’s gon’ look this way, and it might be offensive to you because I look like this, but I can’t help it. And I don’t care. I don’t care that you feel that way.”
On racism & BLM: “The moment does feel different because it feels bigger—people have been able to hide a lot of racism, but now that we have social media, we see everything… I really like how we’re able to catch these people doing these disgusting things and put ’em on blast, and people are getting fired from their jobs. You getting your scholarship taken away from whatever school you thought you was about to go to. It’s like, Yeah, we see you. You like to be disgusting in private, so let us show you how to keep that same energy in public. I like that we get to call everybody out now….Why would you not speak out, or why would you not do everything you could to make a change if you know this is just wrong, in general? I shouldn’t have to tell you how to fix racism. I shouldn’t have to tell you not to be racist. I shouldn’t have to tell you how to help us.Like, you should just genuinely feel that way. The color of your skin does not dictate the function of your brain.”
I feel like people consistently forget how young Megan is – she’s 25 years old, very much a woman, yet she’s a different generation from someone like Nicki Minaj (37), Beyonce (“38”) or Katy Perry (35). Megan is younger than Cardi B (she’s another one people think is older, but she’s only 27). Megan is younger than Miley Cyrus and Ariana Grande (both 27). My point is that Megan is still figuring out a lot of stuff and she’s going through it in public, the good and the bad. Also, yes, she’s just a naturally sexy person. And I love what she says about twerking too.
Cover & IGs courtesy of W Magazine.
“38”
Bahahahahhahahahahaha
I like Megan and completely forgot that she is younger than Miley and Ariana!
I like that she has now figured out that she needs to also balance her stallion persona with these articles which humanize her.
Sadly black women are often dehumanized by the mainstream media and hip hop.
She’s okay being vulnerable, and that’s something often denied black women.
I feel very maternal towards this young lady, and I can’t tell you why specifically. She just seems sweet, and kind, and thoughtful and I worry about how the world will treat her.
Love her. Love her music, love this interview, and love the styling for the cover. I didn’t know how young she is, she seems like a really grounded person.
I completely get what she says about body shapes and just having specific features can make people over sexualize women when they’re just out there living their lives. It makes me think of certain styles of super low cut fashion that small chested women can wear and look chic in, while women who have larger chests wear and it’s considered “trashy” or too much. Our culture really loves to punish women for their bodies, yeesh.
Yes, I too love what she said about different types bodies and how they are treated differently in our culture.
It’s sad this is still happening. I remember going from fairly flat chested to having boobs in university.
All of a sudden the shirts I used to wear were too sexy because now I had tits. So wrong.
Agreed. Some love try to hyMENsplain why ‘real’ diversity and ‘real’ tolerance for women who are ‘different’ means having the freedom to call people- especially women and girls, for some reason- whatever they want without criticism. When caught, they’ll try to spin their misogynistic slurs as some kind of compliment to ‘classy’ women and some kind of protection- like that’s the way to elevate women, but calling women or girls ‘trash’ just has the opposite effect.
Also, I really hope England and Wales succeed in making misogyny a hate crime.
“It makes me think of certain styles of super low cut fashion that small chested women can wear and look chic in, while women who have larger chests wear and it’s considered “trashy” or too much.”
I got a breast reduction 10 years ago. I 100% get exactly what she was saying about twerking, and just like you said, it reminded me of how an average or smaller chested woman could wear something and be considered “cute” while if I wore it, was seen as vulgar. (Though twerking has some cultural basis too which makes it not quite the same, but I just really got what she was saying)
Yes!! Me too Turtledove!! I got a breast reduction a year ago and it’s amazing how people react differently. Before women would shoot daggers every where I went and men would babble and stare at my chest. It didn’t seem to matter what I wore, it was always the same. I was looked down on and treated like a whore. Now people just treat me normally. I know exactly what she’s talking about. It sucks.
The more I read about this lady the more I’m rooting for her. These topics need to be discussed and she may still be figuring things out (who isn’t?), but I’m loving the messages that she’s putting out there.
Heh,heh, me, too!
“The color of your skin does not dictate the function of your brain.”
I love this.
Love her. As an H-Town native (ok, the northern suburbs but close enough) I am proud to support her. She is beautiful but she’s also a very sharp lyricist and talented rapper. I love WAP and the Jealous remix and can’t wait to see what she puts out next. I feel like we are living in the golden age of female hip-hop and I am here for it!!! Personally, I think female hip-hop is way more compelling, smart, and interesting than what is currently being released by their male peers.
Thanks so much for covering her! I love Meg so much and appreciate you taking the time to write about what she’s up to
Oh wow! From her deep voice I assumed she was mid 30s (no idea why my brain made that connection!)
She seems a lot more mature (in a good way) than some of her peers. I like Ariana but her lolita jailbait style can be a bit irksome after a while. Will she still be pushing that at 30 and beyond?
I’ve heard a song of hers for the first time and I love it. She is a badass hottie for sure. Also, I just heard Janelle Monae’s new song that she wrote for Stacy Abrams’ election. I think it’s called Turning the Tables (not sure). It’s fabulous. I hope they play it at the victory party for Biden and Harris (I think they’ll delete the line, “America, you a lie”). I pray to God we can get back to reality, sanity and normalcy with a real president and vice president in office again. The shit we have now is unspeakable and will haunt us for a long time. Please, God, help us to oust the sham and the lie on November 3rd.