Megan Thee Stallion: catching up with the hot girl at home

Miss Rona is not stopping Megan Thee Stallion. “We’re not gonna say that!” she jumps in, after I begin saying that it looks like summer 2020 might be cancelled. Her energy is infectious, even via Zoom. For the first time in weeks, the dormant (believed dead) hot girl inside of me is hopeful. If Thee Stallion says it’s about to be lit, I believe her. “We always have a hot girl summer,” she says, “but it’s about to be savage summer!”

It helps that we’ve recently been gifted a new remix of “Savage” with bars from none other than Beyoncé, dropped without warning last week. Namechecking TikTok and OnlyFans, the track is already influencing culture, as well as providing direct pandemic relief by raising money for Bread of Life – an organisation delivering meals to families in their shared hometown, Houston. This isn’t the first time Megan has used her platform to help her community. She’s donated to Houston’s Park Manor Skilled Nursing Facility, and supported struggling fans through her #HottiesAtHome cash-app callout.

Since dropping her third EP, Suga, in early March, just a few weeks before widespread lockdowns set in, the world has changed. Megan talks about how food is filling her time at home, from her dreams of reuniting for team breakfasts and going to restaurants again, to being locked down with her manager experimenting in the kitchen right now. ‘Quarantine 15’ is very real: “That’s why we out here getting thicc!” Our priorities may be different now, but the hot girl spirit is still getting us through.

Her fans, at least, have been exercising, going viral on TikTok with Suga dance challenges. You can’t open the app without seeing some interpretation of the “Classy. Bougie. Ratchet” bars from “Savage”, or the catchy hook of “Captain Hook”. But it’s the reinterpreted film scenes that movie buff Megan gets sucked into herself. “I’ve really been enjoying everybody doing the remake of The Players Club,” she laughs.

As much as Megan appreciates this as a time to “reset and refresh”, she isn’t taking a break. Thee Stallion is someone who hasn’t stopped since she started – in music, and life – and is still working on her debut album, as well as judging on the new HBO vogueing show Legendary, premiering later this month. We caught up with the hot girl at home to chat Beyoncé, ballroom, being horny online, and how to have a savage summer indoors.

Fucking Beyoncé! How did that happen?

Megan Thee Stallion: I know, I thought the same. I was like, ‘God? Is this real?’ Like, we really did it! But shoutout to Beyoncé like, thank you so much! Roc Nation is my management, so somebody from my team called me like, “Hey, Beyoncé wants to do a ‘Savage’ remix,” and I’m like, “Shut up – y’all are lyin’!” They’re like, “Seriously, go record a new verse.” I didn’t hear the song again until the week after that. When I heard it, I was like, “This is really Beyoncé! Like… this is really Beyoncé. Do y’all know that this is really Beyoncé?!”

What’s your favourite line from her verse?

Megan Thee Stallion: When she says, “If you don’t jump to put jeans on, you don’t feel my pain.” I was like, “Yes, Beyoncé! You better tell ’em!” She’s like, “If you want to see some real ass, baby here’s your chance!” I said, “That’s what I’ve been saying!”

You’re still early in your career, but you have already collaborated with so many great people. How do you top Beyoncé?

Megan Thee Stallion: I’m good, I don’t need anyone else to collab with. I already collabed with Nicki and I’ve collabed with Beyoncé, my life is made – bye, thank you. Thank you, everybody! 

But if Rihanna turned around though and said she wanted to, what would you do?

Megan Thee Stallion: Rihanna is that girl, and I always wear Fenty, so… Oh my God, that would blow my mind! If I could collab with Rihanna, I would honestly be super happy.

So you’re on a new HBO show, Legendary, about ballroom culture. What was that like? How did you prepare?

Megan Thee Stallion: I have a lot of friends in the community that do the balls, so I would just watch their videos. I was like, “Oh my God, wow, this is crazy! This is really amazing.” When I got on the show, I got really close with Leiomy (Maldonado), and she taught me a lot of things that I needed to be looking for. She was like, “Just naturally say what you want to say, do what you want to do – but let me say what we’re looking for, and what ballroom is really about.” I met so many amazing people, I learned so many new things. I just really can’t wait for the world to see what ballroom is. It really made me want to be a better performer, because they work their ass off to get on that floor and kill it. When the outside opens back up, you best believe I’m going to be at all the balls I can be at.

You’ve been making music consistently since you started. Are you taking a bit of a break now that everything’s on hold? 

Megan Thee Stallion: I have a studio in the house, so I’m still recording and I’m still writing. I really can’t wait to come out with my debut album, because that’s really what I’m working on right now. I feel like it’s going to be amazing, so I can’t wait for y’all to hear that.

If you could be quarantined with anyone else in the world, who would it be?

Megan Thee Stallion: Honestly, I would probably want to be quarantined with Dave Chappelle or James Franco, so they can make me laugh.

If we have to spend a Hot Girl Summer indoors, what would your tips for that be?

Megan Thee Stallion: Jeez, I don’t want to have to say nothing about it, because I want to go outside! I would say that this is the time for everybody to definitely be just working on themselves. You have no choice but to protect your energy, so you should really feel better when you are able to come back outside. You should be rejuvenated. You’ve been basking in your own great energy for a few months, so you should just feel better with yourself. You should be more confident, because now you’ve got the time to look at yourself 80 times a day in the mirror. If you ain’t perfected your make-up by the time we come out of quarantine, I don’t know what you’ve been doing with your time! So, I’ll just say this is the time to just reset, just refresh yourself.

What’s the first thing you’re gonna do when you’re allowed out again?

Megan Thee Stallion: I’m gonna probably go eat at a restaurant. I’m really dying for somebody to ask me what appetisers I want. 

What are you watching in lockdown?

Megan Thee Stallion: I have probably watched every scary movie there is to be watched. I have probably watched every anime that’s on Netflix. I’ve binge-watched so many shows. I watched Ozark – I have just watched everything, honestly.

“If we’re ever going back outside, it’s gonna be so lit” – Megan Thee Stallion

What’s your favourite horror movie?

Megan Thee Stallion: My favourite horror movie ever probably would have to be Evil Dead. The other day, I watched all the Insidious series over again – those are also really good. I’m gonna have to see how to scare the shit out of myself today, I don’t know what I’m going to watch. 

Every day a new scare. 

Megan Thee Stallion: Right? My manager always walks in the room, and he’s like, “No, I’m gonna get out of here.”

You should watch the original Japanese versions of horror movies.

Megan Thee Stallion: Oh my God, no, that’s scary. I’ve tried to watch the Japanese version of The Grudge... The Japanese versions of movies – it’s a better storyline, so that makes them more scary. It’s like, this shit probably could have happened. When you really want to get into some hardcore shit, that’s what you would watch – to see how scared you can be.

You’ve always been really connected to your fans via livestreams and social media. Now that everyone’s on lockdown, everyone’s kind of doing the same thing as you, going live 24/7. What’s the key to an interesting livestream?

Megan Thee Stallion: I would just say to be you – so if you’re Megan Thee Stallion, you would get on there and you would turn up a little bit, probably twerk a little bit. That’s what the people like to see from me – maybe play some of my songs. If you’re somebody else, I would say that you need to be a little funny – if that’s what you’re known for on Instagram, crack people up with jokes. If you’re a make-up girl, you might want to get on there doing your make-up because that’s what we need to see right now. We need all of those tutorials. If you cook, then it’s gotta be about the ingredients, from the beginning to the end – what was the temperature on the stove, the oven… I just need details about everything that you’re doing. Just be interesting in what pertains to you.

Do you have any advice for dealing with loneliness and making sure that you’re still connected with people while socially distanced? 

Megan Thee Stallion: I know when outside was open and we were free to be out in the world and hanging out, nobody really necessarily utilised FaceTime as much as I feel they could have. It would just be like a quick call, and that’s it – but now everybody’s kind of forced to get to know each other a little better. I would say definitely utilise your FaceTime, your Zooms – there’s a lot of people just getting in random group chats, and I feel like that's super cool because you never know who you could connect with, you could have something in common with. So I would just say just be nice, be friendly, because there are a bunch of people that want to talk to you, too. 

People are getting really creative with dating in this time, too – I swear people are getting hornier because we’re apart.

Megan Thee Stallion: I know! On Twitter – after 11 o’clock, I have to log off because I’m just seeing these crazy things. Everybody wants to get active, everybody is really missing the human touch. I mean, let your freak flag fly – I love it! Everybody's super horny right now. There’s like whole apps for going on virtual dates. I’m like, every app is a dating app? Like Instagram is a dating app, Twitter is a dating app…

Yeah, have you watched Love is Blind? Did you see that somebody did Love is Quarantine? 

Megan Thee Stallion: That’s crazy, did it work? Did they fall in love? 

Well, they’re following up with them.

Megan Thee Stallion: That’s fire, ’cause Love Is Blind – I loved it, it was great. They should do another Love is Blind, I’d love to see that. 

There’s probably going to be loads of shows like that now.

Megan Thee Stallion: I need it, I need it. I love Love is Blind. Everybody’s gonna want to find somebody at this point. The girls are so ready to put on shorts and swimsuits and go twerk, and have fun, and drive the boat. It’s about to be so crazy. We had a hot girl summer – we always have a hot girl summer – but it’s about to be savage summer. Everybody’s about to be really cut up. If we’re ever going back outside, it’s gonna be so lit.

Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” remix featuring Beyoncé is out now