Speaker 1: Welcome to Inside the Studio presented by I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: I'm your host Joe Levy. All right, little bit of
Speaker 1: a change this time around. We are welcoming two guests
Speaker 1: to this episode of the home edition of the show,
Speaker 1: BB Rexa and her dog Bear, who makes a brief
Speaker 1: appearance and if it's too brief for you, Bear Rexa
Speaker 1: does have her own Instagram, which is how I know
Speaker 1: she really really likes vanilla milkshakes. As for BB, well,
Speaker 1: I know she's a really, really talented hit maker, able
Speaker 1: to write a number one hip hop single with M
Speaker 1: and M and also write and perform a number one
Speaker 1: country single with Florida Georgia Line. Her duet Meant to
Speaker 1: Be with Florida Georgia Line was just two weeks shy
Speaker 1: of spending an entire year at the top of Billboards
Speaker 1: Country Singles chart. I mean, this woman has range. And
Speaker 1: she told our quarantine correspondent Jordan Runtog all about of
Speaker 1: very autobiographical origins of her new single with Dojakat Baby,
Speaker 1: I'm Jealous. The home edition of Inside the Studio it's
Speaker 1: all about letting you into the creative lives of musicians.
Speaker 1: During lockdown and BB has been recording from the comfort
Speaker 1: of her couch vocals for what sounds like a really
Speaker 1: personal album that explores her life, her insecurities, and how
Speaker 1: she's dealt with them. Also, when she gives the pro
Speaker 1: tip to stay hydrated during times of stress, listen up
Speaker 1: because this woman speaks the truth. And I say this
Speaker 1: as somebody with a glass of water in his hand.
Speaker 1: As always, if you enjoy this episode, be sure to
Speaker 1: check out the I Heart Radio podcast that Jordan's hosts.
Speaker 1: It's called Rivals Music's Greatest Feuds and it is available
Speaker 1: wherever you get your shows. Hello everyone, my name is
Speaker 1: Jordan run Todd. But enough about me. Well, what can
Speaker 1: I say about my guest today? She's a bona fide
Speaker 1: pop goddess. She started out writing hits for Selena Gomez,
Speaker 1: Nick Jonas and the Eminem Rihanna duet Monster. Then she
Speaker 1: stepped into the spot light on her own with hits
Speaker 1: like Me, Myself and I and In the Name of
Speaker 1: Love Meant to Be. Her collaboration with Florida Georgia Line
Speaker 1: was recently certified diamonds, and now she's dropping a new single,
Speaker 1: Baby I'm Jealous featuring Doja cat as a track of
Speaker 1: her upcoming second album. It was ready for release earlier
Speaker 1: this year, but she's waiting to use her words until
Speaker 1: the world is a better place, and she's certainly doing
Speaker 1: her part. She's a beacon for body positivity, an outspoken
Speaker 1: advocate for mental health, and I can't be happier that
Speaker 1: she's here with us right now. Babe Rexa, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for taking the time today. Thank you, Jordan's
Speaker 1: It's so funny doing these shows over zoom because it
Speaker 1: always feels like we're just like dropping into people's homes.
Speaker 1: How far are you today? What have you been on?
Speaker 1: M nothing. I woke up, I walked my dog. She
Speaker 1: comes with me for my coffee. How's Bear doing? She's
Speaker 1: going coffee together today? And then I worked out. I
Speaker 1: did a little work out, and I just had some lunch.
Speaker 1: And then after this, I'm going to go buy some
Speaker 1: plunkin candles. I want to make my house. I just
Speaker 1: went on Amazon the other day and I bought so
Speaker 1: much Halloween decorations. It's not Oh my god, big Halloween.
Speaker 1: What's what's your favorite Halloween costume you've ever dressed up as?
Speaker 1: I think I was literally Superman one year when I
Speaker 1: was like, no, bear, don't bark. Sorry, she might bark throughout.
Speaker 1: She's kind of like spoiled my dog, so she may
Speaker 1: bark throughout the interview. But my favorite Halloween costume ever
Speaker 1: been is super Man, not Superwoman. It's so funny. I
Speaker 1: think my mom has a picture of it or was
Speaker 1: it Superwoman? I don't know was that? And I never
Speaker 1: really had another like I never had like an incredible
Speaker 1: Halloween costume. I'm always kind of I love decorating the
Speaker 1: house more than anything and like giving away candy. But
Speaker 1: I'm never good at like I don't. I just don't
Speaker 1: have patience for it to like get ready for three
Speaker 1: hours of face makeup and stuff. I mean, yeah, I
Speaker 1: feel like supposally when when your day job is getting
Speaker 1: out there and dressing up and everything and perform, I
Speaker 1: can imagine like doing that on your own time. It's like, no,
Speaker 1: I really don't feel right now like yeah, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go I'm going to be the natural me today. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just don't. I don't like sitting in hair makeup
Speaker 1: for like three hours. I hate it. But I like
Speaker 1: getting I like feeling I like feeling pretty though and
Speaker 1: getting ready. You know that's why I go for the
Speaker 1: Haulding costumes, like a mask or something like that, or
Speaker 1: something you could just throw on. I have so many
Speaker 1: things we're so excited to talk to you about today.
Speaker 1: First and foremost, your new song baby I'm Jealous. I
Speaker 1: love it. I've been humming it all day. It's about
Speaker 1: those times when jealousy turns you into a social media sleuth,
Speaker 1: which you know, when you're creeping on your partner's Instagram
Speaker 1: likes and we've all been there. Tell me about where
Speaker 1: that song cames. Was dating someone and a guy and
Speaker 1: I saw I got onto one of those crazy weird
Speaker 1: like the deep dive, which I'm like usually okay, but
Speaker 1: you know, I had one of those days where you
Speaker 1: feel a little insecure or whatever, you know, just like
Speaker 1: I don't know, like human, right, So I went on
Speaker 1: the Instagram and I SI like this same girl comment
Speaker 1: like leave heart's like you know, like kissy faces and
Speaker 1: like it was just on every picture, and I was like, hmmm,
Speaker 1: So I like went on her page. I was just
Speaker 1: looking at her pictures and I see that the guy
Speaker 1: that I was dating was like liking everyone of her pictures,
Speaker 1: but it was the ones that where she was like
Speaker 1: half naked in her like bikini photos that I was
Speaker 1: kind of like, that's kind of like I don't know
Speaker 1: if everybody has their own like boundaries and rules for
Speaker 1: Instagram and social media. But I didn't like that. So
Speaker 1: I literally told him. I was like, if it's your
Speaker 1: friends or something like that, totally fine. But like when
Speaker 1: they're like not really dressed, it makes me feel a
Speaker 1: little uncomfortable, and like, especially if they're leaving comments on
Speaker 1: your pages, it doesn't make me. I don't like it,
Speaker 1: Like this is the rule for me. These are the
Speaker 1: rules for me. And he was like yeah, and he
Speaker 1: was like okay, because then fast forward like two weeks later,
Speaker 1: he was still like liking her pictures and it still
Speaker 1: bothered me, and I was like, now I feel like
Speaker 1: insecure because I know that they kind of like I
Speaker 1: could just tell they liked each other. But he ended
Speaker 1: up liking these three girls pictures and they kind of
Speaker 1: like always going back and forth. It was so obvious,
Speaker 1: but they all look the same. They were all blonde hair,
Speaker 1: blue eyes, like super fit, super tall, like model esque.
Speaker 1: And I'm like five foot five, dark brown eyes and
Speaker 1: not that you know what I mean. So I got
Speaker 1: kind of a little insecure, and I was like, oh socks,
Speaker 1: like this sucks. I'm like I wish I looked like that.
Speaker 1: Is there something wrong with me? I don't know, Maybe
Speaker 1: I should buy blue contacts. And then I was like, wait,
Speaker 1: I'm like going crazy. So I went to the studio
Speaker 1: and I wrote the song like justin transwer and I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm just so jealous lately, like I wish
Speaker 1: I could look this certain way, you know, And then
Speaker 1: it's it's a song about being jealous. And what we
Speaker 1: want to do with the album is like it kind
Speaker 1: of inspired us. We're like, oh my god, we should
Speaker 1: totally write an album on like insecurities because it's like
Speaker 1: totally normal, Like I don't so many people. I've been
Speaker 1: on a vacation with the couple literally broke up but
Speaker 1: then got back together the next day because they found
Speaker 1: some shady stuff on Instagram and social media, and I
Speaker 1: was like, whoa. That was like, so I see every
Speaker 1: couple always dealing with this or I have. I even
Speaker 1: know a lot of couples who share Instagrams, which is
Speaker 1: like some next level something, but whoa, yeah, the password sharing,
Speaker 1: I'm not at that place yet. And I've been with
Speaker 1: my girlfriend for tenure. I think it's a trust thing, right,
Speaker 1: It's like building trust. Yeah, no, no, but you can't
Speaker 1: share your pass coald. If you're not sharing your pass coal,
Speaker 1: then what are you hiding nothing? I don't know. I
Speaker 1: think it's never been a discussion with us, I should say.
Speaker 1: But that's good. Also, like I think we're together for
Speaker 1: so long before Instagram and everything that maybe that was
Speaker 1: part of It's weird. It's like another level of like hard,
Speaker 1: you know, like I noticed it, especially like my younger
Speaker 1: like just like people like I was just you know,
Speaker 1: my band members, like just hearing the conversations that they have,
Speaker 1: like being on tour with everybody. It creates like a
Speaker 1: lot of issues in relationships. Social media does because everything
Speaker 1: is so much more accessible where it's like you could
Speaker 1: literally slide into d m s you know, right, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just it's so interesting to hear here
Speaker 1: you talk to me about insecurities because from an Ampie's
Speaker 1: side perspective, you're talented and successful with millions of fans.
Speaker 1: I mean, do you think, let me put it this way,
Speaker 1: do you think self acceptance is a journey or a destination.
Speaker 1: It's just something you're always working towards. Obviously you know that.
Speaker 1: I think I feel like, come on, that's the answer
Speaker 1: to that is it's a journey, like you'll never you know,
Speaker 1: I think maybe at a certain age or just so
Speaker 1: tired of caring anymore and you're like I'm over this,
Speaker 1: like you know, maybe when I'm like seventy years something.
Speaker 1: But I think it's a journey. And I think that
Speaker 1: I've learned too, which has made me more secure of
Speaker 1: myself more than ever now, is to like accept those
Speaker 1: insecurities or anything that makes me kind of feel because
Speaker 1: I kind of like I didn't like how I was
Speaker 1: feeling jealous, Like I wasn't liking it. I was kind
Speaker 1: of like why am I getting jealous of these girls?
Speaker 1: Like why am I so insecure? And I think it
Speaker 1: comes from a place of not like like loving yourself
Speaker 1: or knowing your worth. And I think when you start
Speaker 1: really being honest yourself and be like there's a reason
Speaker 1: why I'm jealous, Like you know, whatever you want to
Speaker 1: call it God or an energy, that there's a reason
Speaker 1: why human beings feel jealousy, Like we're meant to feel
Speaker 1: it for it's just part of us. You know what
Speaker 1: I mean. There was a line in the song that
Speaker 1: I kept thinking About'm thinking about it all day. It
Speaker 1: really stuck with me. This is me a woman in dichotomy.
Speaker 1: I love me until I don't talk to me about
Speaker 1: the dichotomy that is, I think that, you know, it's funny,
Speaker 1: like I feel like my life is like a dichotomy, right,
Speaker 1: like two things that are opposing each other. So like
Speaker 1: I come from like a very old school Albanian traditional
Speaker 1: family who like they wanted me to fine an all
Speaker 1: banion guy and probably get married by the time I
Speaker 1: was twenty and have kids like super early, you know,
Speaker 1: like my mom was sixteen when she got married, and
Speaker 1: it's just like the culture, right, But here I go,
Speaker 1: it's like the total opposite of that. What did I do?
Speaker 1: Like I was from New York and you know, should
Speaker 1: have gotten married. I had kids by the age was twenty,
Speaker 1: But then I left for the opposite side of New York,
Speaker 1: went to the West Coast to l A and went
Speaker 1: to do to try to be in pop music, which
Speaker 1: was like whoa, Like how could you do that? And
Speaker 1: then I think just dichotomy in the sense of women
Speaker 1: in general, we have to like be very like pure
Speaker 1: and virginal, but then we have to be like a
Speaker 1: freaking sheets And I feel like that's like for me
Speaker 1: as a woman in all just in all all cases,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, you love yourself one day, hate
Speaker 1: yourself the next. For women, we have a lot of dichotomy's,
Speaker 1: you know, like we have to be soft but you know,
Speaker 1: but still be hard in the sense. And it's like
Speaker 1: it's just constant, like you know, we have to kind
Speaker 1: of always balance that as females. It's kind of hard,
Speaker 1: you know. There are just so many emotional, vulnerable tracks
Speaker 1: on this record. Was there a song that was for
Speaker 1: you the most difficult to tackle, were the most meaningful?
Speaker 1: I think that probably the hardest would be none of
Speaker 1: the songs are really hard for me, because I feel
Speaker 1: like I became so I know, there's probably supposed to
Speaker 1: be an answer for a song. But I became so
Speaker 1: comfortable with Justin the room that I asked him to
Speaker 1: help executive produce the album because I just felt like
Speaker 1: I could walk in there and be like Justin, I'm
Speaker 1: about to get my period and like I'm just losing
Speaker 1: my mind, and like I could just say anything to him,
Speaker 1: you know, like I could just anything like the most
Speaker 1: insane thing, and I would just say, this is how
Speaker 1: I'm feeling, and he's like, let's put it in a song.
Speaker 1: And I feel like the process was super therapeutic and
Speaker 1: nothing was hard everything, and I feel like I've already
Speaker 1: I had already gone through those like moments and then
Speaker 1: I was just kind of expressing to him how I
Speaker 1: was feeling and he was able to make it so
Speaker 1: seamless and to a song. They were like really like
Speaker 1: just journals or like things that I was really going through,
Speaker 1: and he makes it so easy to like put it
Speaker 1: into words and music. You know, well, was there song
Speaker 1: from the album that represents you most in this moment?
Speaker 1: I have to look at my track list. There's like
Speaker 1: so many songs I like better mistakes because with better mistakes,
Speaker 1: I think it's funny because in life, like we all
Speaker 1: make mistakes. But I feel like, you know, as you
Speaker 1: get older, like, oh, I'll be fine when you know,
Speaker 1: when I get to a certain age, I'll figure it out.
Speaker 1: But it's like as you get older, like oh I
Speaker 1: have I'm still trying to figure out, like how do
Speaker 1: I do this? You know what I mean? Like I
Speaker 1: just feel like I'm making mistakes, but better ones. That's
Speaker 1: like where I'm at in my list. Yeah, ess actially
Speaker 1: I'm in my in my life like I'm you know,
Speaker 1: so better mistakes is interesting. It's like very playful, but
Speaker 1: like a meaningwise, it's like I'm just making better mistakes
Speaker 1: as I get older. You said you're holding the album
Speaker 1: until the world's a better place. Was I think the
Speaker 1: quote you shared any updates on when that is? I
Speaker 1: know when that is, but I don't know if like
Speaker 1: I'm ready to say when that is or if I'm
Speaker 1: allowed to yet. I think it's like just a bit
Speaker 1: like maybe we're like I'm a couple, Like it's a
Speaker 1: little too early to say. I feel guided to say sorry.
Speaker 1: Everything is so like you know, I don't want to
Speaker 1: say either because if I say something and then God forbid,
Speaker 1: it changes my fans get really upset and I feel
Speaker 1: like it's been a very long It's been two and
Speaker 1: a half years since I released like a project, so
Speaker 1: it's been really long or like over years since I've
Speaker 1: released a song, and with everything going on in the world,
Speaker 1: I don't want to say like, because you just never know,
Speaker 1: God forbid everything goes smoothly and everything is okay, and
Speaker 1: every reason everything gets better. But it's hard because everything
Speaker 1: has changed. You know, interviews are different. Look, we're doing
Speaker 1: this and I know we're seeing each other's faces, but
Speaker 1: we would have probably have done this in person. It's
Speaker 1: just so much different, Like you're not feeling people's energies
Speaker 1: as much, and it's hard, like when you can't, you know,
Speaker 1: go on the road and stop at the radio stations
Speaker 1: and and talk to people and and you know, eat
Speaker 1: like barbecue food and Texas or whatever. Just you know
Speaker 1: those energies and do it the proper way. There's one
Speaker 1: song I'm really looking forward to hearing, looking forward for
Speaker 1: your fans to hearing to break my Heart myself. You
Speaker 1: shared some some lyrics from that where you are very
Speaker 1: open about your bipolo di sort of referencing the five
Speaker 1: point seven million Americans who are also living with bipolar disorder.
Speaker 1: You first shared your diagnosis last year on Twitter. What
Speaker 1: made you decide that it was time to open up
Speaker 1: about that party? I always felt scared all my life.
Speaker 1: I felt I feel like I always felt even when
Speaker 1: I was younger, I was always scared of like going crazy,
Speaker 1: Like I was just so scared I don't know. I
Speaker 1: was just I saw I think a movie or I
Speaker 1: had a family member or somebody they had literally like
Speaker 1: gone crazy, like mentally unstable, like unwell like, and that
Speaker 1: just scared me. I don't know why. I was just
Speaker 1: always so scared of it. I just wanted to be normal,
Speaker 1: and I was just so I don't know. It was
Speaker 1: just like a weird fear that I had. And you know,
Speaker 1: I had gone into the studio with Justin. I said,
Speaker 1: I just spoke to my doctor and they told me
Speaker 1: that I'm bipolar. And I said, I just, you know,
Speaker 1: because it takes a second to kind of like figure out,
Speaker 1: like it takes years to kind of you know, first
Speaker 1: things anxiety and depression and you don't know, and then
Speaker 1: you get manic or and the depressed, and so it
Speaker 1: takes a second. But I went to see it Justin
Speaker 1: and I said, I just I'm so scared of going crazy.
Speaker 1: And I don't want people to think that I'm crazy
Speaker 1: or like judge me, or like feel like I could
Speaker 1: have done more in my life because a lot of
Speaker 1: times I feel like, uh, in the industry or in
Speaker 1: life in general, people can really judge you. You know,
Speaker 1: she's crazy. And especially as a female, you know, they
Speaker 1: could forget also like that you're human in this industry
Speaker 1: and they could kind of treat you like a product.
Speaker 1: So I just didn't want to ever feel like I
Speaker 1: messed anything up because of my mental illness. And I
Speaker 1: always feel like that was always something that was so hard.
Speaker 1: It always kind of felt like two um like I
Speaker 1: had two weights, like you know, two dumbbells, like heavy
Speaker 1: dumbbells on my shoulders at all times. So it's like
Speaker 1: when you do something, you know, you're getting ready to
Speaker 1: go on stage, and then something happens or the panic attack,
Speaker 1: and it just it just throws everything off or your
Speaker 1: depressed and you don't want to get out of the house,
Speaker 1: but you off to it's like your job, and like
Speaker 1: people don't care in the day, like everybody goes through this, right,
Speaker 1: So I feel like for me, I wanted just to
Speaker 1: write a song about that and just be open up,
Speaker 1: that honest about it and and just as I said,
Speaker 1: what the album is like, except my insecurity and be
Speaker 1: like I'm scared, here's another insecurity, Like not only am
Speaker 1: I jealous, but I'm scared of going crazy, And let
Speaker 1: me write a song about it. And you know, we
Speaker 1: kind of did a twist on it where it's like
Speaker 1: it's not about love, it's about like life in general,
Speaker 1: Like nobody could ever break my heart as much as
Speaker 1: I've broken my own heart in the in the past,
Speaker 1: and the way that my mental illness has and the
Speaker 1: nights and months and years I've spent stuck in my house,
Speaker 1: scared to leave the house because I was so scared
Speaker 1: of everything. So um, it's it's very empowering in the
Speaker 1: sense of I was able to like, this is just
Speaker 1: who I am and this is a part of me,
Speaker 1: and I'm not scared of it anymore. And yeah, thank
Speaker 1: you for going there with me, and thank you for
Speaker 1: going there with all of your fans. So I know
Speaker 1: you've been very open about this, going back to you
Speaker 1: know for years with I'm Gonna Show You Crazy, I
Speaker 1: mean that was from I didn't know about I'm going
Speaker 1: to Show You Crazy and didn't the label fight you
Speaker 1: want that too? Sorry, this is a fan. This is
Speaker 1: me the fan coming out. No, it's okay. You know
Speaker 1: what it was. It was just like I think when
Speaker 1: I'm going to Show You Crazy came out, it was
Speaker 1: crazy because you think about it, that was like five
Speaker 1: years before or like six years before, like Logic came
Speaker 1: out with the one Dred, So that was not okay
Speaker 1: to say that, Like, it was not okay to say like,
Speaker 1: there's a war inside my head. Sometimes I wish that
Speaker 1: I was dead. I'm broken, and I'm going to show
Speaker 1: you crazy. You want to see local maniac, I'll show you.
Speaker 1: And it was like a kind of like an anthem
Speaker 1: to myself. People thought it was about love, but I
Speaker 1: was writing this anthem about mental illness. And I had
Speaker 1: put it out on Christmas Eve and it was Spotify
Speaker 1: was a new thing because I had gone to Sweden
Speaker 1: for a writing trip with my brother for two weeks
Speaker 1: and I had met this young, i mean this older
Speaker 1: couple excuse me, and they were like, what are you
Speaker 1: two doing here? And I was like, oh, I'm a singer,
Speaker 1: I'm a musician. She's like, oh, what's your Spotify page?
Speaker 1: And it was like, what's that? Because we didn't even
Speaker 1: have nobody really had it here, nobody knew what it
Speaker 1: was us. And I had gone home to my manager
Speaker 1: I said, I want to open a Spotify and he's like,
Speaker 1: a Spotify you mean, he's like an account and I'm
Speaker 1: like yes. So the first song we put on Spotify
Speaker 1: was I'm going to Show You Crazy, and we had
Speaker 1: literally put it out. I had no push, nobody believed
Speaker 1: in it. And it's still accumulated, like I don't know,
Speaker 1: forty million streams like with nothing, no push, nothing like,
Speaker 1: and I think it really spoke to people. I can't
Speaker 1: tell you the amount because I did the Warp tour.
Speaker 1: I can't tell you the amount of young girls, but
Speaker 1: young girls and their moms or like guys and their
Speaker 1: dads are like so many mothers have like cried on
Speaker 1: my shoulder being like thank you so much, like this
Speaker 1: song has also helped me. I don't know. I guess
Speaker 1: it was. It's hard to deal with teenagers, you know,
Speaker 1: but like it was, it was very It was very
Speaker 1: touching to me those times because I was going through
Speaker 1: tough times too, and I felt like it was very
Speaker 1: therapeutic for me because I didn't understand yet what I
Speaker 1: was going through. I just knew I didn't feel good.
Speaker 1: I wasn't I didn't have I wasn't receiving the help
Speaker 1: at that time, Like I was talking to a therapist
Speaker 1: and but I wasn't on medication. None of that like
Speaker 1: I was just feeling. I was my way of trying
Speaker 1: to put it out in a song, I'm going to
Speaker 1: shoot crazy. But I had no idea like what I
Speaker 1: was really dealing with. I thought I just had like
Speaker 1: some anxiety or whatever. Helped an awful lot of people
Speaker 1: by being so open about it. I know during this
Speaker 1: quarantine time, a lot of people are really hurting, especially
Speaker 1: people who aren't getting the help that I need with
Speaker 1: with mental health. Do you have any advice for those
Speaker 1: people just to to help keep Yeah, you know, I
Speaker 1: spoke to my therapist and um because in the beginning
Speaker 1: of quarantine, you could really get down on yourself. Right.
Speaker 1: The first thing that she told me, which I shared
Speaker 1: on my on my Instagram, to try to make somewhat
Speaker 1: of a schedule for yourself. It's like when you wake
Speaker 1: up in the morning, even if it's like making yourself
Speaker 1: a coffee and then making your list for the taking
Speaker 1: your shower, making lists for the day, doing a workout.
Speaker 1: But for me, what I find is that I have
Speaker 1: I have my routine. I wake up in the morning,
Speaker 1: I put my water on like my French press on,
Speaker 1: I prepare my French press, I grind the beans like
Speaker 1: it's so extra, but I just it helps me. Like
Speaker 1: just you know, the first a minute meditation, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: walk my dog, you know, I feed my dog dog,
Speaker 1: and then I like go into a workout. Working out
Speaker 1: has helped me so much. Oh, the mind body connection
Speaker 1: is crazy. We need to talk more about that. Even
Speaker 1: if you can't find yourself because like when you're really depressed,
Speaker 1: you're not feeling good, it's like you don't want to
Speaker 1: do anything. But even if it's like getting out of
Speaker 1: your bed and just doing like a stretch to touch
Speaker 1: your toes like awd stretch just like opening like you know,
Speaker 1: putting your hands up and like trying to stretch your back.
Speaker 1: Just like stretching moves the blood around so much and
Speaker 1: puts oxygen into your body. So that's like so important too.
Speaker 1: Simple things like that, or even just like being like
Speaker 1: every morning I'm gonna wake up and the first thing
Speaker 1: that I drink is like a cup of water and
Speaker 1: like squeeze lemon or try to drink more water because
Speaker 1: what we what I'm learning too, I'm sorry, I'm getting
Speaker 1: really crazy on this because I've been setting a lot
Speaker 1: and I actually love nutrition. What I'm learning is that
Speaker 1: everything you know when we drink coffee, we're constantly changing
Speaker 1: the chemical the way the chemicals work in our body.
Speaker 1: We like coffee because it releases a certain chemical and
Speaker 1: it makes us feel good. We like to eat chocolate
Speaker 1: because it releases a certain chemical. Working out to some
Speaker 1: people sucks, but afterwards, like you feel so good. You're
Speaker 1: like wow, like I killed it. You feel like if
Speaker 1: you feel like you know so much, right if the endorphins.
Speaker 1: So life is all about how we were constantly manipulating
Speaker 1: our chemicals and doing small things like drinking more water,
Speaker 1: or stretching or even putting on a nice candle that
Speaker 1: you love, or painting. I started painting. I'm not good
Speaker 1: at all. I am so bad at painting. That's so cool?
Speaker 1: What what kind of abstract or painting? It's so bad.
Speaker 1: It is so bad, Like I think I threw it out.
Speaker 1: I was like, no, I can't, honestly, like I bet
Speaker 1: like a four year old would paint better than me.
Speaker 1: I'm such a enough for some reason, I will tell you,
Speaker 1: Jordan's like, I suck at drawing anything with drawing or paint.
Speaker 1: I'm not good at it. I can't. I always did.
Speaker 1: You gotta save your first couple. So that's someday you
Speaker 1: can look back and see how far you come. Mom good,
Speaker 1: I'm not good. I don't have patience. That's why I
Speaker 1: don't want to do like the whole layering, the right
Speaker 1: way to paint, you know what I mean. I love it.
Speaker 1: I bought his set, yeah, like the trees and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. I like, like watched like his but I
Speaker 1: watched his YouTube videos. I came with the CD, but
Speaker 1: I don't have a CD player. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: want on YouTube. And just like I started watching how
Speaker 1: he painted. I was like, oh, this is very therapeutic,
Speaker 1: like listening to him talk. Oh yeah, it's totally SMR.
Speaker 1: That's like crazy. During quarantine, I was like, I should
Speaker 1: buy an original Bob Ross painting. I've looked. They are
Speaker 1: really They're hard to find. Hard to find, they really are.
Speaker 1: And now I'm like, what was I thinking? Like why
Speaker 1: would I? I don't know. But he's he was awesome though,
Speaker 1: really chill, really really relaxing. Oh totally. Have you been
Speaker 1: writing a lot of music in the morning? Like to
Speaker 1: see where I'm sitting and sitting right extra my microphone
Speaker 1: excuse me, So I have like this little couch in
Speaker 1: my room and I just like it in the corner
Speaker 1: or like at the corner of my dining room table.
Speaker 1: I have my laptop set up and I have my
Speaker 1: two little speakers. Like it's not well, like I finished
Speaker 1: a lot of the album sitting on this couch without
Speaker 1: like a recording booth, no proper like anything, just like
Speaker 1: two speakers, a microphone, and a pair of headphones. A
Speaker 1: lot more personal and intimate, and it's like recording right,
Speaker 1: and vocals are not like perfectly like quiet and clean.
Speaker 1: But I'm like, you know, it just gives it like
Speaker 1: some type of like depth or whatever. We'll see. It's
Speaker 1: so much more fun though I think it's fun. It's
Speaker 1: fun doing sessions, but they're never as good as when
Speaker 1: you're in person, like we do zoom sessions now where
Speaker 1: there will be like four people on zoom. It's so
Speaker 1: hard because, like you know, it cuts off somebody like
Speaker 1: I have a nice song idea and they'll be playing
Speaker 1: the guitar and then I'll be seeing something and it's
Speaker 1: just never linked up. It's a nightmare. But it's funnel
Speaker 1: because like I could be like guys one second, and
Speaker 1: I can like walk to my kitchen and make myself
Speaker 1: like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a cup of coffee,
Speaker 1: like open up my fridge and like making the melody,
Speaker 1: like cooking myself an omelet. I could do anything. I
Speaker 1: could like go to the bathroom like in my own house.
Speaker 1: It's like so awesome. You could be like your robe,
Speaker 1: you know, to leave your house. It's awesome. I could
Speaker 1: write a song from my bed. It's so fun. I
Speaker 1: saw that you shared your your phone number with fans
Speaker 1: on social media, and I've been getting a lot of
Speaker 1: what's the wildest thing anyone's texted you? Like PG thirteen
Speaker 1: level I should say, what's what's the people told you
Speaker 1: anything private parts? And I'm like, this is unacceptable. I
Speaker 1: had to like tweet about it. Was like please everybody,
Speaker 1: please do not send me private parts. It's not right,
Speaker 1: Like I don't like it. I didn't even think of
Speaker 1: that until right when I was saying the question. I
Speaker 1: was like, oh no, that's not like it was. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So people have been like trying to text people and
Speaker 1: they're like, this is not you. And then I'm like,
Speaker 1: what's the point of me texting back if they don't
Speaker 1: even believe it's me? You know, I'm like, it's me, Hey,
Speaker 1: what's up. Like it depends on how I feel, but
Speaker 1: I go on. I'll usually tweet like go, I'll go
Speaker 1: on and be like I'm gonna hey, guys, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go like text some people, but like, yeah, it's kind
Speaker 1: of hard to text everybody, so like you could do
Speaker 1: like the mass texting if like you're you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. But I try to text as much as
Speaker 1: I can if they're being nice, because some people are
Speaker 1: like text me back, you stupid bitch. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: I swear. Everybody has their own techniques of trying to
Speaker 1: get attention to the attention, you know, like there's like
Speaker 1: the sweet fans who I usually actually just so people
Speaker 1: know respond to or try to respond to, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean like it's what like twenty text messages, like
Speaker 1: too much to respond to everybody's hard. It's impossible, so like,
Speaker 1: but I try to respond to the nice messages that
Speaker 1: are like inspiring. But then some people are like really mean,
Speaker 1: They're like this is not you, you stupid bitch, Like
Speaker 1: I hope you die unless you unless you respond, then
Speaker 1: you'll be okay. And I'm like, whoa legit legit Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not joking. Yeah, ruthless, n hear that everyone, it's
Speaker 1: really her. I'm not gonna respond to mean ones never,
Speaker 1: no way. There's something I want to ask you. I
Speaker 1: think I saw that you are are learning how to drive.
Speaker 1: Do I have that? I got my license already? Oh
Speaker 1: you did, okay recently, right before quarantine. No. I got
Speaker 1: my license in December, December. December. I got it like
Speaker 1: October December, so, oh my god, it's been a year.
Speaker 1: Oh my, well, congratulations. I just bought my first car
Speaker 1: in ten years. And I live in New York and
Speaker 1: I haven't driven in like fifteen years, and it's bad.
Speaker 1: So I wanted to never drive New York. I would
Speaker 1: be so scared. I mean, I grew up like I
Speaker 1: grew up in New York City, and you don't need
Speaker 1: to drive. Like I took the train. I grew up
Speaker 1: on Staten Island, so I took the train. Would come
Speaker 1: every thirty minutes. I would take the train. It was
Speaker 1: a thirty minute ride. It would drop you off to
Speaker 1: the ferry. Then the ferry was another thirty minutes, so
Speaker 1: that's about an hour. And then you could get off
Speaker 1: off the ferry and you could walk to Bowling Green
Speaker 1: and there's like the four or five train, or you
Speaker 1: could like walk to the one train whatever, and that's
Speaker 1: how it get to like school work whatever. Like I
Speaker 1: would just take two trains in a vote or three
Speaker 1: trains in a vote. It's so cool to have a
Speaker 1: boat it on your commute. Oh gosh, No, it's so long. No,
Speaker 1: Because like one time I was coming back home and
Speaker 1: it was like late at night from a studio session,
Speaker 1: and I had found like a knife, like like a
Speaker 1: pocket knife in the bathroom on the floor. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: was creepy. It was no, it was hidden, like it
Speaker 1: was hidden in the toilet dispenser, like where the toilet papers,
Speaker 1: but it was stuck. So I was like trying to
Speaker 1: open it and then I opened up the knife fell out.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god. Yes, then they opened
Speaker 1: up the express bus, but that was like at the time,
Speaker 1: it was twelve bucks for a ride, and that was
Speaker 1: really expensive for me. So I tried to like do
Speaker 1: the ferry as much as I could. At that time,
Speaker 1: the train ride was was free. I I heard that
Speaker 1: unfortunately your your your parents contracted COVID. How have they
Speaker 1: been feeling now? I know this was a couple of
Speaker 1: months ago, they're feeling better. Yeah, I think, Um, it
Speaker 1: really affected my mom a lot because she kill me
Speaker 1: for saying, but she got really she was really scared
Speaker 1: after like she was really really really really sick, to
Speaker 1: the point where she said it was like a weird
Speaker 1: thing where she got sick. And then I would talk
Speaker 1: to her on FaceTime, but she wouldn't tell me because
Speaker 1: she don't want to scare me because my dad had
Speaker 1: gone it bad. My mom got it worse, but she
Speaker 1: got a little better, and then she got worse, like
Speaker 1: it got really bad, but it was like this weird
Speaker 1: thing which she'd be like really sick for three days,
Speaker 1: a little bit better on the fourth day, really bad
Speaker 1: for day six, seven and a and then a little
Speaker 1: better and then really bad. But I remember, like by
Speaker 1: a week two, like she was just over it, like
Speaker 1: just laying and could not even get out of bed
Speaker 1: to go to the bathroom, like she was just so sick. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're trying to get her to the hospital, but she
Speaker 1: couldn't even get up. She's like, I really I just
Speaker 1: really can't, like just let me be here. And she
Speaker 1: was scared, and so after that she was kind of
Speaker 1: really like I think it really really affected her, Like
Speaker 1: she was so scared to leave that it's like paranoid,
Speaker 1: like scared, like I would be too, you know. But
Speaker 1: now she's finally like feels so much better from it.
Speaker 1: But I know a lot of people that, like my
Speaker 1: one of my friends whose dad got in she said
Speaker 1: it aged her father like ten years, like it really
Speaker 1: like he had a little heart problem and exacerbated it
Speaker 1: be like this huge thing, you know. So when people
Speaker 1: say it's not real, I'm like, no, it definitely is real.
Speaker 1: I've like, unfortunately, like I had it in my family.
Speaker 1: It was bad, Yeah, both of my parents. I was like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, you've said that one of the upsides
Speaker 1: of everybody being sort of stuck in their home. So
Speaker 1: you said you've actually felt closer to your family because
Speaker 1: you've been talking to him. Oh my gosh, I've been like, well,
Speaker 1: now we kind of stopped, but we were doing like
Speaker 1: zoom sessions was so cute twenty people Like on a
Speaker 1: zoom session, it was a whole extended family. Oh no,
Speaker 1: not that's not extended, honey, that's my uncle's my mom. Like,
Speaker 1: don't forge, I'm Albanian, So I'll ban from New York City.
Speaker 1: So think about like a whole bunch of Europeans screening
Speaker 1: at each other on the phone. But that's how we talk.
Speaker 1: How are you good, how's everything? Nice to say, yes,
Speaker 1: you look great. Oh you got a little fat there, okay,
Speaker 1: it tybe, you gotta lay off the banana brett okay.
Speaker 1: And they're like, you know, just like just oh, thanks,
Speaker 1: thank you, uncle Bet, like you're so sweet, thank you,
Speaker 1: so like upfront New York City realness European, like just
Speaker 1: say it like it is no filled turs. But I
Speaker 1: love them so much. My mom had it's their total
Speaker 1: of eight brothers and sisters, and my dad is a
Speaker 1: total of seven. And I have thirty two first cousins
Speaker 1: just on my mom's side. That's not my second cousins.
Speaker 1: And I have another thirty So I have over like
Speaker 1: sixty something almost seventy one cousins. But if you want
Speaker 1: to combine all my second cousins, we're going in the hundreds,
Speaker 1: like hundred and something. That's so cool. I'm Sicilian, so
Speaker 1: I got a little bit of that, but that's a
Speaker 1: different level. That's so we're on some next level albeing
Speaker 1: in like yeah, we have a we have a wedding.
Speaker 1: Somebody says, like a person wedding. I'm like, okay, so
Speaker 1: that's just my cousins and my and my aunt's and uncles.
Speaker 1: So yeah. So you know when people say like small
Speaker 1: weddings because we have such big families, like you have
Speaker 1: to invite everybody because like everybody gets upset, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: one of my cousins got married and it it was like
Speaker 1: five and fifty people, and that was like them like
Speaker 1: cutting the list. It's a thousand and they had to
Speaker 1: cut it to five fifty and that was like close.
Speaker 1: Family take up too much more of your time. But
Speaker 1: my my last question that I always like to end done.
Speaker 1: It's so interesting to hear everybody's different answers. If you
Speaker 1: could snap your fingers and have everything go back to normal,
Speaker 1: whatever your definition of normal is, you know this time
Speaker 1: last year, what would be the first thing that you
Speaker 1: would do? People, you'd hug, places, you'd go. Um, I
Speaker 1: would probably jump on a plane with my dog, book
Speaker 1: a ticket or whatever, and I would go back to
Speaker 1: New York. But I could do that now, but it
Speaker 1: would just I would be a little bit more scared,
Speaker 1: you know, And I would probably go home to my
Speaker 1: parents go to my favorite bakery and Staten Island and
Speaker 1: have my favorite Italian rainbow cookies and like a good
Speaker 1: slice of a good slice of pizza. And then I
Speaker 1: would probably wait, what's your favorite bakery? I gotta ask.
Speaker 1: I'm a big Italian bakery. Bakery. Have you been there?
Speaker 1: Classic amazing at time cookies. That's the one thing about
Speaker 1: l A is like has incredible food, but the things
Speaker 1: they don't have amazing Italian desserts, Like where is that
Speaker 1: at I've been telling the guy from the bakery there.
Speaker 1: I was like, I'll put the money in just so
Speaker 1: the bakery could be near me, so I could walk
Speaker 1: in there every day and just get the rainbow cookies
Speaker 1: or the raspberry filled butter cookies. Oh my god, dipped
Speaker 1: in chocolate with the sprinkles kill me better. So amazing.
Speaker 1: But um, I would honestly get on the flight and
Speaker 1: I would love to just see my family and just
Speaker 1: go apple picking and just hug my mom, my dad,
Speaker 1: and you know, just with no with no worries, like
Speaker 1: just you know what I mean, Like no, you know,
Speaker 1: like I could do that now, but I would be
Speaker 1: so scared to be around them. I wouldn't want to
Speaker 1: like or my grandma like. I wouldn't want to put
Speaker 1: them at risk, you know, just to be safe. You know.
Speaker 1: I don't want them to God forbid get it again
Speaker 1: or whatever. But I would just love to see my family,
Speaker 1: hug them, go apple picking, and just feel the fall
Speaker 1: weather in New York. I missed the fall weather. That
Speaker 1: is a wonderful answer. Thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 1: It's been such a pleasure. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Jordan's We hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside the
Speaker 1: Studio Home Edition, a production of I Heart Radio. For
Speaker 1: more episode, it's an Inside the Studio and other shows
Speaker 1: from I heart Radio, check out the I heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.