Megan Thee Stallion Feels “Hiss” Was A Cathartic Release, Calls New Album A “Renewal/Rebirth”

Megan Thee Stallion is opening up about her mental health journey, considering her chart-topping, unofficial diss track “Hiss” to be a cathartic release.

In a new cover story with L’OFFICIEL, she spoke candidly about the record, its subsequent response, and what led her to “get this s**t off [her] chest.”

“I absolutely did not know it was going to do all of that! I had no clue that was going to happen,” Megan explained. “I had been holding in feelings for a while. I felt like everybody was kicking me when I was down. It felt good to finally be able to just talk my talk because I was in a place where I was so down, and I didn’t want to do anything to disrupt any kind of peace. I felt like, ‘Oh, Megan Thee Stallion, everybody hates you right now. Don’t you say a word. Just be quiet.’”

However, the 29-year-old was admittedly happy to release the weighted burden on the scorching record because of how depression was affecting her.

“I felt so awful every day,” Meg shared. “It was such a hard place to get out of. I don’t even want to care who hates me, really. What I should be focusing on is the love that I do receive. That’s what I’m trying to get better about now. Everything is not going to be great all the time. If I’m going to be here for the cheers, I got to be here for the boos.”

Following its release in late January, “Hiss” earned the Houston native her third No. 1 hit on Billboard’s Hot 100 and first solo entry on the chart. It garnered over 29 million streams in its first week and nearly three million radio airplay impressions.

When opening up about her highly-anticipated new album, Meg revealed that it won’t focus on the negativity she’s been facing.

“‘Hiss’ was me just getting the things that I had to say off my chest. I’m really not focused on the negativity on my album. I have a lot of different songs on the album because my emotion doesn’t stop at anger,” she shared. “My emotion doesn’t stop at sadness because I did grow and I did start feeling more things. I started feeling really happy. So you have songs on the album that are about the positive times that I’m starting to have. You get a little bit of everything. You get all the emotions in there.”

The Grammy winner also noted that the theme of the LP is “renewal and rebirth.” Also, despite her experimenting with different sounds, it will still be very true to her artistry. “This is music I would like if I wasn’t Megan Thee Stallion […] It won’t feel like I went so left. It’ll feel true to me. You’ll almost be like, ‘I wouldn’t have thought she would’ve rapped over that, but this sounds great,’” Meg confirmed.

While the title for the new album has not been shared, it will likely be snake-themed, and is set to drop later this summer.