Almost 25 years on, Grammy-winning R&B star Ashanti still boasts one of pop’s wildest inaugurations.
In April 2002, when she was just 21, her smash hits Always On Time (with Ja Rule), What’s Luv? (with Fat Joe) and Foolish , her debut solo single – still a party-starting triptych for any Millennial – made her the first artist since the Beatles to have her first three charting songs in the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot 100 at the same time. Equalling the Beatles? It’s quite a remarkable way to introduce yourself.
“Yes, it really was,” Ashanti, now 46, says over Zoom from New York, ahead of her Australian tour this month. She’s spent her morning planning a surprise birthday party for her husband, the Hot in Herre rapper Nelly, and the couple’s two-year-old son KK distracts her playfully throughout the call.
“I love Australia, it’s always a great time there,” she says. “You guys have amazing seafood, the weather is always great, it’s just positive energy. I was pregnant the last time we were in Australia, so I actually have a really cool doctor out there too, which is important.”
Indecisiveness. I wake up like, “Oh my gosh, do I want to wear low-cut socks today? Do I want to wear pink socks? Do I not want to wear socks?” It goes from things that are very important to things that are not so important, big financial decisions to things like “What am I gonna make for KK’s lunch, organic pizza rolls or eggplant or what?!” I’m always overthinking.
Not being able to accomplish as much as I would like to accomplish. I’ve achieved a lot and I’m very grateful, but there are so many more things I want to do. One of my goals is to make everyone on my team at least five million to seven million dollars. That’s every single person on my team. Thankfully, my team ain’t that big! I have a very nice, intimate team. The shortest period I’ve worked with someone has been 15 years. Everybody else has been on my team for close to 20 years.
“When it’s not fun any more, don’t do it.” That when the music industry and your career becomes the same as a nine-to-five and you’re not finding the joy in it any more, then just stop doing it. It was Ja [Rule] who told me that. We were at the Sanderson Hotel in London around my first time in the UK [in 2002 or 2003]. He gave me that advice all the way back then.
Honestly, I don’t really have regrets. Even when things don’t turn out great, you try to take the lesson from it. It’s a part of learning and manoeuvring. I was 14 years old when I signed my first record deal. I’ve learned more lessons since then than I’d probably have time to ever talk about. There have been decisions I look back on like, “Oh my gosh, why didn’t I do that deal?” But I’m in an amazing space. There’s a lot of history under my belt. We made our mark in the music industry. I have an amazing family, husband and son. My health is great. So I’m just really grateful.
It was probably when I first realised that, for lack of better words, I’d kind of made it. I was going to do a signing for my first album [2002’s Ashanti ]. Remember when fans would line up at a record store and you’d actually physically sign CDs? I did something in Manhattan and there were so many police that had to come and put up barricades because there were so many people outside, and they said they’d never seen anything like it. I was just like, “Oh my gosh, all these people are here for me!”
I mean, I wish I wrote “Happy Birthday” [laughs]. That’s a song everyone sings constantly, all over the world, young and old. I’ve been hearing it a lot lately. I had the best birthday ever a couple weeks ago in the Cayman Islands with family and friends. I actually got in the middle of the ocean with the stingrays, we saw bioluminescence, we did everything. And then I had another birthday party in New York City, and a surprise party with my family in St. Louis. It’s just been birthday, birthday, birthday.
Hmm, I’d probably just jump to New Year’s Eve [laughs]. Probably somewhere in the Caribbean, some kind of island with clear water and powdery sand, and at minimum 85-90 degrees Fahrenheit (29-32 degrees celsius). That’s where I’m hoping to get to.
Ashanti, supported by Sydney R&B singer Riah, will perform at Perth’s Riverside Theatre on November 9, Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall on November 11, Sydney’s TikTok Arena on November 13, and Melbourne’s Crown Live on November 14.
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