Crews 
Ashanti celebrates the 15th anniversary of her debut album on April 2, and the singer is reminiscing on her career with Harper’s Bazaar, and teasing some highly anticipated new music.
Get into the highlights of her sit down below.
On her debut album, Ashanti, turning 15 years old:
“It’s crazy. It’s an awesome feeling to know through it all—all my trials and tribulations, the obstacles, and the ups and the downs, the growing pains of the music industry—to still be here and being on tour and having people scream out your records and crying and standing on line and doing meet and greets and buying your T-shirt… it’s an incredible, humbling feeling. I’m super blessed to have an amazing team with my momager, my attorney—a team of people that I’ve known since I was
On how that album helped shape her career:
“I think it definitely set the tone for who I am and what music resonates with females—and males too. My album as a debut artist is still in the Guinness Book of World Records. It’s an amazing feeling. It gave me the ability to grow and become more and more vulnerable as each album came out. It’s funny because last night I was in Berlin and there were so many females that were like, ‘This record saved my life,’ and ‘I’ve been following you since I was six’ or ‘since I was nine.’ To see how records really penetrate, it’s such a filling feeling. Like, I don’t even know this person and to be able to perform a record that touches them like that is really cool. I would have never thought back when I was 19 that I would be in Berlin, Germany performing and having girls cry about how these records touched them.”
On her musical relationship with Ja Rule:
“I think that we have a very unique relationship. I think it’s the fact that we are extremely genuine and our chemistry is so authentic. It’s real, it’s always been since day one. It just happens. We get on stage together and sometimes if we don’t see each other for a few months or a few years or whatever it is, we get back onstage and it feels like we’ve been hanging out all day. It’s been like that from the first time we ever worked together. It’s weird because it’s always been like that.
We’ve gotten so much closer after what happened with Ja. [Editor’s note: the rapper was sentenced to a two-year prison sentence in 2011 for a gun-related charge. He was released in 2013.] When he went, we had a three-hour conversation and I wrote him while he was in and sent cards and all of that. And when he came out, it was like we became way more close than we were. We were over in Australia together. We were going to these other shows and the zoo—crazy stuff together as a family. He’s really like my brother. It’s great to really care about and love someone that you work with and made history with. I bounce ideas off of him and he does the same. It’s great to see people that love us individually and they love us together.”
On her new single, “Lose Yourself”:
“My new single will be coming out very, very soon. I’m trying to get the video shot as soon as I get back. The song is incredible. I played it in one of the venues during soundcheck out here and the whole venue was like, ‘Holy sh*t, is that Ashanti’s new record?! No way!’ I’m just really excited about it. And obviously, being able to release my single on my own record label, called Written Entertainment, and having done everything independently, is such an awesome feeling. I’m stoked about that.”
On her new sound:
“This new song is completely different. Let’s just say, with me and Ja knowing each other for over 15 years, when I played him the record, he was like, ‘Who’s that? Yo thats you?’ He made me start the record over! He was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you gotta put that out tonight.’ It’s safe to say that it’s very different and so dope. It’s really a nice change. It’s current, it’s urgent. When you do put the two together, you’re like, ‘Damn it does sound like Ashanti, but something new, something 2017.”
You can read the full interview and see snaps HERE.
