Megan Thee Stallion Says Her Alter-Egos Were ‘Like My Shield’ When Performing. Now She Doesn’t Need Them

Megan Thee Stallion explained why she dropped her alter egos like “Hot-Girl Meg” and “Tina Snow” for her latest album, Traumazine.

In a new interview with New York Magazine, the rapper opened up about tapping into her emotional side while recording her upcoming album Traumazine, revealing that she won’t be performing the tracklist in character — not even really as Megan Thee Stallion — but instead as herself on her upcoming tour in support of the LP (no North American dates have been announced yet).

“My alter egos have been people that I had to be at those times to be like my armor, like my shield,” she said. “I had to be Hot-Girl Meg at that time. I had to be Tina Snow at that time. I had to be Megan Thee Stallion at that time. I love this album because I feel like it’s just me talking. It’s just Megan. It’s not me having to be anybody else.”

Meg also stressed the importance of getting to tell her “own story” with her latest work.

“I can’t just let everybody tell me what they think about me,” she said. “I have to tell my own story the way I feel like it should be told. I can’t leave my fate in anybody else’s hands.”

She also explained where the album title Traumazine came from: “Everybody has gone through their own trauma in their own way, and to me, Traumazine is me facing the things that I’ve been running from about myself.”

“It’s comforting to know that other people are going through the same thing that you might be feeling. When something happens to people, they feel like, Oh my gosh, this is only me. This is not normal, or I’m probably the only person in the world that feels like this. But to hear somebody else talking about something that you’re probably feeling, it’s more comforting and more familiar,” she added. “That’s why people resonate with hearing other people’s stories.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Meg discussed her ambitions beyond music, specifically making in-roads in Hollywood. She confirmed that she has a role in the new Marvel/Disney+ series She-Hulk, and she’ll also appear in the upcoming A24 film, Fucking Identical Twins. 

Her dream part, she said, would be taking over the role of Isis from Gabrielle Union in a reboot of the cheerleading franchise, Bring It On (“I would be perfect for that”). But Meg also sees herself being more involved behind-the-scenes, like Queen Latifah and Ice Cube.

“When I look at them, it inspires me to take it further than just music,” she said. “I don’t feel like I’m only going to be an actress — I feel like I’m also going to be a director, and I’m also going to be a producer.”

From Rolling Stone US.