Cardi B says struggles with anxiety prevented her from releasing new music — and fully living her life — in 2023.
“I just feel like I lost myself with everything, you know like a lot of music commenters and everything and a lot of people just be like, you know, ‘She’s afraid to drop an album, she’s afraid to drop music,’” Cardi, 31, said on the Saturday, March 16 episode of 360 with Speedy. “Like last year, I barely dropped music. It’s just like I was just afraid to do everything.”
It’s been six years since the rapper released her four-times platinum debut album, Invasion of Privacy, in 2018, and her fans are begging for the follow-up. Last year, Cardi only released one single, “Bongos” in September 2023 featuring Megan Thee Stallion.
Now six months later, Cardi is coming out of her shell. She dropped “Like What (Freestyle)” the first week of March, and a new single, “Enough (Miami)” on Friday, March 15. As she looks back at 2023. Cardi admits she lost her confidence and refrained from her normal public activities.
“I was afraid to go live, I was afraid to post a picture, I was afraid to go to the club, and then the next day seeing people, what they going to say about me, and everything,” she confessed.”
The Grammy winner was known for her gregarious, often uninhibited social media presence, however, in 2023, she said she needed a break out of her fear of criticism.
“I love talking about politics and everything. I don’t even want to talk about it anymore because I’m just so afraid of just getting dragged every single f—king day like I’m tired,” she said.
Cardi has become so self conscious about her music, that she recorded a remix for Ice Spice‘s 2022 hit “Munch (Feelin’ U),” but refused to release it.
“I love the record, I did not like how I sound. You know it being on a drill beat, it’s not as easy as it look,” she said. “I was like, ‘They’re gonna drag me and they’re going to drag the song bad.'” Cardi added, The record is already great, I don’t want to f–k it up. I just hated my verse. … I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is embarrassing. I can’t catch the beat for s–t.’
Now Cardi has regained her confidence, and she’s getting ready to release her long awaited second album.
“I promise y’all this year, I’m not letting my anxiety, I’m not letting what haters say, I’m not letting what fans say… If I do a song, I’m a just f—king drop it,” she said during an Instagram Live session on March 1.
