
Interview: Elle Varner Talks New ‘Dance’ Single, Curving Meek Mill and Finding Her Sexy

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Name a song you think your fans will be excited to hear on the album?
There's a song that may or may not be on the album called "Personal." It paints the picture of when you're down and out and you go to a bar and just start talking to a stranger about your life. I think we've all been there before, where we wanna vent to a stranger. I'm really proud of my writing on that song.
Is there a possible Meek Mill collaboration in the works?
I'm not sure. I mean, you never know!
We all saw the Instagram photo of you and Meek laughing it up about that awkward moment when you curved him. How often does that happen where you feel too shy and you end up curving a guy by accident?
Oh God. Like, all the time! I mean honestly it's something only in the last two months of my life have I really become comfortable to where I'm learning how to receive that attention, and not be weird about it and get shy or bashful. You have to know how to handle that as a young woman 'cause it can be a lot.
Speaking of Meek, he was given jail time for violating his probation.
I don't know everything about his situation, but I hope as a whole our young men, black men in particular, cannot always be subjected to scrutiny. It's a little bit tougher and I don't think the legal system is necessarily fair. This goes beyond Meek Mill, but just as far as racial profiling in general.
You've mentioned before to VIBE that this album is gonna be a bit sexier than what some people will expect from you.
Yeah, about the whole sexy thing. At one point in my life, I really was trying to be sexy because I felt like I needed that to validate me. So I could stay in the conversation and be in the mix next to this girl and that girl and I finally realized like, 'What the hell are you doing?" I realized that being sexy is all from within. It's how you carry yourself. It's how you speak and how you hold yourself in a room. It's not about what you're wearing and showing off for instagram.
Everyone doesn't know I was 200 pounds before, I was teased and bullied most of my life so when people are looking at me like 'oh she's sexy', 'oh she's hot', I'm like 'who, what?' It just didn't resonate in my mind. It didn't register. I hope that I can maybe inspire someone else out there because by nature as women we are insecure. We're always comparing ourselves to the next woman. And for me, once I realized to accept what I have and love that, I started to get that love back.
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Photo Credit: Getty Images

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"Little Do You Know" is my favorite of the four teaser songs you put out. I can so relate to that record. Just that feeling of having to pretend like everything is OK when it's really not, especially after a messy breakup.
That [song] was inspired by real life. Here's the thing I did with this album - I cracked myself wide open. I left nothing back. I didn't think about what I wanted the song to do. I didn't think about what number I wanted it to reach or what this person would think of it. It's about me as an artist, exploring my own growth through my music. That's how I grow as a person: through my creativity.
What was the inspiration when you wrote "Cold Case"? You sound really angry on that record.
Um.. Damn... [Laughs] I just really... [Sighs] We never know why certain things happen to us and why things turn out the way they do. Sometimes there's a bigger reason. I feel like whatever I was going through romantically, being heartbroken gave me access to a part of myself that I hadn't went into before. I made a song called "Fuck It All." It doesn't get more "this is it" than that. I feel more free than I ever have in my life. After writing and recording those songs.
What is one lesson you've learned from being in love and conversely, one lesson you've learned from experiencing heart break?
A lesson that I learned from being in love is to be appreciative of the one you're with and not to take them for granted. A lesson I learned from heartbreak is that life truly goes on. It feels sometimes like the end of the world and "how am I gonna go on?" But most of that is not real. You don't actually lose anything. If anything, it teaches you something for the next person that you may require.
You've responded to the K. Michelle rumors by saying, "I don't do drama," but how do you handle finding out that someone you thought you were cool with said something shady about you?
You know what, I think that's another huge lesson I've come to learn in life. When you can sit there and be subject to someones hate for you or someone nasty words toward you, whether it's a friend or a stranger. It's not easy, don't get me wrong. But for me to get to a place where I can have compassion for people no matter where they're coming from or how they're coming at me, I understand humanity and I understand when we get upset a lot of times that just love in reverse.
When can we finally get our hands the album?
It's coming this fall. I've been on a serious journey while making this album and I made a choice to take my time and not feel everyone's pressure to hurry up and release it because I wanna release something that is timeless and something that matters. And that can't be rushed.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
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