elle varner interview about her album 4 letter word

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

July 21, 2014 - 4:18 pm by Terry Carter Jr.

Sexy is an adjective Elle Varner isn't used to seeing next to her name. “Everyone doesn’t know I was two hundred pounds before. I was teased and bullied most of my life. So when people are looking at me, like, "Oh, she’s sexy!" and "She’s hot!" I’m like, "Who, what?!”

These past two years have been a roller-coaster for the 25-year-old jazzy soul singer. Since releasing her debut album, Perfectly Imperfect in 2012, Elle earned her first Grammy nomination and found love with New York Knicks player Iman Shumpert. Although the couple called it quits last year, Elle isn't sitting around moping.

“I have some experiences under my belt. I've been through some shit, straight up. And I'm gonna share it with you,” she declares when describing her upcoming album, 4 Letter Word. This time, the girl with the signature big, curly hair who makes reading glasses look cool isn't afraid to expose her vulnerability and insecurities.

During our candid interview, which felt more like sessions from a midnight sleepover, Elle opened up about love, heartbreak and shady friends. Read on to find out why her sophomore effort, due this fall, will have you asking for several refills. —Terry Carter Jr. (@WrittenByTerry)

VIBE: You recently released your first single, "Don't Wanna Dance." The lyrics are definitely relatable to homebodies like myself.

Elle Varner: It's a very specific song, yet I find it to be ironic and funny that it makes people wanna dance. It comes from the point where you've been home for a while and you've been kinda depressed, and you finally decide to go out, [even though] you know you don't want to. It's that reality of just being in the club and really not wanting to be there. I think everyone can relate, even if they're not a homebody. People who go out all the time have those nights sometimes where it's just not going well.

How did you link with A$AP Ferg?

I met him through A$AP Rocky about two years ago. We're label mates, so we've always talked about working on something together. I love what he brought to it because it's not your typical rap verse. He's painting a picture. He's bringing some imagery to the song and it's pretty cool.

Ferg named dropped Martin in the song, so I gotta ask what's your favorite Martin episode?

Oh my god! [Laughs] I don't even know. Martin is a classic! Funny fact: my mom was on a couple episodes of Martin. She played a reporter. She had a few one-liner roles on the show.

Although the new single is about staying in, what would a turnt up night with Elle Varner consist of?

Turn up night with Elle would be a house party where I kinda know everybody there so I can really let loose and not have to worry about everything, and how I look and if somebody is gonna put me on Instagram! [Laughs]

What's your go-to turn-up song?

I can turn up to Stevie [Wonder] and I can turn up to Young Money. Whatever the song of the moment is.

Any other collabs we can expect on the album?

I've been collaborating with a lot of rappers, but I'm not sure exactly where everything is gonna fall into place. We're finalizing it now. I did work with Chance the Rapper early on. I also worked with J. Cole. I've been working with Juicy J. That kinda opened up a new lane for me musically because I feel I get labeled for being R&B, but I got every kind of song from country, to hip hop, to jazz influences so I don't wanna limit myself to one genre with this album.

Who else do you wanna work with that you haven't yet?

Lana Del Rey. I'm going left with that one. [Laughs] And SZA. That's my girl! We already talked about it, so you might be seeing that in the near future.

What's your favorite song on the album?

I would have to say "Nothing." It's the first song that I wrote. I feel like the whole album makes sense as a complete story. It's a concept album, in a way. It's a snapshot of where Elle was at the moment. This is not Perfectly Imperfect. It's not the naive, wide eyed "I never experienced anything" Elle.

Continued on Next Page

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Elle opens up about love, heartbreak and shady friends

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. Continued on Next Page Photo Credit: Getty Images

"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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