Ever wonder who was the face behind Bhad Bhabie’s hit records? Brittany Barber is her name. She’s a singer-songwriter from Compton, California, who is ready to make a name for herself.
Brittany recently did an interview with Okayplayer and gave them insight into how she is planning to take over the music industry with love. She even detailed a time where Miss “Cash Me Outside” tried her and she had to remind her where she was from.
“Brittany describes Danielle as her little sister, recalling a time when Danielle almost tried to test her. The result was Brittany grabbing her by the hair and reminding her she was really from the hood. From that day forward, Danielle had learned her lesson. A mere reminder that Brittany is deeply-rooted in the city of Los Angeles, which also serves as the origin of her “love wins all” mantra.
OKP: Who are your most cherished influences in music and why?
BB: Oh my god. My most cherished influences would have to be…I listened to a lot of soul music growing up — like a lot. Mostly Stevie Wonder. Marvin Gaye. I listened to a lot of Mary J. Blige growing up and a lot of Destiny’s Child. I held those songs really dear to me. I don’t know about anybody else but when I was younger, I was really going down with Mary J. Blige. I was really going down with her. I was really singing about “Bills, Bills, Bills” when I didn’t have a bill in the world at 13. I hold them to a high standard in my heart because they showed me what real music can do for the world [and] how you can impact someone in the world. And there weren’t that many African-American artists making it on a global scale. We had our local artists, but they weren’t really making it on that global scale. So those are some of my influences.
OKP: Can you talk about how your life was while developing as an artist? How did you react to your first bits of press?
BB: Growing up in Compton, California, you were either gang banging, selling drugs, you were stripping, you were going to school, or you were playing a sport. As I grew up and developed and understood that I had this gift and this talent that God gave me and what my purpose really was, I had to develop my confidence, if that makes any sense. And develop my center of what it is and what I’m supposed to be doing with it as a creative. Whether that’s writing for other people (which I’ve done), singing background for other people (which I’ve done also), touring or really just expressing myself. So starting to get recognition and doing shows and gaining fans – it’s just been really humbling and just really cool. It was more just like, ‘Damn, this is cool!’ And people are really connecting with it. They’re really feeling it.
OKP: With incidents involving people of color, police, and racist occurring almost on a daily basis around the globe — how can your music help to relieve the trauma that is being experienced by the masses?
BB: All my music is about love. Every single song is about love. I write from different creative spaces for whomever but when it comes to my legacy and what I want to leave on this earth—it is to spread love. It hurts my heart every day seeing black and brown and people of color, minorities being destroyed. Families are being torn apart. I have four brothers and all my brothers are incarcerated. And a lot of people don’t know that about me. I just have to hold on to the love that I have — hold on to the good times. And that’s what I want my music to invoke in people. I want them to remember that good time, remember that feeling, remember that love, that lost love, or that first love. Or the love for they grandma. Or just love for themselves if they feeling bad on a bad day. That’s just where I’m at, is just spreading love in the world so that hopefully that day, somebody who’s driving down the street getting ready to go curse their boss out and now they’re like, ‘Nah, I’m listening to this song, and it calmed me down.’ Or they just broke with they boyfriend or something, because he cheated or something. And he heard the song and he’s like, ‘Damn, I really do love her. Let me go apologize.’
There’s so much going on in the world right now, between racism and sexism and just general crazy shit that’s going on America, I just want people to listen to my music and just know that they need to spread love. Bottom line. Spread love and just know that love wins at the end of the day.
OKP: Collaboration is uniquely a key to the success of certain creative individuals who wish to change the game. Who would you want to work with this year going into the next and why?
BB: I would want to work with Drake because Drake to me hasn’t worked with any soul artists and I think that would be kind of cool. He’s done reggae. Of course, he does rap, and he’s even dabbled in some rhythmic stuff. But I haven’t really seen him get with anybody like a BJ The Chicago Kid or … you know what I mean? So I feel like maybe if he made one of those types of records — with me — it would be a cool thing.
OKP: What is the overall message that Brittany Barber is trying to present in her music?
BB: I’m just trying to let people know that love wins and that they can be themselves. And that it’s okay to love. It’s okay to love.”
Read more here.
