Behind the Boards with Malibu Babie: Producer Talks Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion and More
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The post Behind the Boards with Malibu Babie: Producer Talks Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion and More appeared first on Consequence.
Behind the Boards is a new series where we spotlight some of the biggest producers in the industry and dig into some of their favorite projects. For this edition, we sit down with breakout producer, songwriter, and artist Malibu Babie about her work with Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion.
Malibu Babie is on cloud nine. A strong believer in manifestation, she just crossed off two of the top artists on her bucket list in the same week by producing separate hits for Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion. “Super Freaky Girl” became the second hip-hop song to debut at No. 1 by a solo female artist and earned Minaj her third chart-topper on the Billboard Hot 100 in the process, while Megan’s house-influenced single “Her” entered at No. 62.
“I just feel so grateful and so blessed to get to be a part of not one but two literal rap queens’ careers,” Malibu Babie tells Consequence. “It just feels like a really big honor to get to have lead singles for two people that I’ve looked up to for so long.”
Adding that she “literally was speechless” after finding out both songs were coming out on the same day, the producer, songwriter, and artist says she doesn’t take the success for granted. “I definitely have the awareness that this is a very, very special once-in-a-blue-moon sort of occurrence,” Malibu Babie says. “It’s been pretty overwhelming in the best way.”
Never content to rest on her laurels, the rising hip-hop producer plans on keeping the momentum going. While “actively” continuing to make music for Minaj’s upcoming album, she is managing expectations with the practical attitude that “you can’t guarantee what you’ll make will end up on it.”
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After several years of collaboration both as a producer and songwriter, Malibu Babie is also establishing herself as a solo artist by combining her experience in the world of Scandinavian pop with a love of hip-hop stemming from her background as a dancer dating back to the age of five.
“One day, it was like, is there a world where I can I just put them together and stop having to be a pop girl in this room and be the hip-hop beat Barbie in this room?” she explains. “That’s why Malibu Babie is so deeply, deeply special to me. I feel like it’s the first time musically where every facet of who I am comes together.”
And with that, Malibu Babie aims to share the confidence, joy, and “bad bitch energy” music has always given her. Her latest single, “GOODTIME,” encapsulates that mission with hard-hitting 808s and a rap-sung delivery encouraging listeners to find their bliss.
That’s not to say Malibu Babie is going to let up focus on the production front. Now that she’s worked with Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion, she hopes to land placements with Doja Cat, Saweetie, Latto, Britney Spears, Kim Petras, and more.
In the meantime, read our deep dive with Malibu Babie about the process behind Nicki Minaj’s “Super Freaky Girl” and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Her” below.
Nicki Minaj – “Super Freaky Girl”
Specifically that day, we went in and wanted to do a [sample] flip. That’s really big right now in hip-hop and labels had been asking me specifically to send them tracks that were flips of old songs. So as I was talking about it with [co-producers] Vaughn [Oliver] and Aaron [Joseph], we realized Vaughn — who is amazing and somehow has files from everything you could ever imagine — happened to have all of the original recordings [for “Super Freak.”] And so we were like, “Well, that’s a no-brainer. We’ve absolutely got to do that for our first idea today.”
Everybody contributed to the production. We all honestly kind of took turns contributing different pieces of it. When we decided that we were going to do the Rick James sample, we probably spent the first 20 minutes like, “Which pieces do we use? And how do we pay homage to such a big song?” And then we just kept going back to, “Well, let’s make it into a 2022 bad bitch anthem.”
We each took turns putting in this bassline and then one of us would fine-tune it and then one of us would drop in percussion here and the other one would mess up the rhythm of it. It just was so fun because it felt like a bunch of friends getting together and creating things. Each of us would just fine-tune and tweak and each got to put our own stamp on it. I think when we got done making it, we definitely knew that it was a special beat.
Our original idea, like the cook-up session, was I believe in the middle of May. There was definitely some fine-tuning, a little shifting of parts here and there, when we found out that [Nicki] liked it and had written for it. We were like, “Okay, this is worth going back in on and fine-tuning.” And then she leaked the song on July 12th on Instagram. That’s how I found out that this was happening.
What was so funny was that morning, I was feeling very discouraged. And I clearly remember walking into this room and saying, “Hey universe, God, like whatever’s floating up there, I could really use a sign that this is what I’m supposed to do, because I’m feeling discouraged.” So it was kind of funny timing that night, I get all these text messages. I’m just sitting here working on beats. And I open up the link, and it’s Nicki Minaj over our song.
I literally think I screamed, and I ran so fast down — I’m on the third floor — I ran so fast down two stories of stairs, and out to my boyfriend who was outside, and he thought that I was having like a panic attack. But really, I was so excited that I couldn’t breathe. It was just super surreal. And then we were like, “Okay, well, what’s next? She leaked it. Is she actually going to put it out?” And then from there, obviously, I think it was exactly a month later that she dropped it.
I do remember hearing the final version and being like, “I think we got one” — granted, something going No. 1, and something like getting a great record can sometimes be two totally different things — so I definitely thought it had a strong possibility of doing really well. It debuting at No. 1 has felt like the universe just blew the lid off [and] made something crazy happen. So it’s definitely been a rollercoaster of emotions for sure.
Megan Thee Stallion – “Her”
Oftentimes in hip-hop sessions especially, you’ll go in for an eight-hour block, but you’ll knock out two, three songs. So it was one of those days. This was the last song we were working on, and Vaughn had played that bassline, which ironically was to literally just test his speakers. I don’t think he ever even thought this would be something we’d use for a record. It’s just him tinkering around, and obviously heard it and felt like it could be transformed into something. When we were all in the room, [we thought] this could be a really different vibe for Megan.
To be completely honest with you, we were going through beat ideas and starts and that one just resonated with the room. And it was kind of by accident that that one was played because I had it in like a different folder. Once we heard it, it was so different from everything that we had been working on that day that we honestly just wanted to do a good vibe.
My motto as a creative is I’m always chasing whatever’s fun, and I try to not overanalyze stuff. So even though it was a different sound, there was something about it that was really fun and really fresh. And like I said, we hadn’t worked on anything in that lane that day. There had been little rumblings in the industry, that maybe house music could maybe be a thing, and we hadn’t had a song out, but there was just like whispers. So once we started doing it, we kept it really simple.
We originally had actually written a chorus over it that was completely different and ended up being scrapped. But that’s why there’s like little sounds in there, like the slot machine. And like little quirky things you’ll [hear] that was actually to suit an old topline, but it ended up working perfectly for Megan’s writing. So it just was everyone kind of bringing in different pieces and liking different pieces.
We also made this one, originally back in April, which I think was kind of cool because it was actually before Beyoncé and Drake had really dropped those records. We must have all been channeling shared energy. I did drums and kind of started arranging the song. Cash[MoneyAP] and [Young]Kio work a lot as a unit, so they added a couple of things. After that, me and Vaughn got back together and really went in and fine-tuned and arranged and chopped all of this stuff.
We had sent that song off to Megan’s team and then she had heard it — I believe she actually was on tour at the time, which I just think is so amazing that this girl is on tour performing and finds time to write the song. So this song was completely written 100% by Meg. And it’s amazing. And I’m so grateful. I’m so proud to be a part of it, she absolutely killed it.
Behind the Boards with Malibu Babie: Producer Talks Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion and More
Eddie Fu
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