She didn’t like it like that.
Cardi B admitted she was “afraid” to live her life after a barrage of negative comments on social media last year.
“I just feel like I lost myself with everything,” she said during a recent interview for Complex’s “360 with Speedy” series.
“A lot of music commenters and everything and a lot of people just be like, ‘She’s afraid to drop an album, she’s afraid to drop music,’” she recalled.
“Like last year, I barely dropped music,” she continued. “It’s just like I was just afraid to do everything.”
In 2023, the 31-year-old Grammy-winning artist only released “Bongos” with Megan Thee Stallion. She hasn’t released an album since 2018’s “Invasion of Privacy,” but stayed on airwaves over the years with singles like “Up” and “WAP.”
“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,” Cardi further lamented. “I was afraid to do everything.”
She also expressed her frustrations over a Valentine’s Day outing with her estranged husband, Offset.
Cardi said they kissed in their car and she consequently got red lipstick smudged “everywhere.” To hide the rosy smears, she covered her face with an iPhone.
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“All I see is the next day, ‘Oh, Cardi got her nose done!’” she remembered. “I don’t even want people to know where the f–k I’m at or what the f–k I’m doing … every day is some new s–t.”
At the end of last year, Cardi repeatedly fought against commenters who assumed she and Offset were back together when they spent the Christmas holiday with each other and their two kids, Kulture, 5, and Wave, 2.
“Shut the f–k up,” she demanded on social media during an outburst amid the reconciliation speculation. “Did I say I was back together with somebody?! Did I said [sic] that?!”
Cardi confirmed their separation in December, months after they matched at Paris Fashion Week amid rumors he was unfaithful to her.
Through the ups and downs of 2023, though, the “Bodak Yellow” hitmaker was reminded that her platform isn’t meant to serve anyone else but her passion and her dedicated fans.
“I should be catering to [the fans], ’cause you’re the ones that put money in my pocket, and you’re the ones that love me,” she explained in her “360 with Speedy” chat.
She seems to be back on her grind, releasing two singles — “Like What (Freestyle)” and “Enough (Miami)” — in March alone.
The mother of two also revealed her next album is on the way.
“One single and y’all getting an album,” she teased.
