Tiffany shares details about her new single, “Woman Up,” and working with Dianne Warren on her upcoming musical projects. She also talks about how she was able to get a role in ‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die,’ seeking out advice from some of her peers including: Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Queen Latifah and more!
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
00:00She plays this song for me. She plays a few more and I'm like, girl, we recording all of these.
00:04So we recorded three songs. No way. So this is just the first of a trilogy, if you will.
00:11Hi, I'm Tiffany Haddish and this is Billboard News.
00:19Congratulations on your brand new song, Woman Up.
00:22Working with Diane Warren, she's one of the most prolific songwriters in general,
00:33but also has such an affinity for female artists. Having a song about empowerment
00:38written by Diane Warren, how did it feel?
00:40It felt amazing. First of all, Diane Warren has slid in my DMs back in 2017.
00:46No way.
00:46I had no ideas because I decided to stay out of the DMs because it was too many
00:51D-picks coming through and that was just shocking.
00:53Happens to the best of us.
00:54I can't stand that. I personally can't stand it. So then I kind of stayed out of the DMs
00:58and then I ran into her at a party and she's like, I was in your DMs. You never responded.
01:03I'm like, I didn't know you were in my DMs. Oh my gosh, we need to work together. She's like,
01:06I want to work with you. I love your voice. I'm like, you are my voice. You know my voice.
01:10So we're going back and forth talking. I'm telling my team like, set me up with Diane
01:14Warren. I want to go onto the studio with Diane Warren. And they're like, uh,
01:16and they kind of lollygagging like, yeah, movie star, you know.
01:18I'm like, no, no, no. I need to be in there with Diane Warren.
01:21First time I was in the studio with Diane, we just talked about like what kind of songs I want
01:25to make. What's the intention? Why, why now? Right. And my whole intention originally,
01:31when I started making music before Girls Trip, I was making music was to create,
01:36you know, songs that I could put in my projects, in my TV shows, my movies. And like Diane Warren
01:41would be ideal to work with because she makes those kinds of songs that get nominated for Oscars.
01:45But not only that, like she's really good at getting those earworms.
01:49She is.
01:50Like that song that's like stuck in your head. Like, why am I singing a woman?
01:53She's very versatile. Yeah.
01:55Yes. She's really good at that. So we talked about like, you know, the hardships that I've
02:00been through, the ups and downs over the last few years. And like, how am I able to motivate
02:04myself to get up out the bed and continue going? And I'm like, oh, I just got to be like, come on,
02:08put your big girl panties on. Put your biggest maxi pad on. We got to get out here. We got to
02:12get it done. Let's go. We got to go, go, go, go. Like, don't, don't like, yeah, don't sit down.
02:16And it's like, I argue with myself all the time. I was talking to her, I argue with myself. And
02:20she was like, oh, you got to hear these songs. And then she plays this song for me. She plays
02:23a few more. And I'm like, girl, we recording all of these. So we recorded three songs.
02:27No way.
02:28So this is just the first of a trilogy, if you will.
02:32Okay. All right. You beat me to the questions because I was like, when are we getting more?
02:37You're going to get more because then there's more songs like Little Wayne and Snoop Dogg
02:42and Busta Rhymes. And then there's stuff with E-40. And it's like, I've been working with
02:46some really great producers and great creatives. So it's just like figuring out,
02:52how do I want to do that? Because it's different genres of music too.
02:56Yeah. I was about to say, you've gotten yourself in a beautifully tough situation here
03:00because every single one, according to what you've just told me should have their own moment.
03:04What like the Lil Wayne song is going to take the backseat.
03:09Like that's a whole situation. Because I was thinking like, okay. And you tell me if I'm
03:13crazy for this. I was thinking because every song tells a story. Like I'm a storyteller.
03:17Yeah.
03:18Every song should have its own like short film.
03:20Oh, you could do like a lemonade esque thing where it's a whole story.
03:25Yeah. I don't got Beyonce money and I'm the only one signed to this label, She Ready Music.
03:30But you have the Beyonce presence. And I think that you could pull it off.
03:34Now if I could get Beyonce on the track, maybe we can get the funding we need.
03:38What I've learned about the music business is it's not cheap to like put a song out there.
03:42It's definitely not.
03:42It is not cheap to create a video. That is a short film.
03:46Yeah.
03:46That you're creating right there. And it's not like the cheapest thing in the world to be able
03:50to do that. Like I feel honored.
03:53Yeah.
03:53Like that I'm able to put that money up and do that on my own, but it's not on my own because
03:57I'm creating jobs and opportunities for people because I had a vision. And then because Diane
04:03saw the vision that I had.
04:04Going back to the whole storytelling aspect of it, I like that Woman Up specifically
04:10corresponds to the book you recently released, I Curse You With Joy.
04:13Those two things coming together to really paint a picture of who you are as a person.
04:18Because I feel like when we see a celebrity, especially a comedian,
04:22an entertainer in the way that you are, I think people neglect a lot of the vulnerable parts of
04:28you. So how did it feel to be able to shed this layer of maybe of like, I'm a comedian,
04:35I'm funny, I'm hilarious and actually show like the woman within? How did that, was it freeing?
04:41I don't, I wouldn't say that it was freeing. It was just like,
04:44okay, here I go opening myself up a little more to the world. It's so funny because people are
04:48like, Tiffany, you're so open. Everybody knows everything about you. And I'm like,
04:51everybody does not know everything about me and I'm not as open as you think I am,
04:55but I'm willing to share what I think is necessary to share to help others to grow.
05:01Like if I'm sharing a story, some people go, oh, TMI, why would you say that? But then the
05:05person sitting right next to them is like, oh my gosh, I went through that too. And I thought I
05:08was the only one. I think it's so important as a celebrity and as a human being in general,
05:14just as a human, especially a human with some stature or like that, that has done some amazing
05:20things. I think it's important that you share the way that you got there and not just all the
05:25frou-frou easy stuff. You got to share the part that's hard because that hard part is what got
05:30you to where you are. As you've grown and as you've gotten stronger in the business and the
05:36entertainment business, I hear it all the time. You see it all the time. Whenever I'm doing
05:42interviews, a lot of people talk about dealing with the negativity and growing past the negativity.
05:48You just like a lot of other celebrities have really dealt with, you know, the negative side
05:52of the internet. You don't have no haters. Nobody's rejecting you. Yeah.
05:58Something's not right. I mean, but how do you grow to even deal with that? For my own benefit,
06:04I would love to know because I'm a pretty sensitive person and I'm learning, you know,
06:08to trust myself along the process. Like how do you get there? You got to learn the difference
06:13between constructive criticism and just pure hate. That's right. And you got to be so aware
06:18in yourself and knowing what you bring to the table and how you want to evolve and how you
06:22want to grow. You need to know you. It's true. Period. If everything everybody is saying about
06:27you hurts you that bad, you need to get your butt off the internet. Stop listening to everybody
06:33else and sit with yourself. I love that. And fall in love with yourself and really know you and know
06:39what your weaknesses are and know what your strengths are. And so then when they talk that
06:43mess, it don't matter because you already know. That's true. Look, my mama was my number one
06:48hater. Sometimes I still think she is. She was very mean to me. She said a lot of mean, nasty
06:55stuff to me growing up. Right. I used to think like, dang, she just hates my guts. Oh, my God.
06:59God, why did you give me this mom? Why'd you give me her? And then cut to, you know, 20, 30 years
07:06later, I'm like all those things that she used to say about me. I see the internet saying it,
07:10right? I see the internet saying it and I'm like, it doesn't even bother me because the first person
07:15I ever loved used to say this stuff and she was mentally ill. So y'all saying it, I'm thinking,
07:21I'm looking at them, I'm thinking they mentally ill. Poor things, let me pray for them. Yeah.
07:24Let me pray for them. They hurt. Get off that victim train, you're on. Stop. Grab hold of yourself.
07:33How did you channel that, I guess, back into like the meaning of Woman Up? Like, how did you take
07:40these strong feelings and create now from what feels now like a theme song for people like you
07:47and me who have gone through hate and negativity within ourselves that, you know, hindered us in
07:54some ways? Well, look, at the end of the day, I feel like this. All these things that we go through
08:00is what makes us human. That's true. Right. And we are women and the men are men. I always hear
08:06man up, man up, you know, but I can't man up. I'm a woman. Yeah. I have a vagina and I bleed.
08:14Actually, I think I'm stronger than men. Yeah. Because if men were bleeding, I don't think they
08:19would make it. I don't want to man up. I'm stronger than that. Yeah. I can carry people.
08:24It's true. I'm stronger than that. Make life. Like you got to realize you're stronger than that. And
08:28some of these men, they need to woman up. They need to tap into their feminine side. They need
08:32to be able to multitask. They need to shut up. It's true. And realize that they're not in charge
08:36of everything all the time, you know, and you need to be able to push yourself, push yourself and get
08:42out the bed. Who's always when you think about it, when you was a baby, when you was a kid,
08:45who was pushing you all the time to do great things, to show up to school, to do to clean
08:49your room and all that. That was your mama. There was a woman there pushing you to do better,
08:53be better. Yeah. Now you've got to be that person for yourself. It's true. As an adult,
08:58you've got to be your mama. You've got to woman up. You've got to woman up. It makes sense. And
09:02some of these men, you need to be your own damn mama. Yeah, I'm looking around the room at y'all.
09:07Yeah. I would love to see a man wear a maxi pad for a day and just see how that goes. Oh gosh.
09:12In the heat. In the summer. In some tight rolls. Half of them will probably pee on
09:18themselves just because they know they got a pad on. Lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy. I would love to
09:26do the maxi pad challenge and get men to wear maxi pads for a day. It's starting today. We're
09:30starting it here at Billboard. I might pay dudes to do that. I might be like, I want to see how
09:35does your day go wearing a maxi pad a full day. You've been doing music for a long time. I mean,
09:46how does it feel now to kind of really lean into that more and more as you continue recording
09:52music, releasing music? You said you have 13 songs in your pocket right now. Yeah,
09:56they in the pocket. I love it. There's a bunch of songs in the pocket. I mean,
10:00it feels good to be able to lean into it and to have the time available to do that. And then I
10:04know my schedule is going to pick up kind of crazy with filming this. I got another TV show coming.
10:10There's more movies that are coming. To be able to get it all in now while I can is great. And
10:14that's why my friends are like, you should just release the album with six songs, do the EP with
10:18the six on there. And then you can just chill. And I'm like, no, because I want to be able to
10:21make a video for each one. I need the time to tell stories for each one. But if there's a music
10:27supervisor out there that wants to hear the songs now and maybe get them in your movie before they're
10:32out in the world, holla at your girl. She ready music. Bad Boys is coming out. Did you pitch
10:39a woman up for Bad Boys? I did not pitch a woman up for Bad Boys, but I did pitch three other songs
10:44for Bad Boys, especially for the strip club thing. I did pitch some stuff. Hey, I am a sucker for
10:50pitching things. I love it. I mean, what was a day on set like that with Martin Lawrence and
10:55Will Smith? I know. And I only got to work one day, which made me so mad. I really wanted to
10:59work a lot of days, but one day's fine. It was fine. It was dream come true. I've always wanted
11:05to work with both of them. I remember when the first Bad Boys came out and I'm sitting in the
11:08movie theater with my best friend, and I'm like, girl, I'm going to be in this one day. If they do
11:12another one, I'm going to try to get in that one. And I tried. It didn't work out. And then I tried
11:16on the third one. That didn't work out. But I went to the premiere of the third one, and I'm like a
11:23master manifester. I was just about to ask you about that. When I speak it, it's like that's what it is.
11:28It's going to end up happening. Might not happen right in that moment, but it's going to end up
11:32happening. So I went to the premiere of Bad Boys 3, and I was like, once I saw the movie and I was
11:38like telling people, oh, if y'all do a four, I'm going to be in it. I'm going to be in four. I'm
11:42going to be in four. I went up to Will Smith. I'm going to be in number four. I went up to the
11:45director. I'm going to be in number four. I don't even know these people. I just said, oh, they're
11:49the producers. I said, I want to be in four. I'm going to be in four. I did interviews,
11:53told them I want to be in four, told everybody I want to be in four. Then when I heard they were
11:58getting ready to go into production for four, then I was like, I turned into a little bit of a
12:02stalker. I did. I showed up wherever Jerry Brockheimer was. I was appearing there, and I was
12:08making sure he knew I was there. I was asking lots of questions. How did he get into producing? How
12:13did this, that? Hey, I would love to be in four. If you don't want to put me in the actual movie,
12:18I will be behind the scenes. I'll do any punch-up writing. I will be a camera operator, first AD,
12:23second AD, 1.5, whatever you need. I'll do Sam. I'll do whatever. I'll be your best boy,
12:30whatever you need me to be. I can do it because I'm trained in all the fields.
12:34It worked out. I mean, you really did speak it into existence.
12:37They ended up writing a part for me. I don't know if it's because I'm annoying or because
12:41I have the talent. I think it's the talent.
12:43It's definitely the talent.
12:44I think they were shocked that I was willing to do it.
12:47Who are some of your influences? You love Diane Warren, as you said, and I mean,
12:56you have a ton of friends in the music industry. Who do you look to when you're making music?
13:00Well, I always ask Snoop's opinion. I always look to him. It's funny because I sent Dr. Dre
13:06a message today and asked his advice on something. Method Man, I asked his advice.
13:11Queen Latifah, Dana, I'm always reaching out to her, asking her advice on things.
13:17How would you do this? What do you think I should do with that? How does this work?
13:20There's so many people in this business that I'm cool with and that I support in what they do,
13:25and when they answer my phone call or return my calls, like what? I'm always excited about it,
13:31but they know me. I know what I'm doing. But the fact that we're able to...
13:34They give me great advice and guidance and stuff.
13:38It's crazy that you can even have access to people like this. You're in such a special
13:42position to be surrounded by so much inspiration. I'm only naming people that I've worked with
13:46before and that have shown genuine care for me. I've talked to Rihanna in person about certain
13:54things, but I would love to be able to text her, but I never ask her for a number. I never ask her.
13:58I am sure she'll give you her number. I'm sure she probably would too,
14:01but I never ask. I never ask. But I ask her questions. Cardi B, I ask her advice on stuff,
14:06and she's like, girl, I don't know. You tell me. You tell me how to do this.
14:10So you have Cardi B. I would love to see a collaboration with Cardi B.
14:14I got four songs I'm trying to slide her way. She's like, I don't know if that's right for
14:18me. I don't know. Okay, this one might be right. I don't know.
14:20Oh, that would be everything. So you're trying to get more collaborations as you're going.
14:24I love to collaborate. I'm an actor, and most actors would like to collaborate with other
14:31great actors. Unless you're doing the one-woman show, one-man show, then that's a whole other
14:35thing. But still, I want to collaborate with great minds to help me get the music right.
14:39Is the blocking good? Is this good? Am I hitting this character right? You can't do anything by
14:44yourself. You could. You could do it all by yourself, but it's not going to make it great.
14:48What makes things great is great partnerships in teams, and people putting their ideas together,
14:54and actually listening to them, and using what's good, and making something amazing.
14:59Yeah. And how do you, I guess, cut through the BS? Because I think a lot of times,
15:02people in the industry don't always have the best intentions. Like, where do you find a circle
15:06of people that you really trust? Like, what is a key to a good? Well, I don't ever trust nobody.
15:10All right. Well, that's good. I don't trust nobody. I don't trust nobody. I mean, it makes
15:15sense. If somebody did me dirty, I would be like, well, you know what? That's humans. It's true.
15:21Everything with a grain of salt, everything with grace. I don't trust anybody, but I pray that you
15:27are reliable, and do as you say you will. I don't give too much right off the top anymore like I
15:33used to. I used to be so giving, and so super helpful. Now, I've learned to build boundaries,
15:38and like, nope. I think people know me well enough now, pretty much get a good idea of like, hey,
15:44you might not want to fuck Tiffany over, because she's going to tell everybody.
15:48Yeah. She's going to tell everybody. This is probably why I haven't been invited to no Illuminati
15:52parties, or dinners, or you know, these things I see, you know, my friends.
15:56It's going in the next book.
15:57Yeah, my friends. Yeah, it would be in the book so fast. I hear my friends talk about,
16:01yeah, you've been invited to one of them Illuminati. They sacrifice a goat in front
16:04of you when they do this. And I, y'all heard today, how do you need snakes in your bed?
16:08I'm like, what? No. I've not seen none of this. None of this has happened in front of me.
16:13Like, I have not experienced any of that. You probably be at orgies and all this. No,
16:17I've never been. Nobody's ever invited me to that. They've never invited me. You know why?
16:22Because I would tell everybody everything I saw, and that's why I don't get invited.
16:28Looking back now at your career, it's so cool because in your book,
16:32you talk about a lot of adversities and things that you've gone through.
16:35If Tiffany today could go have a chat with younger Tiffany, what would you say to her?
16:41I would tell her, first of all, do your damn homework. Stop copying everybody else. You ain't
16:48got to copy everybody else's work. You can do it yourself. You smart enough. And I would tell her,
16:53don't get married till you turn 30. No matter what that man say, no matter what that man do,
16:58wait till you turn 30. And there's going to be a lot of hard stuff that comes up.
17:04Just know you will survive it all. And I would tell her, you know, honor your first instinct.
17:08Whatever your first instinct is, it's the right one. Do that. Whatever your first thought is,
17:14do that. Yeah, just do that. And stop doubting yourself.
17:17Across the board, this has been incredibly inspiring for me, Tiffany. Thank you so much.
17:23It's been fun for me. I love talking with you.
17:24It's so fun. I mean, this is great. I mean, like-
17:25We should go to lunch or something.
17:26We really should. I really feel like we've connected over the course of this interview.
17:31I'm like, she gets me. I love it. But thank you so much, Tiffany. I'm so excited that,
17:37you know, people are hearing this song and seeing this new side of you,
17:40and I'm so excited to see where it goes from here.
17:43Just so you know, it's not a new side. It's just new to the world.
17:46Exactly.
17:46It's been here. My real friends know.
17:48Exactly. Well, thank you so much.
17:50Thank you.
17:50This was wonderful.