Laila! made a stop at the Genius office to discuss her hit single “Not My Problem.” The song is her breakout single, which is also produced by the multi-talented artist herself and off her debut album Gap Year. On today’s episode of Verified, the NY native goes into to depth on why the song is an affirmation, how the song came together, where the name baby genius came from, and more!
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MusicTranscript
00:00I have a lot of anxiety.
00:01Being able to say that and just shamelessly not care, it's not my problem.
00:06It is an affirmation.
00:08You actually don't have to deal with everything all the time.
00:10People were in the comments when it first came out, like, yo, she's just repeating the
00:14same thing over and over.
00:15And kids were replying to me like, that's not her problem.
00:17That's not her problem.
00:18It goes to show that it's universal.
00:26I was in my room making the beat first.
00:28It wasn't like I'd come up with the melody or I'd come up with the lyrics.
00:31It was not really intentional.
00:32It kind of just came out.
00:34The second that I started making the lyrics, every time I sang it, they were like, that's
00:39hard.
00:40My sister was like, that's hard.
00:41I went to the studio, and then everyone there was like, that's hard.
00:43Record that.
00:44And I was like, oh.
00:45Making the beat was so fun.
00:46There's only five elements in this beat.
00:49There's the kick and the snare, which are pretty much, they're syncopated.
00:54There's that bass line.
00:55There's an arp, and then there's a pad.
01:01I've made beats with 37 elements.
01:04I feel like even as a producer, it really showed me my versatility, what I could do.
01:10Because I feel like I never made a song like, Not My Problem before.
01:13For that one to be the one that everybody was so excited about was crazy for me, because
01:19it just showed me I could really do whatever I want.
01:26There's a Not My Problem hotline that I started that's a real phone number that kids have
01:38been calling.
01:39Kids, people, everyone have been calling.
01:42They blew it up, which I didn't even anticipate was going to happen when I started it.
01:46Kids are being like, wow, this song really helped my anxiety.
01:49And I'm like, I couldn't have anticipated or imagined that this song would do that,
01:54because it is so simple.
01:55It's so obvious.
01:56It's like, oh my God, why didn't I think of that?
01:59It's just Not My Problem.
02:00Definitely being in school, people would say so much about me.
02:25They would tell on McDonald and his farm.
02:28They would tell it to the principal, if they could, and not me.
02:30And I'm like, I'm right here.
02:33Just tell me.
02:34What's up?
02:35I feel like I like to think of myself as a problem solver.
02:37I'm like, what's the problem?
02:39We can talk about this.
02:40You can't put the burden of other people's action on yourself.
02:44So people don't talk shit, and that's them, they beefing with them.
02:59I feel like we've all had those moments where we have friends that aren't really there for
03:02you, or people that you want to be able to come to, but then sometimes it's like, damn,
03:08maybe I'm just better off being cool where I'm at.
03:22No, I got the juice.
03:23I got the juice, but I quite literally also love passion fruit juice, mango juice, guava
03:29juice.
03:30I got the juice.
03:43There's also a lot of times where you feel like, I want to get my lick back.
03:46I want to, oh, they did that to me.
03:49You feel like you want to get somebody back, but then it's like, everybody's going to get
03:53what's coming for them.
03:54You know what I mean?
03:55The best you can do is just be a good person, and know who you are.
03:59I feel like there's really no point in revenge.
04:02That's mad energy.
04:03You might as well just let the universe give them what they're in for.
04:07When you're talking shit, it goes up and down, round and round, not my problem.
04:13When it goes around, it comes back around, up and down, not my problem.
04:19That was just fun to sing, like, round and round, up and down.
04:23That was just fun vocally.
04:24When I was a little kid, I was just delusional that I could sing.
04:28I would just sing my heart out.
04:29I would just annoy my family to death, just singing as loud as possible around the house,
04:35until eventually, I could actually sing.
04:40One of my older sisters, she always jokes that, like, it sounds so good.
04:45Baby Genius is just what I've been being called since I was a little kid.
04:50My family would call me that.
04:51I call my listeners the geniuses, because I think it's cute, and it's just positive.
04:55To be the Baby Genius on Genius feels mad lit, because I always wanted to do Genius
05:01Verified when I was a kid, and I would watch all of them.
05:04So, it's very special and very cool.
05:07You a genius.
05:08We on Genius.
05:09Hello.