With a top-10 album and multiple singles that have topped the R&B charts, Queen Naija is a star. There was a point not too long ago, though, where she was a YouTuber facing struggles while trying to make music work as her primary vocation. She speaks about that part of her life in the newest Backstage episode.
Opening up about how public perception of her was an issue initially, Naija reveals she had doubters who didn’t think she was capable of doing more than YouTube.
“My name is Queen. I look at my name as royal, I look at myself as powerful,” she says in the clip. “But as soon as you start to get a name for yourself, people dig up dirt about you. Saying very cruel things: I’m not built for the industry life, I need to get media training, I need to talk better.” Thankfully, she has found herself more and more able to deal with critics, saying, “In this industry, you can’t care about what people think, and it’s hard for me. I literally want everybody in the whole world to like me, but the truth is they won’t, and that’s something I’ve had to overcome.”
Naija has certainly persevered through a lot and proven she is able to adapt to different situations: Shortly after signing a record deal, she toured in support of her self-titled 2018 EP while she was eight months pregnant. It’s her level of dedication that is helping Naija make her way to the top.
Naija tells her story best, so watch her do just that in the video above, in which she also talks about scrapping what was originally going to be her debut album.