Sevyn Streeter is world famous R&B singer and songwriter who’s debut EP Call Me Crazy, But… charted at number 5 on Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Album.
She has a roster of hit singles like “It Won’t Stop” and “Next”, has received over 11 millions on YouTube, has 1 million Instagram Followers, toured with Beyonce, and written hits for Ariana Grande, Alicia Keys, Chris Brown and Kelly Rowland, to name a few. She has been killing the game for a long time.
The Knockturnal caught up with her at the Atlantic record offices to chat with about her new single “Prolly” featuring Gucci Mane, her coming album Girl Interrupted, and her upcoming Film “Ringside”, premiering September 4th! Catch the Interview Below!
First off, congratulations on your new single “Prolly” featuring Gucci Mane, I loved it! “Prolly” is definitely, a turn-up anthem, for when your going out with your girls. But if you could name “Prolly” as any other anthem what would it be?
“Thank you, thank you! Prolly is that song, that you actually play it the night after you’ve gone out with your friends where you want to not feel bad about the decisions you probably made when you went out with them. You probably had a little too much to drink, you probably did something you had no business doing. “Prolly” is like a pregame anthem and a post game anthem.”
So, it’s like an all in one record.
“Right, it’s an all in one record. Like, its pregame and post game.”
Right, and what was it like working with Gucci Mane, who’s like the king of the South.
“Yeah he is. We didn’t get a chance to be in the same studio together but you know working with him in any capacity for me was a dream come true because, you know I’m from the south and down there its like “Gucci, Gucci, Gucci”, it’s like Guwop everything down there. I told my cousins, like “Oh, I have Gucci on my single” and they were like (imitating strong Sothern accent) “Aw, well ok damn now, cousin you alright then. Oh you got Guwop on that??” That’s how my cousins were they didn’t care nothing about me being on the song, all they cared about was Gucci (laughs.) They didn’t care if I was whispering on the song they’re like “Nah cuz but you good though, you got Guwop” (laughs.) Nah, but that’s how excited I was to work with him and I was so appreciative because he literally was fresh out. He hadn’t even been out a month and a half or two months, and he killed his verse. He really did kill his verse. I feel like it’s this , new, flyer, just doper, Gucci. You know what I mean? He killed it.
And I loved the visual for it! What was the concept behind the video?
You know I wish I could take all of the credit for it but I can’t. I just knew the energy and the way that I felt when I created the record and I just wanted that to come through the freakin’ screen for the video. Mike Ho who directed it, he’s just so dope, and we worked together like twice before, he sent over the treatment that literally, just from reading the treatment it just felt how I felt when the song was created. His brain child was that theres going to be colored smoke and guys jumping around and I was like I’m sold! And then to get on set, I remember when I walked on et for the first time, we filmed at a paint pall place, it was like a warzone. It felt great!
Now your new album is called Girl Interrupted.
If I could be any more truthful and anymore honest in my music, this album is definitely me doing that. It challenged me, it forced me to look at myself in a different way and it forced me to grow and take ownership of the things that I’ve gone through in my life. It forced me to kind of let go of a girl-like mentality that I may have had when dealing with certain situations. It disrupted that girl in me that forced me to make some big-woman, big-draw decisions. It made me look at myself, and life, and relationships and all of those things in a more realistic way.
Is there anything that changed or feels different this time around with creating, Girl Interrupted versus your two EP’s Should Have Been There and Call Me Crazy, But…?
You know what, it’s different for me. For one, truth and honesty is always going to be the foundation of all of my music. So that’s how they’re all similar, but, for one, those two-EP’s they had less longs. On my album I get to kind of tell more of a story and not just go through every range of emotion because I do that in all of my music I feel like. But go through every range of emotion and I get to kind of take a little pit-stop in love, or take a little pit-stop in friendships, and take a little pit-stop in different areas of life, love, and relationships. And for me it’s just a whole different type of excitement because all of my life, you know I love my EP’s, but all my life I’ve been saying “Oh, I cant wait to put out an album.” And so, it’s here. I get to put out an album and so it comes with a whole other type of excitement and a whole different level of expectations that I have for myself. It’s like alright, it’s your album, so you better let it all hang out and go there.
And I heard that your releasing a visual for every single that comes out on the album.
Yeah, you know what, “Prolly” is my focus, it’s my baby, it’s my first single off the album, it’s the the one that I want all of my fans to call their radio stations and drive them nuts requesting. That’s what that is, but because they’ve been so patient and they’ve always been there I couldn’t just give them just “Prolly”, I just wanted to give them a little something extra and that’s why I’m putting out a song and a visual every month leading up to the album release. It’s just something that I did for my fans, it was just important that I gave them more music because they’ve just been so patient.
So you said Aaliyah was one of your biggest musical inspirations. On this album who musically influenced you?
Her still. She definitely still influences me. You can absolutely hear it on a song called “Before I Do”, its honestly a damn near an homage to her. I literally was in hair and makeup this morning listening to her entire last album. I love that album, and I was like God I’m getting tired of having to go on YouTube because it’s not on Itunes.
Right and having to keep hitting replay. (laughs)
Right! (Laughs) and having to go to Youtube and adjust the little thing to play exactly which song you want; girl you know the struggle. But you know, I love her, I love her, love her, love her. So you get to hear like that homage to Aaliyah on that song that I have on my album called before I do. But, I have so many different influences, you know Beyoncé is absolute an influence. Am I apart of the Beehive? You goddamn right I am (laughs.) Like, I love her so much because she’s just the ultimate performer.
Yes! And you toured with her!
Yes, I got to tour with her and watch her do it every single night. So she’s an influence to me even in terms of when I just want to sing something really powerful. Or if I’m shooting a video or a photo shoot, I think everybody has an inner B. Like you have an inner Beyoncé that whispers in your ear and says “You are fierce, you just go off girl!” I’m just influenced by great singer-songwriters like Ne-Yo, who I think is just a modern day genius for us. Just so many different artist, the list goes on.
And now starring in Ringside on TV On! And you play Selita, I was wondering if you could tell us a little more about the character without giving too much away!
I sure can! Selita is a very head strong young-woman who has a lot of lessons to learn. But she doesn’t want to feel like she’s being preached to or like her brother is teaching her things or trying to force her to think a certain type of way. So she dates around from producer to producer, so she’s just trying to find her way in this love game. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have parents to guide her, just brothers. And one older brother in particular is the bread winner for the family, he supports the entire family, so he already has this idea that he’s not only the older brother but he’s a father figure. So they butt-heads with that whole dynamic, but by the end of the movie she’s on her way to figuring it out. She was really fun to play.
What was your favorite part of filming?
Honestly just going to set all day and clowning with the cast. Jackie Long is one of the funniest people you will ever be around. He’s hilarious, him and Russ Parr. Russ First of all they’re dynamic all they do is curse each other out all day, clowning and ragging on each other. It was just fun and it was such a great cast, I just had such a great time.
And what sort of audience member do you think would feel a personal connection with Selita?
With Selita in particular, I think all women will relate with Selita. I don’t care if you’re in your 40’s 50’s and 60’s or if your 18, 20 something or 30. They’ll be able to relate to Selita because at the end of the day she’s just a young woman who was just like dating around and ran across an occasional frog or to. You gotta kiss a couple of frogs before you find your prince and I think that women in general are going to relate to that.
Can we expect more acting in the future?
Absolutely, I love it so much! I love acting, love it. It’s always been a dream of mine. You know I love music and I’ve always wanted to be a singer. I’m happy where I am in terms o my music. Watching greats like Whitney Houston do the body guard, watching Queen Latifah do everything like start with music and then be able to stretch her wings, and be in movies, and have her own television sitcom and things like that. Watching Aaliyah start with music and then be able to transition into acting, that’s always been my goal and my dream, so Ringside has definitely helped me reach one of my goals and fulfill one of my dreams, and I pray that it continues.
One of my favorite songs of yours is “Don’t Kill the Fun”, I was just wondering what is your favorite song to preform on stage?
That’s probably one of them. Because I love the dance break at the end. Because it’s fly. It’s super fly. And it was actually choreographed by Fly, shout out to Fly! “Don’t Kill the Fun” is definitely one of my favorites to preform, which was produced by Hit-Boy. And I love it because the fans sing it so passionately, they love that song. I also love to perform B.A.N.S because they just love B.A.N.S. They love to let that inner ratchet out and just like point they’re fingers in the air and roll they’re neck and roll they’re eyes. And the funniest thing is to be on stage and watch everyone in the audience have their own little moment an experience with that song. While I’m on stage singing but they’re in their own zone in they’re own world. That is like the bets feeling ever.
Do you have a favorite song on your new album?
That’s hard. Literally, I’m not just saying it because it’s my album. I’m really saying it from a song writer standpoint. Every song is dope, every song takes on a different topic and a different vibe. I don’t have any favorites. All of them are my favorites, when ya’ll hear it ya’ll will understand why I’m saying that. But I don’t have a favorite, I will say right now my baby is “Prolly” because I just feel like it set off the album the perfect way. I could not have had a better single for me. To describe where I am at this present moment. So right now, my favorite is “Prolly.”
And you also worked on the “Fast and Furious 7” soundtrack, with “How Bad Do You Want It”, and I was wondering what’s sort of the difference for you in the creative process in creating a song for your own album versus a movie soundtrack?
Well, you know when I’m writing for a film. I have the movie to inspire where I go lyrically with it. How pop or how urban leading the melodies are. I have the movie to draw inspiration from so I don’t really have to reach deep down in my soul or in my spirit to make sure I convey the right energy and vibe for the movie because it supplies that for me. So right there I can see it and I can visualize it. When I’m writing for myself. That is a therapy session, it’s like give me a bottle of brown. Let’s sit on the couch and talk about all of the craziness I’ve gone through and talk about where I am in my life. That’s like waiting on a baby you have to allow it to naturally develop and grow. I can’t force anything creative whether its for a movie or for myself. But writing for myself creates a little bit more TLC.
Would you say you enjoy singing or song writing more? Or is it hard to compare the two?
It’s hard to compare. Right now, today, I’ll just say today because I can’t pick. But, today where I am right now I want to say I enjoy writing more. It’s a release, I’ve been saying all day I feel empty, in a good way. I’m happy about it, I dumped everything that was holding me down, that was just all up in my head or in my spirit. I feel like I poured it all out into that album. So I feel like I’m open to whatever comes my way. I have room to feel things out and go do some more things. Everything I’ve gone through in the last year or so is all on that album.
I love your style. I’m just looking at your rings! How would describe your style?
Street but sweet. No pun intended street. At the end of the day I’m just a country girl from Florida, from Haines city. I like to be comfortable. I enjoy wearing some jean shorts and some sneakers and a tank top. That was like everyday attire because it’s so damn hot in Florida. I don’t like to wear a lot of clothes probably because I’m from Florida and it’s been hot all my life so we never wore a lot of clothes like that. But it’s street and sweet as long as things fit me the right way. I do love to get girly I love to be sexy, put on a nice dress, and a pair of heels, with a red lip or a dark lip. I just love to dress up, I love being a woman. A woman in every sense of the word, we’re so versatile. We’re so multidimensional.
Especially being a black woman, with our hair.
Girl, black women with hair. We can literally can be a different woman every single day. And its so much fun! We can have cornrows one day, throw on a wig the next day, wear an afro the next day, press it out. It’s so much fun! I enjoy being able to switch styles up and being able to mesh them together. I don’t know what my style is. It’s however I feel that day. Street and Sweet.
Could you tell us one fun fact about yourself?
I snort when something is really funny. So when something is really funny. I can’t stop I snort. It’s the goofiest shit ever. Me and my brother we both snort. I don’t know where we get it from because my Mom and my Dad, neither one of them snort. But I snort when something is really funny.
What’s next for you? You’ve done acting, you’ve done singing, what do you see yourself doing next?
I want to do more acting. I want to do more tours. I want to expand my touring, and do larger venues. Not for the sake of just having more bodies in the room, but so that I can entertain more. I want to put on real shows. I want multiple dancers. I miss the days where all artist, when you went to a show it was damn near like seeing a play on stage, or being in a theater because they just put so much into their shows like costume changes for them and the dancers, it’s a production. So for me, outside of having “Prolly” out, having my album come out at the toop of the year, the next thing for me is to have the dopest tour and the dopest show you have ever seen. Touring is next for me.