The Red Eye might be switching up to be a weekly publication, but the love they show Chicago artists will never change — as today Noname hits the front cover. Noname’s Telefone project was one of 2016’s most acclaimed and celebrated, and next week she’s playing two sold out shows at the Metro. And to be honest, I think she could sell out a third.
In an interview with Josh Terry, Noname discusses Telefone and taking her time to release it, and reveals that it only took a month (gasp!) to make.
But what might have been good for her career would not have been good for her as a person and artist. “It’s been difficult these past couple of years not coming out with ‘Telefone’ in like everyone thinking that after ‘Acid Rap,’ I missed my opportunity,” she explains. Warner kept on, listening to herself rather than outside pressure. “I’m just glad that I’d listened to myself and trusted myself because I could’ve put something out, but it wouldn’t have been good! It wouldn’t have been what I wanted it to be and what I knew I could do.” …
…”While it took me three years to put it out, actually making it took like a month,” she explains of the monthlong studio session she did with Saba and producer Phoelix, who were simultaneously working on the former’s “Bucket List Project.” In fact, she ended up scrapping the original concept (which was about a literal phone conversation) to make what would become a new and improved “Telefone,” releasing it in July.