K. Michelle Reveals Why She Almost Walked Away From LHHATL Season 2

By: Taren Vaughan

K. Michelle was known as the protege of musical genius R. Kelly before last summer hit. And she has seen some major things happen for herself ever since she became one of the stars of hit reality TV show Love and Hip Hop Atlanta, having a witty sense of humor that kept viewers entertained while it sometimes really got under the skin of some of her other cast mates. As for her career, not only has K. Michelle done spreads for magazines and performed live at shows across the country for her fans, the singer turned reality TV star managed to snag another major record deal with Warner Bros. and is currently working on her upcoming album titled “Rebellious Soul”. In a recent interview that she did with YouKnowIGotSoul, K. Michelle talked about her upcoming album and how she handles the negativity from people on social networks. As for why she choose “Rebellious Soul” for the title of her new album, K. says that it’s because the name encompasses everything that she is about:

“I decided to name my album “Rebellious Soul” because it’s basically me. I’m always in trouble for my beliefs and I’m not a very scary person. If I believe if, I say it, if I feel it, I do it. I really don’t care who’s there to judge because I feel like I’m being me. That’s basically it, so “Rebellious Soul” sums me up, and even my music. My music is very rebellious. I’ll sing and say the things that most R&B girls won’t say. So “Rebellious Soul”, it had to be that.”

And she says that she won’t be venturing off into other musical genres and will be sticking to her R&B roots:

“I’m definitely not following the latest trends on this album, because I don’t even listen to the radio. It’s going to stick to some r&b roots, but I am a classically trained pianist and I do play guitar and I’m a very musical person as far as different sounds and different things I love to hear. I don’t like people handing me a track and saying to write to it, everything is being created and centered around me. I’ll get a piano and I’ll start to sing and I’ll hand it over to a producer to produce. It’s definitely a very organic feel on the album, it’s very honest. There will be a lot of R&B for my R&B fans, but I will also introduce them to the fact that I’m a huge country fan. I’m also going to introduce them to other music as well. I’m very excited to see the reaction.”

K. Michelle has not only made her name known in the music industry but she has also earned the crown for the queen of wig snatching on Twitter and dragging her haters, sometimes fans too, and former boos who come for her on the social media networks. And K. admits that when people who don’t personally know her throw hate her way, it is a hard thing for her to deal with being the outspoken person that she is but says that she has gotten a lot better at trying to ignore the negativity and has channeled more of her energy into her dedicated fans that she continues to touch:

“Just not caring what people think, people are very evil. I don’t think I realized how hurt people are in the world until Love and Hip Hop and my fan base grew. The more hundred of followers I got, the more hate I got; people will follow you on Twitter just to harass you. It was very difficult because I was like “You don’t know me, how could you wish me dead or say I was lying.” It could be hurtful, especially because I’ve got a big mouth and I could be mean, but I have a huge heart. I had to stop just really caring and just seeing that those people are hurt more than anything. They are trying to hurt me because they are hurt. So once I stopped caring about what people thought and once I stopped caring about people telling me what kind of artist to be, I realized. I was off a label and I just sang what I wanted to sing, tweeted what I wanted to tweet, just lived like me. That’s when I’m able to go and do shows now, sell out shows, have fans write me letters and crying. It’s because I’m being me. If I’m always wrapped up about what you think about me, then I can’t be me. Stop caring, start winning!”

K. Michelle’s popularity increased as a result of her time on the first season of Love and Hip Hop Atlanta. However, the singer admits that she has had moments where she wasn’t sure if she was going to return for another season of the show yet feels like it really opened up the door for the opportunities that she has had:

“I battle everyday with being on Love and Hip Hop Atlanta. There are days when I say I’m not going to do it again. But you know, management, we try to make the best decision. I can honestly say if it wasn’t for Mona Scott. I’ve been singing these same songs since I was on Jive. Some people knew me, but not like now. People wanted to know what happened to me, that gave me the avenue to explain exactly what happened and it happens to a lot of artists. I was just blessed enough to get the platform to talk about it. I feel like if it hadn’t been for Love and Hip Hop I still would have got a new deal because it’s in my destiny, that’s something I was supposed to do. Every time I try to stop singing, something else comes. But, would it have taken longer, would it have been an awful deal? Who knows. Doing Love and Hip Hop and putting a song on iTunes and it goes straight to #6 just because, that definitely came from Love and Hip Hop Atlanta.”

K. Michelle has never held back about the struggles that she has had dealing with an industry that can be full of shady individuals. And she lets aspiring singers know that they have to be prepared to fight if they want to make it in the music business and that not all those who are talented will get the stardom that they are striving for:

“I think a message that I can give to up and coming artists is it’s not easy. If you’re not ready for the fight, then don’t do it. A couple of my peers in the game have had it easy, just being honest. But, they’ve also had their own struggle. You can’t knock somebody else’s struggle because it’s not like yours. You do have to understand just because you have talent it doesn’t mean guaranteed success. Just because you have talent, doesn’t mean you’re a star. If you want it you fight for it, that’s all I can say, it’s not going to be easy.”

Peep K. Michelle’s full interview below: