Keyshia Cole has left the building. After releasing six albums on Interscope Records (the most recent being last fall’s Point of No Return), the R&B songstress has decided to go independent.
“I’m definitely going independent, 100 percent,” Keyshia exclusively tells Rap-Up TV. “I’ve been wanting to do it and I’m excited to see what happens at least. When I signed to Interscope everything was already like whatever I wanted to do. Nobody really told me what direction to go in. I never was a packaged album, so I felt like from the beginning, this is all my ideas, it’s all who I am. I’m true to who I am so I want to control it. Why not?”
She credits Prince for influencing her decision. “The one time I did meet Prince, he told me he’d do a song with me if I go independent,” she reveals.
“Prince told me he’d do a song with me if I go independent.”
She met the pop icon during a Grammy party at his house one year. “He was walking past and I was like, ‘Hey, how are you doin’? Can you do a song with me or nah?’ He said wait until you go independent ’cause you don’t wanna continue to be signed to a label, and I’ll definitely do a song with you. So I’ve been waiting for this day.”
She’s already about 10 songs into her seventh album, and was recently in the studio with London On Da Track (“Lifestyle”). “I don’t know which direction I wanna go in. I don’t know if I want it to be more fun, I don’t know if I want it to be more heartfelt or if I want it upbeat, medium to slow. I’m just recording and recording and recording.”
However, she does know that she wants to collaborate with Chris Brown, Wiz Khalifa, and Big Sean.
“I’ve been bumping heads with love a lot.”
As she embarks on the next chapter in her life and career, Keyshia has taken a vow of celibacy. “I’ve been bumping heads with love a lot,” says the 33-year-old, who split from her husband Daniel “Boobie” Gibson last year. “I need to regain some kind of spiritual and intellectual. It’s just not there right now and I don’t know why. It’s just awkward. Somebody said I’m in between stations. There’s a lot of static in my life.”
In the meantime, she’s learning to love herself. “I’m learning how to like myself or hang with yourself. You just read or watch TV or just be by yourself.”
Keyshia’s new reality series, “Keyshia Cole: All In,” premieres Feb. 24 on BET.