Missy Elliott Talks Super Bowl, Bobbi Kristina, & Reuniting with Timbaland

Riding high off her Super Bowl performance, Missy Elliott called into SiriusXM’s “Sway in the Morning” this week. The hip-hop icon discussed her resurgence on the charts (three of her singles went top 10 on iTunes), her protégée Sharaya J and the “Banji” movement, and hinted at new music.

She was super nervous and even had anxiety attacks leading up to Sunday’s halftime show. “The day of the show, I prayed all the way to the stage,” revealed Missy.

She also expressed her gratitude to Katy Perry for asking her to be a part of the historic event. “I thank Katy because she could have picked any artist, and it was big for her,” she said. “She said that she was a fan of mine.”

Missy originally thought they would perform the remix to Katy’s single “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” but Katy wanted Missy to perform her own records. “She said to me, ‘God got you here for a reason.’ I’m humbly grateful. I’ve cried and cried and cried tears of joy.”

New fans have discovered her music because of the Super Bowl, and she even saw some joke that she should be on XXL‘s Freshman cover.

Since the performance, she has also received “a lot” of offers to tour.

In response to Young Thug’s comment about not buying a Jay Z CD because he’s over 40, Missy was surprised, but she hasn’t experienced agism.

“I think what me and [Timbaland] did was our music was so ahead of its time and its not even coming from a cocky way or a conceited way,” she said. “I think talent is talent and it’s timeless.”

She also shared her prayers for Whitney Houston’s daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, who is “fighting for her life” after being found unconscious in the bathtub.

“It’s heavy on a lot of people,” said Missy, who is a friend of the Houston family. “I’ve been praying and a lot of artists that I know that have relationships with her and have a relationship with her mother, we’ve been in prayer. I just tell people to keep praying. Don’t stop. I believe in the power of prayer.”

Missy won’t be at this weekend’s Grammys. Instead, she will be in the studio with Timbaland working on new music. “We gonna get in and get some work done,” she said, but stopped short of saying too much.

“I don’t want to say too much because in this day and time, boy, you say something, they will come back two weeks later like, ‘Where your album at?'”

It’s been nearly 10 years since Missy released her last album, The Cookbook.