Sexyy Red Is Making Everyone ‘Shake Ass’ — Even Her Haters: ‘You Can’t Not Hear Me’ (Exclusive)

It’s the Monday before Thanksgiving and Sexyy Red just wrapped a six-hour flight. She’s unwinding by the time she hops on an afternoon Zoom call with PEOPLE after being “in and out of sleep” for the duration of her trip, following a schedule packed with headlining arena shows, an appearance at collaborator Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw festival in Los Angeles and the promotion of two of the biggest songs in the country simultaneously: “Whatchu Kno About Me” with GloRilla and Tyler’s Chromakopia standout “Sticky.”

But after back-to-back career years as one of hip-hop’s most in-demand game-changers, the 26-year-old St. Louis native has come up with something of a life hack for flying.

“When I know I’m going to take a flight, I get a big pillow and I got a blanket with me. I just hug that pillow the whole time and just get balled up, that’s how I get comfort,” Sexyy tells PEOPLE, before cheesing with her massive Squishmallow fox plush and encouraging this reporter to “step y’all pillows up.”

It would be an understatement to say Sexyy Red brings out the best in those around her. Since her breakout single “Pound Town” climbed to No. 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 last year, Sexyy has cemented herself as not only someone who knows how to craft charting feel-good anthems (“SkeeYee,” “Get It Sexyy”), but also a trendsetter who can just as seamlessly translate those talents to cooking up hooks and features for others (“Rich Baby Daddy” with Drake and SZA).

Whether its due to what she calls her genuine approach to making songs, her ability to churn out catchphrases within them or her apparent love of memes, those in Sexyy’s orbit always seem to match her “free spirit,” too. So why is Sexyy always in a great mood? “I don’t know. I be sitting thinking to myself too because I don’t know. I just be thankful that God blessed me with the attitude I got,” she says.

“Because everybody, you can’t go around everybody and just feel comfortable like this. I be really… I don’t know. It’s just something about me,” she adds. “That’s what they say.”

It’s been yet another headline-making year for Sexyy Red: She’s recently celebrated the launch of her NSFW Sexyy Gloss Kit, scored her first top-10 hit on the Hot 100, and even highlighted the arrival of her second child in elaborate music-video fashion (her first child was born in 2020).

As one of PEOPLE’s Ones to Watch in music, Sexyy’s opening up about growing up with Taylor Swift’s music, what puts the “battery” in her back to go harder, how she predicted each of her hits and what 2025 has in store after back-to-back years of mixtape releases. Here’s what it’s like to be the Sexxy-est rapper alive.

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This has been an incredible year — even two years — for you. Each year has been a landmark year. How would you describe the average day in your life at this point in your career?

I got two average days. If it’s a work week, the average day I got to get up, get my day started, probably got to do some s—. My team’s gonna to call me like, “Eh, you got this to do.” But on a regular day, getting my day started is me asleep with my kids. We wake up, we get breakfast, we watching TV, and then later that night I go to the studio. That’s what I do on the normal day. Just me chilling.

What do you watch?

My son, he be having his tablet. Him and my daughter take turns with the TV. One has the tablet, one has the TV. He likes to watch Spider-Man. And on the TV, my daughter watches Sing, so I can’t never watch TV. She always got to watch TV!

What do you consider your personal favorite hobbies right now? When you get the free time to yourself, what is it that you turn to?

When I’m just chilling, what would I do? Sometimes I write a song, go out with my friends, be with my kids or go have fun, something like go go-karting. I like to get in my car. Stuff like that makes me feel normal again. I hop in my car and just ride around by myself. Go to the store, just make a run like I’m a normal person or like I said, I’ll call my friends when I’m not working. Go try to chill with them, get back to me.

Can you go out and do everyday stuff? Do you try to be incognito with it?

Yeah, I got to because if I don’t, they’re not going to let me be me. I got to disguise myself. I be wanting to just pop out, but [it’s] like, “Girl, put a mask on.” And then I be like, “Ugh, why do I even got to do this? Can y’all just like chill?”

You’re nearing the end of the Sexyy Red 4 President Tour. What’s the feeling when you go out there and you’re looking at this arena full of fans?

It’s a good feeling. I be happy because I be like, “Dang, people really f— with me.” So it’s a good feeling. It makes me happy. It makes me smile when I see them turn up. It turns me up and makes me want to go harder forever.

How would you describe your relationship with your fans at this point? How much of yourself do you see in them?

I love my fans. I relate to them, too. They bring me back down because I already be on the road and be around all this different life. You know what I’m saying? Money and stuff. So when I be seeing my fans and they just come up to me and they just remind me of people back home, I be like, ‘Yes, I love it.’ I got a lot of different fans, I got a lot of different personalities. All the different personalities of my fans match me. That’s why we relate.

What’s been your fan moment in the last year or so?

I ain’t going to lie, I be having a lot of fan moments, but one I can think of off the top of my head is when I was on tour. I had a show and I came out and a lot of my fans was outside waiting on me to walk out to my car, but they was on the other side of the gate. And then it was this girl that had a Sexyy outfit on. The whole outfit was me all over. And I was like, “Oh yeah, I want to take a picture. Come on.” I let her come over there and take a picture of me. And then she was like, “Can I have a hug?” I usually don’t hug people, but I’m like, “Yeah.” So then I gave her a hug. Everybody was like, “Aw.” I’m like, “Really?”

What would you five or six years ago have thought of a moment like that? Would you have expected something like this to happen in your life?

Hell no. My life took a turn. I ain’t saying for the worst, but it definitely took a turn. It took a turn, a crazy turn. Something I wasn’t expecting. When I was little, I never said ‘I’m going to be a singer, I’m going to be a rapper.’ I used to want to be a hairstylist. I used to want to work on cars. I used to want to work on houses. I thought I was going to open a salon. I didn’t think I knew how to rhyme and stuff, I didn’t think that it was going to be like what it is.

I read that you used to work on Barbie clothes as a kid. Would you have described yourself as an artistic kid?

Hell yeah. I was weird. When I was little. I was weird as f—.. I used to be by myself. I used to not even have friends, I used to sit in class by myself. Quiet. I’m still weird. For real, for real.

What brought you out of your shell?

What brought me out of my shell was people talking s— about me. And it’s like, I know I’m the s—, so it’s just like, ‘Just admit it.’ That’s how I really felt about it. So it was popping me.

I know I’m fine because people been hating on me all my life. But I, deep down inside, I always just felt like I was just so beautiful. So I just used be like, ‘What?’ And when people talk about me, it turns me up.

So that’s what puts the battery in my back, too. When people be talking s— about my music and stuff, I be like, ‘OK, now your people, I’m finna make your people shake ass to my s— just because you want to talk s—. Watch.’

That’s got to be a good feeling.

Yeah. And then they do, it be people that don’t like me, but I see they people be listening to my songs or listening to it around them. So I know you don’t like me, but you can’t not hear me nowhere. I love it.

You’ve also found fans in every corner. I remember back in May, you posted this picture on Instagram with a random guy you sat next to on a flight. He told you he started listening to your music and loved “Looking For the Hoes.” What is it about your music in particular that you think makes a fan out of someone who says he listens to ‘80s rock?

I don’t know. It is funny. It’s funny, but it not a shocker because I just relate to everybody. I relate to old people, white people, Black people, purple people, pink people, gay people, straight people. I just relate to everybody. God, I feel like I relate to everybody. I’m just like a free spirit. For real, for real. I don’t care about nothing.

How would you describe your message now? Would you say your music radiates that type of free spirit?

Yeah, you could feel it through my tone and my voice. You could tell I don’t care and you tell I’m being for real when I speak. I’m not lying, but you just know it’s genuine.

How has your process of making music changed over time? Do you feel like your best ideas come to you beforehand with a notes app? Or do you feel like everything hits you in the studio?

Back in the day, I couldn’t go to the studio unless I already had something wrote down. I was just nervous like that. I used to be like, “I’m not finna to walk in there with nothing and then be sitting there looking crazy.” So if I was going to go to the studio, I always made sure I had something.

But then it was times I started running out of stuff, before I was coming up there and then my team would be like, “Okay, well start a new song.” And I’m like, “But I ain’t got nothing wrote down.” They like, “Well start writing.” I did not want to do that. “Oh my God, I got to sit in the studio and write a song?” That was weird to me. So now I sit, I can sit in the studio, I can even freestyle now. I just start freestyling.

I’m not going to put you on the spot, but—

I’m dead. Hell no, not that good now. I’m getting there. I just started.

Do you think that type of outlook has motivated you to make more music?

Definitely. Hell yeah. At first I was just doing it just to do it, but now I’m doing it for the people. Literally at first I was just making the song to make it for me, but now I’m making songs, they like, “Come on, come on, come on. We need more. We need more.” So then they’re like, “Talk about this. I just went through this, talk about this.” So then I make a song for them. Like, “Okay, I got a song for you. I can relate. I’ve been through that too. I’m going to make a song for you,” type s—.

We’ve talked about the fans at your shows, but you’ve also found fans across the industry. A moment that really made me smile this year as a fan of you both was when you connected with Lana Del Rey. What was it like spending time with her?

Lana was nice. She was nice. She wasn’t how I expected. When I seen her, I ain’t know what type of time she was going to be on. But when I actually started talking to her, she was cool.

Are you a fan of her music?

Yeah. I heard some songs of hers. People was getting me hip. I ain’t going to lie, I ain’t know her like that. But people was like, “That’s Lana.” And then they was putting me on to her. So I’m like, “Oh, OK.”

What’s your favorite thing that you’ve discovered in the past couple of years?

Honestly, what come off the top of my head, what I can think of is, just meeting new people from all around the world and getting they ideas or seeing people that’s just like me, but they all around the world. Meeting artists, because I be like, “Dang, I was just sitting at home listening to you and now I’m in your city.” It be crazy to me.That’s like you meeting your favorite, somebody you was just watching on TV and now you sitting here talking to them, it’s like, “You was just on my TV.”

Somebody else that you’ve apparently made a fan out of is Taylor Swift. She soundtracked a behind-the-scenes stadium video with “Whatchu Know Bout Me” a few weeks back. Are you a fan of her music?

Yeah, I used to get dressed to Taylor Swift in the morning for school. And I just think it’s tight when people can cross over and listen to stuff they don’t normally listen to. So I was like, “OK, period.” She f—— with it. Now we know what she, you know what I’m saying?

Sometimes you see people and you never know how they is until they show you. So once I seen it like, “OK, so she f— with it,” then I’m like, “OK.” That made me like her even more. I’m like, she relate to us, you know what I’m saying. The ratchets. She relates to the ratchet s—, the hood s—, she f—— with it. You know what I’m saying?

It only makes sense that she’s finding your music. It’s everywhere. Even right now, you have two songs in the top 30 of the Hot 100. How important is consistency to you?

It is real important because I feel like you want to stay relevant and leave a mark on the people. And people can chill and take breaks. But me, I want to keep putting it in your face. I don’t want to chill. I want to be consistent and I want you to keep seeing me. I don’t want you to forget about me. I don’t care. Even if you can’t forget about me, I’m going to keep popping up. That’s the kind of girlfriend I am. So now, y’all got to go through it, too.

Do you get a feeling when you know a song is going to resonate the way it ends up resonating?

Yes. I swear to God, I do. I know when it’s going to be a hit. It’s never been a time where I heard a song and I was like, “What? They like this?” No, because I already be knowing when I record a song, I can feel it in my spirit. Every hit song I got, I promised to God, I said, “They going to like this, this is going to be a hit.” And if y’all just do a song and it’s cool, we jamming to it. But I’ll be like, “This ain’t the hit.” I know the hits when I tell my people, “This a hit, it’ll be a hit.” But then I’ll be like, “OK, this is just something for the people, but they going to like it. They going to f— with it.” Still my s— goes up.

I called out “SkeeYee.” I called out “Looking For The Hoes.” I called out “Pound Town.” They definitely didn’t believe in “Pound Town.” I called out “U My Everything.” I called out “Get It Sexyy.” Even my features, every time I called out a song, well, it just was like “I snapped out on this,” and then I’d be like, “This going to go up. It’ll go up.”

You just earned your first RIAA-certified gold project with ‘Hood Hottest Princess.’ That was 2023. 2024 marked ‘In Sexyy We Trust.’ Are you in a space right now where you prefer a yearly mixtape? Do you have a vision for an album down the line?

Yeah, I got some s— dropping. I’ve been working. I got all music dropping. I ain’t dropped in a minute, I feel like, even though I just dropped a tape a couple months ago and some singles. I got a lot of songs in the cut.

I believe it was yesterday when you posted a new song on Instagram. What would you say is the space that you’re in right now creatively?

I just be in my moods. I be in different vibes every day. So I don’t know when I made that, that was on some bored s—. That wasn’t even a serious song.

Do you feel like music is still a hobby for you even as it’s become a career?

A hobby? Yeah. When I’m not forced to have to go do it, when its not feeling like a job nowadays, it be fun and it feel like, “Damn, this is a job.” Like, “I got to get up and do this and this is school.” So it’s cool. It’s cool now though.

You did an interview last year with Billboard where you really manifested 2024. You said you were going to be “everywhere.” What is 2025 looking like for you and fans of Sexyy Red?

The same thing. I’m going to just keep going up and up. I be thinking I’m doing something, then the next year comes and then it just be more s— I got some s— coming up in 2025 that I know is finna send me back up and then next year I’m finna to go more up.