Missy Elliott Teases Comeback Track After A Decade Away
Rapper Missy Elliott is one of the most successful female hip-hop artists in history. Elliott has bagged no fewer than five Grammy awards and has sold over 30 million records in the U.S. alone. It is some 10-years since Elliott released her last album The Cookbook, but even today Missy remains the only female rapper to score six platinum certified albums. Elliott was renowned for creating diverse and engaging videos to support her releases, her video for the single “Lose Control” was even a Grammy winner.
In recent weeks, speculation has mounted that Elliott is on the comeback trail. The Daily Mail recently reported that Missy had been spotted filming a video for an unreleased track in Los Angeles. As a result it was believed that Elliott is back recording and is set to break her decade long musical silence by releasing a new album. Missy chose last night’s Monday Night Football show to tease a snippet of a new release titled “WTF [Where They From].”
A snippet of @MissyElliott song WTF(Where They From) ?????????????????? pic.twitter.com/9dp1Cd0lHE
— Nappylongstockings (@gotishgo) October 27, 2015
Elliott is renowned for her collaborations with some of the biggest stars in the music business. In the past, Missy has worked with the likes of Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, and Whitney Houston. It seems that Elliott is keen to develop relationships with contemporary artists, too. Elliott took to Twitter to announce that her new release will feature Pharrell Williams, one of the biggest break out stars of recent years.
Watch ESPN's Monday night football halftime show TONIGHT to hear a snippet of my new song #WTF with @Pharrell? @ESPNNBA
— Missy Elliott (@MissyElliott) October 26, 2015
NME reported that Missy “shared a snippet of her Pharrell collaboration – thought to be called ‘WTF (Where They From)’ – on ESPN’s ‘Monday Night Football’ halftime show.” The advertisement announced that Missy will join a host of artists including One Direction and Justin Bieber who are dropping new music on November 13.
In a recent interview with Jimmy Fallon, Pharrell Williams praised the way Elliott’s mind works.
“Like we’re in the studio, and just the things that she says and thinks about. And like her video concepts. I didn’t know that all those video concepts were hers. I’m so proud of her.”
BET reports that Elliott’s decade long absence from the music scene was as a result of both personal and health issues. Back in 2008 Missy revealed that she was suffering from Graves disease, a thyroid condition that causes irritability, muscle weakness, sleeping problems, a fast heartbeat, poor tolerance of heat, diarrhea, and weight loss. Elliott also revealed last year that she was struggling with her creativity and did not want to short-change her fans.
“When I create something, it’s gotta be special and it can’t just be to throw something out there because I feel like I’m Missy. I gotta feel like what I’m giving fans is 100 percent and that it’s game-changing. I don’t just throw out microwave records.”
According to Radio.Com “WTF” is a classic Missy Elliott track. It featured Elliott’s trademark “fast rapping over a rapid jungle beat.” They also report that the track will be “the music accompaniment for ESPN’s NBA coverage for the 2015-2016 season.”
In other Missy Elliott news, Daily Mail recently reported that Elliott is being sued by a concert promoter in Brazil who claims that 44-year-old Missy failed to show up to promotional appearances on Brazilian TV in November 2012. The lawsuit claims that Missy was supposed to appear on the wide-reaching network to promote two shows scheduled later that month in Rio and Port Alegre. The promoter claims that Missy’s no-show caused the concerts to be cancelled and that he lost money as a result.
[Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images]
