Tommy Genesis Takes Her Power Back With Most Vulnerable Album to Date: ‘It Was Like Pulling a Tapeworm Out’

Tommy Genesis straddles the line in all aspects of life, making the genre-blending rapper nearly impossible to box in or singularly define.

This week, TG trades her typical minimalist approach for unhinged maximalism, baring her soul for her most intimate album to date, which leaves her with nothing else to give. Genesis, her birthname, redefines Tommy while exploring identity, bisexuality, religion and not holding back her deepest and darkest thoughts, which she’s compared to “open heart surgery.”

“I’ve rapped about my pussy and I’ve rapped about my ex, but what would you do if I gave you me and just talked about Genesis?” she asks to close out raw album opener “Rainbow Child.”

Production duo Take a Daytrip is on board as executive producers for the new set, out today (July 25), while helping sonically guide Genesis to reclaim her power with self-reflexive spoken-word raps, inspired in part by Lauryn Hill’s MTV Unplugged.

“I recorded and sat with it for like six months because it was so heavy,” she tells Billboard. “It was like pulling a tapeworm out when I first did it. I didn’t know if I hate this or love it.”

The project’s second single, “True Blue,” delved further into Tommy’s contradicting feelings of being too queer for church — as her family converted from Hinduism to Christianity — and grappling with being half-brown, half-white, while coming to terms with her demons. An accompanying Parris Goebel-directed visual sparked backlash ,as viewers condemned Genesis for appearing as Hindu goddess Kali and holding a cross.

TG tuned out the noise, touting she has the “best type of personality” when responding to online outrage, or lack thereof, as she probably went for a jog with her Doberman or penned another chapter in her upcoming sci-fi novel in response.

“I’ve always felt very comfortable in that position of if I’m paving a new highway here, then that’s what I’m doing. If I’m making women feel empowered, that makes me happy,” she says. “I think the rest is always just noise because you can never make everyone happy. If you care what people think about you, what’s the fun in that? Life is supposed to be fun.”

Genesis has a deluxe for the project in the works and is plotting a tour where she’ll perform one-night-only shows in select North American cities. Dive into her world below, as she heals her inner child and pulls back the curtain on the real Tommy Genesis.

What was the last year like for you going into the album to record that, and how did you get in that state of mind?

It was a few years loading. I got the first initial guitar production [that] I think I wrote 12 of the songs to in April 2022. I didn’t write them or record them right away. I don’t know how to feel or if I’m ready for this. I was like, “F—k it.” Recorded it in early 2023, the year all of the Lana [Del Rey] stuff happened. It grounded me. It was a really important project for me as a person. 

Was it hard to record, or cathartic — then tough to show people?

To start writing, I feel like I channeled 12 of the songs. It was almost like a download that hit me, and I had to find my phone to write it down as quickly as I could. I wrote it in the order of the album. I say it was like my angels came and delivered it to me, but it was just like it came through me and out. That was really easy, like touching it as it was falling. To record it, because I had waited so long, at that point, I had already called all my best friends like, “Come over, I’m gonna perform my album for you.” I had taken meetings with people and performed in person for them. I was doing weird a cappella live shows. I would play the guitar loop on my phone and rap it. 

When I finally went to record it, it was first takes. I just like threw it up and there it is. It was a pretty quick process to get the vocals out. I waited so long in between because of the energy. I was like, “I don’t know if I’m excited or deathly afraid, but let’s go.” 

What was Take a Daytrip’s involvement as executive producer?

Take A Daytrip is a duo, David [Baptiste]and Denzel [Biral]. David is one of my really good friends. I had written the project to a lot of production by Andre Denim. This album is all made with all my friends, I love it. We got it to a point where we liked it, but it needed energy and it was originally inspired by Lauryn Hill’s MTV Unplugged. I was pretty into the whole stripped-back acoustic guitar poetry angle. I played it for David and I was like, “Do you want to executive produce it?”

It was a conversation where I’m always hesitant to ask my friends, because I love them so much. Work and friendship are so different for me. At the end of the day, I care the most about my friends and my family and work is just something I do for fun. So he got on it and I was like, “Channel your inner-child.” Because that’s all I did and he went insane. The sounds he brought in, I explain it as he reached into the underworld and grabbed a bunch of sounds and threw it at the wall and it felt so much bigger. I’m very grateful. 

What do you hope fans take from this album about you?

It’s so different than my other music. As an artist, I’m really interested in making art that feels reflective of who I am now. Otherwise, I feel dormant the more I play old songs. It’s like you’re stuck in a time loop. I love doing that for OG fans, but I’ve never been someone who’s for everyone.

I’ve always sat comfortably in a controversial space. I’m not really looking to convince anyone to like it. It’s more if it resonates with you and that’s what I want — to find my people. The people who resonate with it are gonna have maybe similar experiences because I talk a lot about my identity and my childhood. Everything is in there. Everything I could possibly say, I said. If you relate, you’re gonna relate really hard and that’s what I’m excited about. I think they’re gonna take away a piece of me because I gave everything. I have nothing left to give for now. 

Do you feel like your older music doesn’t represent you?

It definitely represents who I was. I was always true. It’s just that I’ve grown and years have passed. I’m not at that same place in my life. It’s cool to see art jump timelines. Even having Lana [Del Rey] take “Angelina” from 2015 and repurpose it on her [Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd] 2023 album. Suddenly, the song hits in a different way. When you made it, you put it out there and now it can have its own life. Maybe there’s a glitch or it will jump and go to bed forever. The act of getting it out is cathartic. 

You said “Genesis” was going to be the song that was most vulnerable for you. Were you talking to yourself in the third person? 

That song is me talking to myself. I kinda have this rule for myself with this album: where there are no rules. I say that a lot, but I took it to heart. I’m gonna say everything and explain to myself how much I love you in a weird way. I started off with, “How do I tell you you’re more elegant than this?” There’s always this push and pull inside me of, “I know who I am, but they don’t know who you are” — but that’s okay. They don’t know who you are, so let’s tell them. I get misrepresented a lot. My music is, in ways, empowering and free and explicit. Because of that there’s this misconception that I’m this freak — well, I am a freak — that’s open for business. I’ve had to tell fans that you can’t just grab me like that. 

The way I actually am is, I’m bi, but I do love actually being in love — and I have this tunnel vision and I’m really picky and I’m actually not attracted to many people, so when I am, I really am. My sexuality is very specific and connected to emotional attachment. There’s all these things about where, yeah, I am a freak, and that’s where I can pull all this energy from because I’m brave and blunt and I don’t give a f—k. But at the end of the day, I’m not how I’m always perceived.

It was fun for me to go into myself and be like, “This is how I feel about this. This is how I grew up.” I literally grew up under the Northern Lights. I also wasn’t born in Vancouver. People think I was, but I’ve just never corrected anyone. There’s so much about me people don’t know. In the album, I said, “Everything I’m comfortable saying to the max. At this point of my life, I’ve given everything I’m comfortable saying.” After that, there will be more because I’m gonna keep living. I usually give [the] minimum and I gave the maximum. I think that’s what art is. You can be a minimalist, you can be a maximalist. [On] this album, I was a maximalist.

I always felt like there was this wall between us and that was just shattered here. 

I literally just kicked it down. I was like, “It’s time.” 

Walk me through “True Blue” and your reaction initially to the backlash you received from it.

The song itself was about a relationship and my own identity and doing a lot of therapy and learning to take back my power. It bleeds into everything for me. It bleeds into my childhood, sexuality — everything. I’m just reflecting back, but also it comes full circle at the end when I say, “I’m not that little, I’m not that little.” I can be the adult version of myself for my inner child, who’s strong and can take control. 

The video really began with the color blue. What’s “True Blue” to me? What’s “True Blue” when I think about my identity and the album as a whole? This is why we dropped “Loops” after “True Blue.” This is my story and the story of my family and my lineage and where I come from. The video made a bigger impact than I was even anticipating. I kinda just drop things and walk away really easy. I’m not attached to things — I’m attached to my dogs. Everything else I’m like, “I made this song, I’ll put it out.” I’m very content to let things go. 

When there was a backlash, I think I’m the best type of personality for this stuff because I didn’t really react. I think, for me, the reason why was because it’s rooted in who I am. My family was Hindu and we converted to Christianity and I grew up in the church. I grew up queer in the church. When I was really, really young, I knew I was bi. My first memories, I knew. It was a very difficult time to be in the church when you’re little, having these thoughts. The whole album is about taking back my power. I’m in a place where I’m a brown woman doing something that brown women aren’t allowed to do in certain conversations.

Then you follow up with “Loops.” Was that recorded already or a response to everything?

It was already recorded. It was made at the time I made “True Blue” like two years ago. It’s so interesting, because there’s words in “Loops” like, “Women can’t be God, women can’t be solo, women can’t be rappers, women can’t talk about sexuality.” It’s bars in there that feel like they’re predestined and given to me for this moment of the “True Blue” video in some eerie, uncanny way. I’m telling you there was a glitch. I basically had a response track ready, and it’s after “True Blue” on the album as well. I even said to my manager, “I just wish they could hear ‘Loops.’” Then he was like, “Let’s just drop it.” So we dropped it.

“Eve Ate the Apple” was another standout for me.

The second verse always gets me emotional because I always wanted to be a mom. When I was 17, people would be like, “What do you want to want to do when you’re older?” I’d be like, “I just want to make art and I want to be a mom.” I always thought I’d have my kid by now. I thought I’d have a kid really young because that’s what I’ve always wanted. I didn’t have one in my 20s. This conversation with myself, “I thought I’d have a kid by now/ I’ll wait for you.” That triggers me every time I listen to it. If I’m in a room with someone and I listen to it, I always have to look away. It’s kind of my most deepest desire in a song.

“Girl’s Girl” has a hilarious way to start a song: “If your girl wants you to unfollow me, you better do it.” 

For me, I’m such a girl’s girl. I think about the male gaze all the time in my music. I think a lot of media performs for the male gaze and I’m such an interesting case study where I have one foot in the LGBTQIA+ world, where I am queer. I have this one line not on this album: “I’m too gay to be straight and too straight to be gay.” I’m right in the middle, and I have one foot in both worlds in every part of my life. I’m half white, half brown. I’m into girls and boys. I’m very sexual and spiritual. I straddle the line always. This song was for the girls. I don’t ever want anyone to be like, “Who’s that girl you just followed?” And it’s me. You better unfollow me, because I care about the girls more than you.

First of all, I want her to follow me. I don’t want you to follow me. I think it’s an interesting conversation and you hear a lot of songs that are the opposite of this point of view. As women, we’re told you can’t be insecure or jealous. These are all natural feelings and you just want to feel safe. Sometimes it’s just a conversation. In the second verse, I’m like, “What about, ‘Hey sorry, I didn’t know that affected you/ I’ll undo what I did do.” It’s not even that deep. It’s about the action you care that someone feels safe. Girls love this song because they feel safe in it. Men need to just take some pointers.

What else do we have coming up? Are you going to tour?

Yeah, we’re going to tour. We’re announcing it very soon. We’re gonna do one-night-onlys. There’s also a deluxe in the works. I’m excited. 

What are some Tommy Genesis hobbies?

My day consists of waking up and I really love my dogs. I’m such a dog person. I used to foster dogs. I have a Chiweenie and a Doberman. Ever since I got my Doberman, I’m like, “I actually need a new hobby.” I run with them. I jog. I’m not a fast runner, but I can jog for a pretty long time. That’s something that happened this year. I love life. I go wherever the day takes me. I like to draw. I like to paint. I’m always doing my own creative. I’m always writing. I wrote another album that I’m doing. I like drinking wine. 

Where’s Tommy Genesis in 10 years?

I have my kids and a ranch and maybe the ranch is by the ocean. I have a few more dogs and have made a few more albums. I’m writing a book. I’ll have my book out by then. Maybe there’s a sequel to my book. Can’t stop dreaming. I’m writing fiction. It’s a sci-fi.