BIA Talks ‘BIANCA’ Debut Album, Cardi B & Unreleased Ariana Grande Collaborations: ‘I’m Now Representing Something Bigger’

BIA had plenty of chances to release a debut album in the past.

Many artists would dive headfirst into the opportunity to parlay momentum from a Nicki Minaj co-sign — which came on the Billboard Hot 100 top 20 hit “Whole Lotta Money” remix — or when she went toe-to-toe with J. Cole on “London” two years later in 2023. But the Massachusetts-bred rapper knew the timing wasn’t right.

A testament to artist development, following a pair of EPs in the 2020s, BIA continued to refine her rap repertoire — and about a decade after signing to Pharrell’s I Am Other label, BIA’s BIANCA debut album arrived via Epic Records last Friday (Oct. 10).

The versatile project finds BIA tapping into her Latin roots when connecting with Becky G to conquer a sample of Shakira’s classic “Hips Don’t Lie” for the party-starting “Hard Way.” She tries out The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Warning” flow on “Trifling” and shows off her vocal range while singing on tracks like “October,” as she transforms into R&BIA.

BIANCA, BIA’s legal first name, serves as a juxtaposition for BIA joining the worlds of her rap moniker and her truest self.

“They’re kind of figuring out how we can work together and be our truest, most authentic self,” she tells Billboard. “Sometimes our flaws, or sometimes like things that are most forward about us, or the most vulnerable things — those are all the things I put into a blender with this album, and I wanted to feel super authentic and relatable.”

Many expected BIA to use BIANCA to respond to Cardi B’s disses on AM I THE DRAMA?‘s “Pretty & Petty,” but she didn’t want to lend negative energy to muddy her debut while addressing Cardi.

“If I was to ever address it again, I would never attach it to my album, because this is a beautiful body of work that I believe in,” she states. “I wouldn’t want to disservice this and overshadow it with noise or negativity.”

Find the rest of our interview with BIA as she speaks on her well-rounded debut, the origins of her feud with Cardi B and unreleased collaborations with Ariana Grande.

When momentum picked up with “Whole Lotta Money” or “London,” was the label trying to have you make an album?

No, I wouldn’t say that. They always gave me the creative control to put out what I felt like was my vibe at that time. When I put out For Certain, I was very certain about that project, and when I put out Really Her, it was kind of more of an international vibe, but still an EP. And then with this, it was like, I had songs that I had recorded even up until three, four years ago, that I wanted to find a home for them, but they weren’t on those projects. So I was like, “Okay, this I know is special to me.” Like “October” was so special to me, but it didn’t fit on [those projects]. I hadn’t been ready to take my artistry there vocally. 

What would you consider success for BIANCA?

For me, I’m always more of an energy person. I believe great things happen and come when you put out good things into the world, good energy. So putting this art out into the world is solely for touching the people, to inspire people, and to make people look at music in a way where it’s like, “Oh, someone’s being intentional about this.” Of course, I care about numbers. I care about metrics. But more importantly, it’s less of my goal to be famous and more of my goal to reach people in a positive way.

I feel like sometimes people focus on the celebrity, but it can overshadow the artistry aspect.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love glam and I love the beauty of being an artist and a celebrity, but I more so love it when I go outside and people come to me and they talk to me about, “Oh, this song helped me get through this, or it helped me get through my divorce.” I’ve cried with women at Fashion Week. All my biggest moments have come from organic songs, and they’ve kind of found their home. We never had a song that was like. “We crafted this hit and we’re gonna put it out.” It was always just like we made a song I love and we love it, and it’s the baby, and wherever it lands is where it lands.

“Hard Way” with Becky G — how did that come about, and how was clearing that “Hips Don’t Lie” sample?

Legendary one. Becky’s energy on a song is just so her. She’s so small, but her voice is so commanding.  I loved working with her because we hit it off one time. We met during Fashion Week, and we became home girls, and when this song came it was like the perfect song for her. It’s kind of like East Coast, West Coast, like Latin X vibes, but still very much our own selves.

I hope we did the sample justice. It’s one of those things where you hope that you do it right, and not try to make it sound like the original.

You were experimenting with a lot of different sounds on the album. What was your process with that?

Because of how I started making music, I would say my range is way more diverse than people expect it to be, so I wanted to showcase that on this project. And you’ve kind of been listening to some songs from me for a while, so some people don’t even know that I sing. And I wanted to have some songs that you couldn’t predict what was coming next, and to showcase my musical ability. I’ve written on every song on this project. I’m singing on every song that has vocals. I poured my heart, soul and love into this project, and just wanted to showcase what I learned musically throughout the years.

“Trifling” feels like a Biggie flow — and then you sample that Nicki Minaj speech at the end.

I wanted to reference that original [Biggie] “Warning” flow, which, which Nicki redid, and so that’s why I chose that sample at the end. Because I really wanted women to see we can be strong. A strong man’s even a stronger man with a strong woman beside him. That was kind of more the message I was getting at and in the lyrics I wanted to paint like us women, even though people want us to be against each other, we’re not really against each other. We should never be against each other — especially over a man, that’s not for us. So I wanted a positive message that would reach women, and make them also feel powerful and strong.

I wanted to touch on something you talked about with Hot 97, where we listened to songs growing up, but we don’t actually process the lyrics until we’re much older — and I catch myself understanding things a lot differently now than back then.

Yeah, when you’re a kid and you’re listening, you might be loving the song for the melody or for the chorus, and you’re not really registering the words. But then, when you get older and you still know those songs word for word, because you memorize them, you look back and you’re like, “Whoa, that message was being instilled on me so young.” I think that was something I really wanted to do with this project, make sure I was putting out a positive message on some of these songs that kids would listen to or my family was gonna listen to. I’m now representing something bigger. It’s bigger than me, so I feel like the music needed to match where I’m at personally.

To me, you weren’t going right at Cardi on the album. Was that intentional — like, “Hey, I didn’t want to lend energy to this or take away from what I feel is my moment?”

Yeah, I definitely feel like that. I feel like I addressed that a year ago. I kind of like left it on wax there.

I think people were expecting it. 

I think there’s stuff on here people will be like, “Oh, okay.” I’m not that quiet either. I’m pretty direct, but what I’m not gonna do is make my album about somebody that I supposedly don’t care about. 

Would you go at her with a diss track separately from this?

I can’t say right now. You know, it depends. Right now, I got some time. 

I’m sure when “Pretty & Petty” came out, you had people in your ear saying you should do this or do that.

I think if this was me a year ago, I would’ve went [back at her] in 24 hours, but I think now where I’m at is such a beautiful place. I’m way more intentional with my music, and what I’m putting out. So I think that, you know, if it happens, it happens. But it’s not my focus.

I heard Cardi talk about how she got a reference to “Whole Lotta Money” and passed on it. Is that true — and how did that track come out for you?

it’s so funny, because the reference that she’s speaking of is the part “it’s a whole lot of money,” and maybe a verse. I wrote the first verse on that song, and the hook, “I put on my jewelry just to go to the bodega.” So I’m so glad you clarified that, because there would be no “Whole Lotta Money” if there was no, “I put on my jewelry just to go to the bodega.” That’s facts, and there would be no “Whole Lotta Money” if there was no “I can wear what you b—ches wear, because it’s cheap to me,” which is also what I wrote.

So I think that you can have writers. Everybody uses writers. But what I’m talking about is a co-writer. There’s not a song that I don’t touch on my on my album, lyrically, that I don’t put pen to paper. Even if I do get a full song, I’m gonna put a spin on it. I’m gonna remix it. I’m gonna do something to make it my own, because I have that talent and lyrical ability. There’s nothing wrong working with [other] writers. I have tons of writers on my album, but they will tell you BIA can wrap her ass off. And BIA’s gonna get in there and bar up every time. So this is not a question of that.

What’s the root of your guys’ beef? I read it was something creatively with similarities between Really Her and “Enough?”

Yeah, there were similarities between different things in the creative. And when I responded to the tweet, acknowledging it, she came aggressively, calling me, trying to bully me. And it’s behind-the-scenes recording conversations and things like that that are just happening every day. For me, it’s more of like an artistry thing. I don’t really care about anything else. If you think an artist is good enough or to take from them in any way, or have their work show up in your work, acknowledge that there’s nothing wrong with that. Or if you don’t know, say you don’t know. But to act like it doesn’t happen, and to act like it’s not actively happening, would be naive of all of us.

Did you know “Pretty & Petty” was coming?

I mean, I could assume, but I didn’t wake up every day like, “Ahh!” My focus every day was BIANCA.

What’s your friendship with Jaylen Brown? I like what he stands for and represents; it’s a lot different than the typical athlete. 

He’s one of my closest friends. Man, I am so inspired by JB. Just not only his pursuit to be a great human and philanthropist, but also to just make sure that he’s pushing knowledge first with the kids and community outreach; those things are really important. He also gives me a lot of advice on things, like, I’ll go to him and say, “How you think I should handle the situation?” You need friends like that who want to see you be the best you, and not just settle for anything. He’s a young, wise man. 

What’s the origin of this picture with Pharrell and Ariana Grande?

Oh my God, that is so cute. That picture was me, Pharrell and Ari. I think she was working on this Sweetener album at that time. But she’s a sweetheart, always been. Pharrell, always so super cool and creative. And probably why I’m so eclectic with my music taste is because being around people like that who work so hard. They’re so hands-on. I’ve had great people to learn from.

I was gonna ask you about the two Ariana collabs, “Esta Noche” and “More.” Why did they never come out?

“Esta Noche,” we had a clearance issue with that. We tried to get that cleared for so long. We all wanted it to come out, but there was a clearance issue, and we didn’t end up getting it figured out until years later. And I think Sweetener, one of the songs that was “More.” That was her song. 

What else did you take from being around her?

Her work ethic. I think everyone I’ve worked with has had such a crazy work ethic that it shows me when I go to the studio some days and I see people that have so many hit records, but they’re in the studio for days straight. Yeah, Future is one of those people. But it’s like, that’s why he has so many hits, because he lives there and those people like that inspire you. I’ve seen Ariana comp her own vocals. I always tell people that, because that was crazy to me. That’s a different level of taking your artistry into your own hands.