Flo Milli Talks ‘Perfect Person,’ Motherhood & Working With Tate McRae: ‘It’s Just Such a Blessing’

Flo Milli is in her mother era. The Alabama rapper returned on Friday (Aug. 22) with Coop for “Perfect Person,” Flo’s second single of 2025, and first since revealing she gave birth to her baby boy, Sixx, in April, which coincided with the arrival of the T-Pain-assisted “Gripper.”

“Perfect Person” unexpectedly samples Hoobastank’s “The Reason,” which flips the 2004 Grammy-nominated hit over trunk-rattling drums and leans into women’s empowerment, as Flo realizes she deserves better while knowing she doesn’t represent perfection herself.

“We knew we’d heard the song before,” Flo tells Billboard of recognizing hints of the alt-rock smash. “The way the sample was singing, they made it sound so much higher than their actual song, so we thought it was girls. We looked it up, and we saw it was slower and everything, and we were just in awe, and we loved it.”

The 25-year-old gushes about her mini-me changing her entire world, as she opens up about love for Mickey Mouse, baby talk and even hair-pulling. Having Sixx around has also amplified her intentions as an artist, realizing it’s not just her she’s responsible for these days.

“It definitely made me go harder, because now I got somebody to not only look after, but I have to set an example to show you can do anything you put your mind to, whether it’s music or not, like you can make it,” she says. “I think it’s just more of me being more hands-on and 10 times more serious about my work.”

Flo Milli’s promising more music later this year, as she builds off the success of her 2024 Fine Ho, Stay project, which produced the top-15 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Never Lose Me.”

Tap into the rest of our interview with Flo, who reveals what Megan Thee Stallion gifted her for Sixx, why women are winning in rap and what it was like like working with Tate McRae.

Walk me through how “Perfect Person” came together?

I kind of just was in the space of observing what’s going on in the media and tapping back into vulnerability and connecting with my fans. Because I feel like I have a lot of different fans around the world. So it’s just about like me tapping into all of that — like, not just making one type of music for one group of people — and I felt like it was a fun song. We’re in summer right now. When Coop and I heard the beat, we loved it from the jump, and we were vibing in the studio and it just came about naturally.

Why did you think about flipping Hoobastank’s “The Reason” into your own world?

The song sounded familiar and I remember we actually did our research on it. I was actually supposed to perform it at one festival, and [Hoobastank] was actually there, and I was so excited, but I ended up not being able to go. I think they loved the song. So it was a cool little moment to cross over.

Tied to the single, you were asking fans about their biggest crashouts on social media. What were some of the funniest responses you got?

This one girl said, “Kicked his side b—h door in, she called the police and I ran a red light and crashed and went to jail.” I’m not gonna say her name, but she said, “Ran an ex over with my car and got 10 years of felony probation. Another one: “Broke my baby daddy’s Rolex and threw his jewelry box out that’s worth $80,000. I’ma keep reading them: “Sliced shorty’s tires for not understanding principles and not giving me money back.” Somebody said, “He kept cheating on me so I lied and said I had gonorrhea. Somebody else said: “F—ked the s—t out of him and then told him we should start seeing other people.” Girl, you did him a favor. 

Obviously, there’s been a huge change in your life with you giving birth to your son, Sixx. How has motherhood been treating you?

It’s been great. Everything, plus more than I expected from it. It’s just cool having a mini-you. It’s just such a blessing. I literally love my son so much. It’s fun and I can’t wait — well, I can wait, because I don’t want him to grow up. Whenever we’re able to go to theme parks and all types of stuff like that, I love doing stuff like that, so it’s been fun so far. It’s just cool watching a baby grow. They literally grow every two days and they do something new. Like, it’s just amazing.

What are some of his recent accomplishments as a baby?

He knows how to flip over. I gotta watch him. He’s starting to crawl a little bit and scream baby talk. He pulls people’s hair. He’s so strong. He loves Mickey Mouse. He’s pretty chill, like, he’s a really cool baby. I’m excited to see how he’s gonna act when he gets older. Like, how his little personality comes in.

Have you played any of your music for him yet?

I actually did play him one of my music videos the other day. I was waiting for him to notice, but I don’t think he noticed me. We gotta give him like a year. He was just looking, but I don’t think he noticed that it’s me yet.

Did any of your music friends get you any cute gifts for him?

Yeah, Megan [Thee Stallion] got us some stuff on my registry, his bassinet and some other cool things that we use all the time. Honestly, I got a lot of gifts. I’m so grateful because I really didn’t have to buy anything, but I still bought a lot of stuff. Like, I actually have an issue. I’m on Amazon buying every day for no reason.

How has being a mom infiltrated your artistry?

Before, it was just like, “Okay, I was doing it for myself, and I love music.” But now it’s like, okay, I’m doing it for myself and somebody else, and I got to do it even better now. So, yeah, it just really made me be more passionate.

How did you link up with Tate McRae for “Bloodonmyhands?”

She reached out and was so sweet about it. I just love her music. First of all, she’s fire, and I went down the whole rabbit hole looking at her videos and songs. She’s dope. She sent me the song, and at first it was melodies, and then we were both kind of like brainstorming on it, but then she finally sent me more, and I was able to kind of like bounce off her energy after that. So it was really, really dope. And I was so excited about that collab, because I’ve never really worked with many pop artists. I was hella pregnant at the time. 

I wanted to touch on you working with T-Pain on “Gripper” and sampling “I’m N Luv (Wit a Stripper).”

I grew up on T-Pain, so that was really exciting. And it was like a no-brainer to put him on the song. And it was pretty easy, he shows love all the time, and it was down for it from the jump. I love the verse and I thought it was a full circle moment. I would have never thought that 10-year-old me would have a song with T pain. So yeah, that’s crazy.

How was going into the K-pop world and hopping on a remix with Aespa?

That was interesting, because I’m like, “Damn, like, they want me on a song?” I was really shocked, but I was super excited about it, because it’s like showing where it really makes me feel like people know that I’m multifaceted and I have different things that I could tap into. So it was a challenge for me, because I was like, “How am I going to do this? Do I need to learn some of their language? How can I stand out? How can I make it amplify this already?” So I sat on that one for a minute because I didn’t want to f—k this up. But eventually I just was like, “I’m gonna just match it up.” 

What was the Flo Milli emo era like?

My emo era, she did what the f—k she wanted, like any style I wanted to try. If I was feeling a little emotional, I might make some sad music. I felt like I was in my very vulnerable era. When I say that, I was in my lover girl vibe, I’ma be very vulnerable, and I feel like people really weren’t used to that Flo Milli, because that’s not the Flo Milli they met. They met the girly, upbeat tempo. I could see people boxing me in, knowing that that’s the only thing they saw. It was really just me showing different parts of myself. 

What kind of music did the emo Flo Milli listen to?

I don’t think these artists are emo, but Kesha, Katy Perry, Fergie and Linkin Park. 

What do you want out of this next era of music and chapter of your career?

I can’t give y’all a direct answer because I’m still exploring and experimenting. I’m literally out here recording now. It depends on how I feel that day. It might be 10 different Flo Millis, but all my personalities in one. I guess how I’m feeling today is very confident. If I could mix two of my alter-egos, it would be Florence Million and Dirty Floanna. It’s rock mixed with hip-hop.

More music coming before the end of the year?

Of course, definitely. I plan on dropping more music soon. 

2024 was such a massive year for women in rap. What do you think was the key to that?

I’ve been writing music since I was nine years old and telling people you want to be a rapper as a woman in 2010, you literally got laughed at, because that wasn’t heard of. Not saying it was impossible, but people just thought it was such a male-dominated thing to where they almost looked at it like football. Why are you a girl playing? Mysteriously, I feel like around 2020 was when everything started happening. I started noticing there’s a lot of female rappers, and they’re all doing their own thing with their own sound and niche thing that makes them different.

I felt like a lot of the women were thriving because we put a lot of energy into our craft. As a guy, all you gotta do is throw a chain on and get a little haircut and you’re a star. I’m not saying there aren’t talented males, but I think it’s easier for them to thrive. Hence, why we have to go overboard to do our best to make sure we’re getting noticed and being creative about it. I think that pushed women to thrive in this era.