[EXCLUSIVE] Cassie Talks Modeling vs Music, Evolving, More

It’s been some time since Cassie released her debut self-titled album, but the model/singer insist her break was all about working and evolving. With the new untitled project due out this year, the “Me & U” hitmaker plans to surprise people.

King of hearts…King of Hearts means to me…the person that’s the king of my heart. I just really did a playful song about finding this person, playing around with them, being coy, and then at the same time for me it has double meaning. You’re your own king of hearts two, especially the female, and you’ll never play yourself.

King of her heart…I might [laughs]

Dealing with Delays…I definitely never considered retiring. I always think it’s funny when artists say they’re retiring because we’re all under the age of like 30. I’ve always kept doing it, even when I decided I wanted to make another album, I was constantly in the studio…just working on myself and myself as an artist. It’s a constant process and evolving takes time. I never felt like I wanted to throw in the towel…I was always working!

Working Without Ryan Leslie…We haven’t worked with each other on this project. We definitely met up and tried to get together and stuff like that but the schedules just never matched up. He’s doing his artist think too so…I’m always prepared for a Ryan Leslie Collab though.

Working process Without Ryan…It’s fun both ways. With Ryan there was like a cohesive sound so there was no issue with things sounding different but I like working with different people and learning from different people and writers, producers and stuff like that; it’s really fun. My ear has grown a lot too because I really kind of had to fend for myself in a way.

Goal with the new project…I definitely wanna show people what I got and what I’m made of and I think I’m definitely gonna surprise people.

Modeling overshadowing Music…There was a point where I was like…it’s just not translating, things weren’t bridging because people were constantly seeing me modeling and I don’t think people were really catching my personality in the mix of it all. It’s a difficult challenge and I’m still working on that now. I just want people to really get to know who I am and I think that will inspire people to listen to the music more.

Diversity in Music…I think it keeps me with an open mind. My dad’s Filipino and my mom is black. Growing up my mom was playing Stevie Wonder, Parliament Funkadelic, Carole King and then my dad, he grew up in Hawaii, so he was a Beach Boys fan and he listened to more alternative rock music. So I have a good blend of culture music wise from my parents.

A day without music…I’m a big fan and a believer that when you really don’t have nothing to do, you just chill out. I just stay home and watch movies and eat.

A dish she cooks well…Lemon chicken with capers.

A regular guy to make it “Me and U”…Dope sense of humor and spontaneity. It doesn’t take much. I definitely want somebody with a good head on their shoulders, I don’t want crazy, I need to be balanced. If I have somebody that’s no focused on something then that could be a recipe for disaster.

Gary Gentles

Founder and Creator of Singersroom.com and IncredibleWork.com. Follow me on Instagram at @gary.gentles.