Ashanti Talks Expanding Her Brand

Sirius XM Radio’s Larry Flick recently caught up with Ashanti and she talked candidly about why she hasn’t been on the scene as much lately as well as how the industry has changed since her first release. She also revealed her desire to build and expand her brand and the importance of not becoming the “fame”, once you achieve it.

Check out the highlights below:

On Why She Hasn’t Been As Visible On The Scene
Well, I think it’s a combination of the industry changing as a whole. I think it’s about being happy, knowing what you want and how to accomplish it. Dealing with execs and the way things change in the labels is really something you have to adapt to because it’s a lot of things that are beyond your control. So in order to get that control back you have to kind of sit for a minute, sort it out and know what you’re doing and have an amazing team.

On Fame

I have a great family structure. My parents are still together, I have a close knit family. I think you can’t become the fame, you can’t become the industry, you have to stay who you are and work the industry. So it’s really, really important to have a foundation for whatever it is that you do. Whatever industry you’re in-corporate, music entertainment, whatever, you have to have that core foundation and know where you stand and don’t let anything else kind of infiltrate and change who you are.

On Planning For Her Return to the Spotlight
The first thing I plan is being focused, clearing my head, understanding and adapting. Like I said, the industry, the economy is completely different than 2002, when I first came out. We’re surrounded by different people, radio has changed, labels have changed, strategic formulas have changed, so it’s about adapting to what that is. I think the first step is definitely staying true to yourself. My passion is music, I love writing music but music is dying so you have to have other outlets to continue to build that brand because that’s the focus. So you line up film, you line up television, you line up books and it’s all about timing and aligning the stars and having the right people behind you and knowing what you want. I think it’s really important to own. I’m on that path [right now]. If I’m doing something, I need to own half of that; I need the executive produce that, I need to collect that check and have my creative input.

Everything that I just mentioned, film, television, music, books, is all in the works. We’ve been lining things up for the past almost 2 ½-3 years. It gets a little frustrating because I’m the type of person I want to see results right now. I want to do it now, I want it to happen right now. But in order for it to be as big as it possibly can, you have to build that platform and that was one of the hardest things to wait. Everything that I’ve spoken about we’ve been in development with [for awhile].

On Female Artists
I’m nice, I’m the peacemaker, I’m the positive one but I don’t like the beef thing, I think it takes up too much of your energy. You block your blessing when you’re negative and your mean, it’s not worth it.

On Dating
I’m dating my album right now.