Brooke Candy + Erika Jayne Just Wanna Have Fun

Sep 23, 2019 @ 12:00 pm By Galore Girl

Brooke Candy has had a busy (and extremely hot) summer—but thotumn seems to be where all the fruits of her labor are going to be ripe for the picking.

She kicked off New York Fashion Week with a surprise show at Barclay’s Center after the VFILES runway shows. Shortly after, she released “Drip,” her latest, sweat-slicked anthem featuring Real Housewives of Beverly Hills fan-favorite and outspoken songstress Erika Jayne.

Now, she’s busy putting the finishing touches on her upcoming Album, SEXORCISM, which drops October 25th (just in time for you to bump it while putting on your thotty Halloween costume—you can preorder it here).

We figured what better way to celebrate our latest cover than having two of our faves interview each other? Especially after collaborating so iconically on “Drip.”

Check out Erika Jayne and Brooke Candy’s conversation below all about sex, feminism, and why girls just wanna have fun.

E: You are an artist that talks very openly about sexuality and feminism and your own brand of that. Explain to me where that comes from and why that is important to you.

B: My sexuality has always been very fluid and for some bizarre reason, very open. I’ve always been uninhibited. From the time that I can remember being sexually experimental, it just felt like a natural thing. But I also have some interesting family ties. I have a parent who worked with Larry Flynt for Hustler Magazine for about 40 years, so I was raised in an environment where I was in Larry Flynt’s offices and there were sex toys everywhere and girls running around, and it was just kind of natural, I saw it when I was a child and I didn’t think anything of it. I think it obviously helped subconsciously to shape my sexuality, but from there on, it was just this natural thing for me to express myself sexually. It just steamrolled, and from that to stripping when I was younger, that’s what helped me become even more uninhibited and a better performer—to now with my music. So I’ve kind of tried to twist it on its head and take something that could be really exploitative and turn it into something really empowering. Because women are taught from a young age to feel so shame-filled for being sexual, or for having that natural impulse, that animalistic impulse. I’ve never felt it, and I’ve never understood that, so I’ve always wanted to help women not feel that shame that comes along with it. And so that’s where I’m at now, I think.

What was the inspiration behind the track and the video?

It’s another in your face feminist anthem, but it’s fun and it’s for everyone. It’s just like a pussy power, just own it, love it, be sexual, live in the fantasy, and that’s really this entire album. I think the inspiration behind the video was very literal. I had a whole other concept, and then when I went over it with my friend Seth, who I’ve known for like 12 years, and he’s helped me with all the art that I’ve made, he was like, “Brooke, why are you trying?” I had a Marina Abramovic reference and he was like, “Why are you trying to do this fine art thing? It’s you and Erika Jayne. You need to be campy and fun and fantasy and just make people smile. That’s what this needs to be.” So that was the inspiration. I think the video came out so cute, so sexy. It’s so fun.

I think it’s fun and that’s an important part of it.

I think that’s the most important part. I think people are going to watch this and they’re just going to smile. That’s the goal. They’re going to giggle and smile, and they’re going to dance. And if I could do anything, that’s what I want to do.

One of the most refreshing things I took away from us doing this collaboration together is that I don’t think people know how much you like to smile and how sweet you are, how genuine you are. I love it when you smile, and you have a great way of, like me, being very in on the joke and laughing and having a good time and not taking yourself seriously. You have a great work ethic, and you take your art seriously, but at the end of the day, we’re here to entertain, that’s the one thing that I enjoyed the most about working with you. Now talk to me about your album that’s coming out, you have a lot of great people that you worked with.

So the album is called SEXORCISM, which goes with the rest of the content thus far. I made the album in four days in London with one producer and one other writer, and we just spit it out. It felt like we all just came together. It was the most magical meeting of minds, and we just tunnel visioned it, and it’s very sexually liberating. It’s very focused on feminine sexuality and owning it. And it’s very fun, it’s very gay. It’s everything that I always wanted to do.

I had my little roadblocks that didn’t put me on this particular path, and now I’m on this particular path where I feel like I’m in control and I’m able to make the art that I want to make and I’m able to say the things that I want to say. I think this album is a direct reflection of what I want to represent to the world, which is what we were talking about earlier. It’s like, we want to be fun. And I like fantasy. And I want to make people happy. Because like you said on the video set that you love to see me smile, and we were watching the scenes back and I was giggling and you were like, “Brooke, This is so cute. You need to smile more.” And then it’s just like, I feel that inside. I feel the happiest I’ve ever felt, and so I just wanted to create something that is a representation of how I feel on the inside and how I want other people to feel. So can I talk about some of the collaborations?

Yes, please.

I collaborated with women that I feel are powerful women that I look up to, doing something that is thought-provoking, doing something that is different, and doing something that is against the grain and essentially, the women that exist in their own lane. So I have Charli XCX on there. I have this rapper Maliibu Miitch on there, who is like an angel. I have you, obviously. I have Iggy Azalea. have a couple of amazing drag queens, Violet Chachki and Aquaria are on a track that’s very like Madonna Erotica. So we’re all kind of whispering on the track, and it’s very sexy and it’s like a house track. I have this new grime artist, who was so fierce, her name is Brie Runway, she’s from London. And I have a few more actually, but I’ll leave those for release day.

What does the word “art” mean to you?

Honestly, my favorite artists are artists who don’t take themselves too seriously. John Waters is probably one of my idols. I love Dolly Parton. I love Cher. I love artists who are making art—but like you said—are kind of in on the thing that they’re doing, whether it’s a joke, or whether it’s campy, or whether they know their audience and they’re in on it. It’s my favorite art, and that’s the art that I strive to make.

Art itself is so hard to define. I think it’s just self-expression. And, for me, right before Fashion Week started, I drove out to the woods and shot a video for 12 hours, two hours outside of New York. I came back, rehearsed for our show, then we did our show and then we were going to a bunch of fashion shows, in this never ending work mode. I still feel like everything that I do, from the way that I dress to the way that I communicate—especially with my visuals—are all an expression of me as a person and my soul and my spirit. And that’s the art that I made, that’s my art. But that’s a tough question.

I know, that’s why I asked it. So let’s talk about our show. How did you feel at VFILES, performing at Barclays?

I’ve never felt better about a show in my life. I have to say, my team and yours made me feel so unbelievably confident. I wrote this email the next day that was like, “I’ve never felt so emotional because I just felt so prepared and so fierce and so ready.” It didn’t matter if there was one person in the audience or if that stadium was filled with 5000 people, I didn’t care. I was ready to walk out there and strut my stuff and do my thing. Thank you so much, by the way, for helping me to realize that because I’ve never had the opportunity to work with real production and dancers, and you guys were so prepared and you just brought me into your world, and you bringing me into your world helped me to see that like, “wow, this is the way to do it.”

I felt so calm. I was just giggling. Normally before my shows, I’m so anxious because I’m a Cancer. You’re a Cancer, too. And I’m so nervous, I can feel my heart racing. And before this show, I was all giggles. I was just joking the whole time we had my hair and makeup done. And I think the show was literally perfect like, Teen Vogue, MTV, all these people have been writing the most amazing things. Paper magazine wrote a whole—did you read it?

Yes.

The whole write up of our show and how amazing it was. And I think we did it. Our show was like, the show of Fashion Week. I think it really surprised everyone to see us come out together with that production.

That was the best part for us, that no one saw it coming. And no one knew it was coming. So when it happened, a lot of people were like, “Oh, wow, this is the collaboration I never knew we needed.”

Exactly!

And it was really organic. It felt natural and it felt calm and good because you know what, that’s how it should be. You should be prepared. People think that shows just magically happen. They don’t. You have to put in the time and planning and I’m so glad that you got to come into Mikey’s and my world and trust us. You should be really proud of yourself because you came into someone else’s space, someone else’s camp, that’s really been around for a long time, and you fit right in. And it was super smooth and super clean. So I was really proud of us that night, and thank you for asking me to be a part of this song because it worked out beautifully.

My God, thank you for bringing me into your world because I have to say you are a fucking professional and Mikey is a fucking professional and so kind. When we were rehearsing at that full day of rehearsal, and we were doing our thing over and over, we were still all smiles and giggles. And it was fun. I have never experienced that. It just opened up this new horizon for me where I feel like now I need to step up to your level and be prepared. And I feel like it’s such a blessing, and I’m so grateful for both of you, truly.

We’re grateful, too.

And the dancers fucking killed it. Oh my god.

Yeah, they’re really good girls. Well, you know, that’s part of show business and show world and you prepare, prepare, prepare, because you never know what’s going to happen. But listen, I am very proud of you. I’m very excited for you. You have a very long overdue moment. And thank you for letting me be a part of this collaboration. I’m so happy that we murdered our show at VFILES and I’m excited for the video. And it’s fun to watch you grow, it really is.

I’m so excited. Wait, can I ask you a few questions?

If you want to, yeah, go ahead!

Okay, so you toured last year, and it was a sold out tour?

Yeah, we did really well. We sold them out.

So what was one moment while touring that you will truly never forget?

Probably when the tour bus broke down. Listen, you got a taste of how prepared we are. And you got a taste how, like military time we run our shit. So the shows are always flawless and they come off beautifully because we’re so prepared. So it’s those things that are beyond your control, like the tour bus breaking down, that stick out as like, “holy shit, what happened to us?”

I think one of the most emotional moments was the first show in Jersey City. When I stepped out on stage to do the opening, we did the first few numbers and the crowd was so wonderful. They gave so much love, and it was like a full circle moment. And when you feel that, that’s what it’s all about. People were smiling. People were happy. People were dancing. That’s what we want. And when you get that, especially on opening night, because we’re shooting a TV show and preparing for this tour, it was all kind of coming together at one time, and you don’t know what you’re going to get when you get out there. I mean, we all hope for the best—you prepare, prepare, prepare, and at the end of the day, you know, the audience may or may not like it, but I was very fortunate that they did. We had a great tour.

Amazing. Amazing. Okay, I have just a couple more. What has your musical journey been like? Because I know you’ve worn many hats and I admire you for that.

Listen, here’s the thing. I performed as a kid, got married and quit performing. So when I decided to start the Erika Jayne project at 35, I was starting from a place of self expression and making the music I wanted to make, the things I wanted to do, the things that I wanted to say. So there was really nothing more in mind other than self-expression. I was never going to get a major label deal because number one, I was too old, and that’s not what I wanted. But it didn’t matter. Fortunately, we live in this era where music finds itself, whether it’s through SoundCloud, through the internet. It’s taken me a lot places and opened a lot of doors for me. Before this collaboration with you, I had not made a record in over a year, because I’ve been shooting a TV show for five years, and that takes a lot out of you, just time-wise. And it’s hard to switch from mediums, from music to television. It’s a separate part of the brain in a way. It’s two different performances, performance brains, if you will. So for that reason, I need to make more music and I missed it. And people come up to me and they said, “Where’s the next song, where’s the next album?” Well, fortunately for me, I’ve been super busy, but I’m always creating. I just need to get in the studio and finish.

I hope it’s on the way. I know so many people that die for you. So I know that they would just die for any music, like a single, EP, an album, anything.

I think they’re going to die for our collaboration, honey.

Oh my god, they don’t even know it’s coming. They do not know what’s coming. I’m excited. Tell me about your ShoeDazzle collab. And what’s the process been like?

This is my third collaboration with ShoeDazzle. I have a fall and winter collection coming out. And it’s been great because I’ve been able to design things at a reasonable price. People have budget constraints and ShoeDazzle has worked with me and been able to offer such a great line. I mean, I’m super excited about these things we have coming, as well wearing them around. I think that it will be fun for everyone. I’ve never seen a more organized collaboration. It’s been great. They’re super cool.

I love it.

Well, I get to send you all my boots.

I know, they rock.

I’ll send you the whole line you can pick and choose and you know, it’ll be great.

Yes. And I love the idea of making something with your aesthetic, which is like, next level amazing. I think making something that’s chic and cool at an affordable price so that everyone has the opportunity to wear it and feel beautiful is so special. So I love that.

I agree. You know, not everybody gets to go to Bergdorf and kill it at the shoe department. But you can definitely go to ShoeDazzle and get hooked up there and have some fun. Fun is a recurring thing for me and for you. We want to have fun,

You are so fun, I love it.

[Laughs] It’s one of those things. People don’t have enough fun. And it means something when you’re in entertainment to bring a smile to people’s faces.

I agree 100%.

Honey, I’m so excited for you. You deserve all the best. You’ve had a very long journey. There are lots of people that are very excited for you. I’m one of them. I thank you again for including me on this collaboration. I think we had a great show.

Thank you for being on this collaboration. This has been a dream of mine for three years. So I finally manifested it.

Your dream has come true.

Three years of being like, “I need to do a song with Erika Jayne. Why is this not happening? Why? What?” And then finally it did and it happened at the perfect time. I think everything just happens when it should. And everything is just running so smoothly. And I’m so happy about it. And I have just loved working with your team and it’s exceeded my expectations. I’m so grateful. I’m so happy. And thank you so much.

We are over the moon, too. We appreciate you being such a professional and such a sweet, sweet, sweet soul. And I’m very happy for you, Brooke. You’re in a great place in your life. You have a lot of beautiful things coming your way. So I’m so happy to be a part of it. Thank you.

Thank you!