The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Melanie Fiona On Embracing New Beginnings, Saying YES, Motherhood + More

Episode Date: April 4, 2025

The Breakfast Club Sits Down With Melanie Fiona On Embracing New Beginnings, Saying YES, Motherhood. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ, Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the guy. We are The Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in the building. Yes, indeed. Melanie Fiona. Welcome. Hello Long time no see man. I'm so happy back. Why is it so cold? I know Tell me no not in here. I'm in New York streets. Yes

A couple days ago, why can we keep that same energy? You're not used to the cold weather no more. No, no, no, I'm in California Okay, my Canadian blood is I'm in California. Okay. My Canadian blood is... It's gone? No, it's never gone. But the Caribbean blood is living. She's thriving now. How has it been for a woman from Toronto living in LA during the Kendrick Lamar era?

Geez, it starts right up. Wow. Wow. Welcome. It's active. It's active. Okay. You know, I'm very Canadian in LA.

That's my position. You're very Canadian, okay. I like that. Well, how are you doing? How are you doing? We haven't seen from you in a long time. How was everything? You know what?

Life is blessed. I feel very blessed to be here again, talking about new music, motherhood. It's a full scope journey for me. Like I said, I'm just blessed to have gas in the tank, still have creativity, to still have opportunity. And I'm just doing everything that I love to do. So, you know, I'm happy. I'm grateful. Congratulations.

You got married recently. I did. I did. I still think four years ago was recently, four or five years ago. It is. It is recently. And we've been together for like, you know, 13 years now. So it's 12?

I don't know. Don't quote me. A long time. But, you know, it's getting married, except we did it in the pandemic, and that was really just a testament to making it happen, however you gotta make it happen. We had planned a huge wedding, just decided, you know what, we're just gonna walk down, get this done,

and it was really one of the best decisions we made. You know what's so interesting, people always talk about during the pandemic how folks got divorced because they realized that they didn't really like their significant other. They had to spend so much time with them. But then there's the other side too, like your story. Yeah, we did realize in that year,

we were like, I really do like you. I mean, we'd already had a kid at that point, but we were like, I really like you. Like, let's do this. It actually made us closer. And then actually at the end of 2023, we had a ceremony in our backyard just for our family, because we didn't have any family when we did it.

So that was really special too. You know, I had my dad walk me down the aisle, I got to wear the dress I never wore. So it was special. And I think that that's kind of what the last few years of my life has taught me, is that you just gotta make the moments. Like we don't know if tomorrow's promised,

so you gotta say yes today. And is that what the scope of say yes is about? Yes, absolutely. So as the journey of life goes, you know, I think a lot of people talk about saying no a lot. You know, we say no how to set boundaries. I had to do a lot of that in my life throughout my career. And I think that everything remarkable that I've really learned that I've seen that I can do has come on the other side of saying yes. Saying yes to overcoming fear, saying yes to the love and the life that you want and desire, saying yes to the people who show up for you and say,

how can I be down, how can I help? But obviously with discernment, that takes work. So I just want people to hear Say Yes as a musical project but also to have affirmative language in their life. Say yes, say yes to you, say yes to whatever it is that you want and go for it. Did Shonda Rhimes' book influence this? You know, it's so funny, the year of yes,

I was reading it, yeah. Absolutely, yeah. Cool. 13 years off the grid. What you been doing for 13 years last time we seen, I mean off the grid, off the grid, off the grid. You know, but you know what, I wasn't off the grid. I really wasn't, I really wasn't.

I was outside in different ways. I was making a life as well as a living I continue to do shows I am a part of a podcast now called the mama's den. It's a motherhood podcast a collective I just started developing motherhood community and initiatives, you know, I decided to expand my wingspan and And just really step into everything I could possibly do with my voice, all while figuring out how I wanted to continue to do music. The industry is one siloed experience of this. And after everything that I had went through, the peak of success, enjoying that, having difficulties with my voice, just all these things, it really made me ask myself, how do I wanna live and create for the rest of my life?

And so that took some shifting, that took some refocusing, that took some severing conversations and relationships and just going independent, you know, and really just figuring out how I want to live my life. And so you need experience, you need to love and learn and live and make new music and get inspiration for all of that. So I think a lot of people, especially in the music industry, we live in this space or in entertainment

where you feel like there's this clock ticking on you. This clock ticking. The only clock I'm on is God's clock. If I'm alive and I have another opportunity, I will show up when I am called to show up and when I have something to say, when I have something to offer, and I feel like I'm in that space now. And so my mantra for myself and for anyone out there

is take your time, it's yours to take. Like we don't work on anybody else's clock. So, you know, I just feel grateful that in all that time, I've still been able to reach the fans, continue to build community, continue to build fan base and like I said just have more products and creativity to put out. So you know 13 years to still have people checking for you is a blessing because some people nobody's calling for them you know and God bless those people because they don't know how they're gonna work or what else they can do. So

in that space I figured out what else I can do what else I can create now you mentioned your voice I just what happened with your voice. So right after the MF life came out I remember it was just off the Grammys Everything was just at the peak of success for me and I started having trouble with my voice And I couldn't sing for like more than 30 minutes, you know, I I have the ballads Yes, you do. So she has to sing all the time up here. And so that was a really terrifying place to be at

because I had never had any voice issues. So I started to see all these specialists. They were all like, there's nothing wrong with your vocal cords. Nothing wrong with your vocal cords. And it was one doctor that said, what kind of a year have you had? And it was just a floodgate of emotions.

Because nobody had asked me, how are you? I had just come off of a really bad breakup. I had moved states and cities. I had had this extreme disparity and contrast of like high and low that I was experiencing. And it was literally all energetic. I was just blocked in my throat chakra literally. I had to go for energetic healing, acupuncture. I just started to seek alternative methods and that was really the place where I started to have to really recognize if I wanted to live happily

in my purpose, I had to be mindful with my purpose. I had to be protective of my purpose. I had to find peace and set boundaries and really start to define how I wanted to move through my life and my art. So I remember I just went for a few sessions, started to be really mindful and I was back on tour for six weeks with Mary J. Blige and D'Angelo with no voice issues after that. So it was just stress. It was just stress and tension and you know there's Louise Hayes, the body keeps the score. Like we are energy and we hold everything that we go through this is trauma this

our conversations our pain points and you don't understand why sometimes we have progressive and consistent ailments and things like that and a lot of it is from the stress of the trauma that we've been through in our lives so I really encourage people to approach their life from a very holistic standpoint. Don't be so close-minded to think that it's just one thing. We can actually be responsible for our own healing as well. Yeah. I completely agree.

And I'm wondering, over the last 13 years, did you take a break from music because you were kind of rediscovering yourself? So yeah, it's a little bit of all of it. It's discovering myself in motherhood, in womanhood, in an independent space, stepping away from the big machine of things a little bit, choosing to go independent.

A lot of that requires time, and more time than we think. We think a lot of these things just happen overnight, especially when you got legal stuff involved. Oh, that could take a long time. And some of it did. But also at the same time, I just really was enjoying the presence of my moments of life. Being present for my son in the first three years after having him, because I was working on an album that

never came out at that time. But that entrance into motherhood really made me say, I think I need to re-shift some things in my life. But during that time, I was able to be present with my child, so it was a lot of rediscovery. It was a lot of shifting, it was a lot of living, you know, and at a pace for myself and my family, which was really healthy for me.

Yeah. You could, I'll go to you. You guys sat down and did an interview with BET, where you were talking about the sanity of moms and us feeling like we don't have the safe space to be able to say things like, I don't feel like mommy in today and things like that. Because we'll feel bad for it.

Do you feel that you're in that safe space today? Yes. Yeah, and I think it took having a second child. I never thought I was going to have a second child, but again, God's plan and you know, a little bit of reckless behavior during the pandemic. But you know, it really was me allowing myself the permission to understand that it's going to be okay and that I'm doing a great job and I love my children. And also the thing that I always wanna encourage women

who are mothers in any capacity of their lives is your children need to see you being you. How many of us have seen our moms be like, my mom was so self-sacrificing, she's miserable, she got back pain and stress and high blood pressure because she was so self-sacrificing for everyone else. There's no reward for that. You have to pour into yourself.

And so that whole empty cup analogy and metaphor, it's a real thing. We pour as women, we are nurturers. We are nurturing the earth, we are nurturing our offices, we are nurturing our children, our partners. We have to create space and demand that we have space to pour into ourselves. It's the only way we can show up.

And that's why it's very important for kids, even at our age, get to know your parents, like to have conversations with them and learn who they were before they were your parents. Yes, absolutely. It's interesting because somebody asked me about this the other day. They're like, how do you feel your perspective has changed making music now versus making music before? You know, before children, I was singing heartbreak love songs

and people love me for that. And you know, my kids now, they listen to these songs, they don't really have the context, but they're gonna understand the journey of who their mother was as a woman. And they're gonna hear these songs on Say Yes and know that these songs are a reflection of transformative, affirmative love.

And they're gonna understand that they're a part of that. And so I do think it's important that your children know who you are. This generation that we all cloak and dagger in secrets and traumas, like, that's done. We can't do that for our children anymore. We didn't do ourselves, no faith was keeping secrets. No, no, no, no, and our children deserve to know who we are

so that they have permission to be who they can be in their lives. And understand that it's not a straight line and there's no perfect, you just do your best. How was it doing, because you said you're independent now, so you're no longer with UMG or Roc Nation. No. Why did you decide to go independent?

That's just like the trajectory of life. I had the opportunity to and I took it. It wasn't a bad situation. Shout out to Steve Rifkin and SRC Records. I had the opportunity to make an exit to change the trajectory of my life, and I took it. And again, even that had its issues, going independent, and even that had its learning curves.

But now in this space, this project, I partnered with a Canadian label, some friends from back home who were like, yo, what do you wanna do? And I was like, I wanna put out some new music. who were like, yo, what do you want to do? And I was like, I want to put out some new music. And they were like, bet, we'll help you. You know? And even in that space with a little bit of help,

it's still a lot on me. So I'm still driving this ship. I'm still steering how I want it to feel and look like, and having the long existing relationships of people that you have history with, and coming back to see them. So I don't feel like I'm starting from scratch. I'm just starting again. And it feels good.

Like it feels free. And also I think for me creatively, I'm not trying to chase who I was. I've already done that. It kills me exists. 4M exists, wrong side of a love song, Fool For You. They already exist. They've already amounted to success.

I wanna be and create new art that it has its own light and own life. So, you know, it's good. You know, people, artists, everybody's like, you know, get to the, artists are the bag. Like, you're the bag. So you have value. Once you know that, people come to you

and they want to help and they want to collaborate with you. But it definitely takes a team. And so I'm takes a team. And so I'm rebuilding my team. It's been, you know, as I expand in the motherhood space in different ways to use my voice, that team will continue to expand. It's a lot of responsibility.

And I got two kids now. So it's way more responsibility. But again, it's blessed stress, as I call it. We're all stressed about something, at least be stressed about what you love doing. Do you ever feel guilty, have those guilty thoughts that you're not spending enough time with your children because now you're delving back into music

and you have all your podcasts and everything else. Do you still feel yourself struggling in areas where you can improve or you want to improve? You know what I mean? Definitely, you know, I'm getting ready to go on tour. You know, this is the first time I'm going on tour with two kids and since having both. How old is it?

Three and nine. And... I got two adults in the house. You really do? Nine and three, yeah. Wow, it's a big, you like that jump? You like that space in between? Yeah, I actually got three, six, and nine,

and then a 16 year old. Mm, stick it to me one more time. Yeah, like I really am kind of bracing myself for that. What that's gonna be like to be away from my children for three weeks. I mean, they'll probably pop out and say hi on a couple of shows, but you know, they have school now and that's a big part of my mental load. I

run that ship, even though I'm out here. Yeah, gonna go do television tomorrow. So f'd up. He gonna be calling you every day. Actually, he's really good. And we have help right now. We have family with us who know how we kind of run our house. So we've kind of had to enlist that help. But I think that that's one way that I kind of give myself permission. And I try to quiet the guilt down. I think guilt is a thing that naturally comes up, but you have to work actively to say,

that's not really real. Like, my kids are actually taken care of. I'm actually out here doing what I need to do. They're cared for, they're loved. And it's temporary. Everything is temporary. My parents are immigrants. I think about my parents leaving my brother in Guyana to come and immigrate to Canada, to set their life up,

to bring their children and their family up to Canada, and how devastating that must have been to be like, we don't know if it's gonna work, we don't know what's gonna happen, but I have to leave my child in a different country, And how devastating that must have been to be like, we don't know if it's gonna work, we don't know what's gonna happen, but I have to leave my child in a different country and reestablish my life. So I always use that as a guiding light for me

every time I think about guilt and every time I think about what's possible, because we made it. We all made it and we're doing all right. Yeah, and I'm seven months postpartum, so it's like. You're in the thick of it. It's your first. Yes, right? No, this is my second. Oh, okay. My son is 12. Okay started over right? Yeah. Yeah, so and

Although I do have help, you know my fiance's mom She moved from Kuwait to come and be the nanny and help you know and and that is Don't play with me. Don't play with me. What? No, Melanie, he be trying to- You're not gonna come for the mamas now. Nah, you got, anyway. See it? You're not gonna come for the mamas, I got you. Girl, because she Mexican.

Oh, right, so it's like- I'm like, I was just concerned, like should you- I know, she was working over there. Okay, okay. I love that, I love that. I was just concerned, should you say that at a time like this, Jess, You just got here? Shut up, girl.

Go ahead. Go ahead. Shut up. Go ahead, Jess, go. Go. So, and I still find myself feeling guilty. You know, I was breastfeeding, but out of nowhere, I just stopped producing milk and I'm guilty because I can't give her breast milk anymore.

Now she has to get on formula and everything. And it's just like, uh, and I'm touring because I'm a standup comedian as well. And so I'm here this weekend and then I'm there this weekend. I have to get up early and leave her. Have you ever wondered if your pet is lying to you? Why is my cat not here? And I go in and she's eating my lunch.

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This is Levertown, a new podcast from iHeart Podcasts, Bloomberg and Kaleidoscope. Listen to Levertown on Bloomberg's Big Take podcast. Find it on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My husband cheated on me with two women. He wants to stay together because he has cancer. Should I stay? Okay, Sam, that has to be the craziest story in OK Storytime podcast history.

Well, John, that's because it's Dumpin' Week, and this user writes, my partner told me when we first got together that he has cancer. He's currently living with his mom while he is in recovery so that it takes the pressure off me caring for both him and her baby until he's well enough to move into our new home with us.

This is good so far. Well, last week we had attempted break-in. I asked my husband who was supposed to be at his mom's to come over and change locks, but he wouldn't. Then his mom told me he wasn't with her. I went to Facebook and it took me less than an hour to find the first two women he was cheating on me with. Oh, what else is he lying about?

Well, one thing my paranoia just wouldn't let up was about the cancer in his treatments. I asked his mom about it, who told me he doesn't have cancer. She also informed me he was in rehab, not the hospital. He suffered from addiction and was trying to recover for me and our baby. Did she leave him?

Well, to find out how the story ends, listen and follow the OK Storytime podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Because I do radio from six to 10 or six to 11, whatever that is, so I'm still in the thick of it where I'm trying to balance that guilt or even just rebuke the guilt,

because I know I shouldn't feel that way, but I do. I cannot shake that. Because you love your child. And when you love something so much, when you love something, think about everything that you love even professionally. You want to show up in love, right? And this is someone that you made, like you carry, you know the sacrifice, the bond.

And yeah, like that breastfeeding thing, girl, oh my gosh, let me tell you, when my first one, I was so sad when that milk was like, bye. Bye. Girl, with my second, I was like, are we done? Whatever. Are we done? Because I'm not enjoying, like, it was so difficult

the second time around. By three months, I remember my husband looked at me and he was just like if you're unhappy I was pumping non-stop just to be like she gotta get yeah my body was like no We're we're done now and and I felt the second time around when I released Myself from that so I know everything that you're saying and it's a journey and no one's actually gonna help you get there It's just you you're gonna have to arrive. You're gonna have to see I think once you start to Maybe once you start to just really when she sees you happy. She does not know any like You being happy is actually what makes her happy

Yeah And I think that that's the thing that we forget your children's happiness and they've done studies on this Depends on the happiness of the mother more than anyone else in their life. So you being happy and fulfilled, my only advice, even though we're not really supposed to give advice, my only suggestion would be to try to find

the happiness in your presence. We talk about balance like it's supposed to be 50-50. No, some days it's 90-10. But when you're there at 90, if you're there at 90, be there with her. You know, enjoy your time. Show her, enjoy, like create those moments. And when you're not there,

then she knows that she's loved. And then you're in your full purpose as well. But it's hard, I get it. It really is hard, and it's a real thing. Like we talk about it on the podcast all the time, because it's a real thing. Where did you meet your husband? How did y'all meet?

Ooh. Maybe you're looking for one. Wait. A husband? I've been married 24 years. Absolutely. Six kids. Put some respect on that.

But he gave it 31 years. Thank you very much. I don't know what he talking about. He wants to be bae so bad. Messy, messy. He wants to be bae so bad. Oh, just messy. Y'all still messy. Oh my gosh, y to be bae so bad. Oh, just messy.

Y'all still messy. Oh my gosh. Y'all think he's still doing this? Y'all still messy. Why you still doing this? No, he's just crazy. He's like, where you meet your husband? No, because she talks about-

I need one. Love. He's asking the thoughtful questions. I love this question. Thank you very much for asking. So, there's a funny story is we actually used to work in the same studio right next to each other and didn't even know for years. And one day he used to be a songwriter.

Now he's a manager and an executive. He's a partner at a media company. He's doing very well. I'm very proud of him. But at that time he was a songwriter and I was working on my second project. And the first time we met this guy from my team was like, hey, these guys next door want to play you a song. Why don't you step next door and goes, so I walked inside.

That was the first time we met, but we were both in different relationships. And then cut to like a few years later, we're both out of relationships and we're in a writing trip, we're like on a writing camp. And we ended up on an island together. Writing camp for what artists? It was just like a creative, you write for, you just write and then you place the songs

or whatever. It was my first writing camp and I didn't even know him. We took the same flight, we got off the flight and we saw each other and it was like, oh hey I know you, I know you. But instantly we were just like really familiar and that's how it started. We just met on this island and I was like, this is like, I don't know, this is really weird. And I had actually gotten out of a relationship

like a year and a half before. I was doing my dating thing, being outside. And I remember right before I went on that trip, I said to my friend at the time, I was like, I think I'm ready to meet someone for real, for real. Like I think I'm ready to like venture into a serious relationship again. And I went on that trip and we met

and then we came back to New York and we kind of started dating. We dated for almost a year, like kind of figuring it out and then we broke up. I thought it was going to be a good story from there. It's a brilliant story. It's a brilliant story. No, you know what the thing is, I always say this because I always used to say I was like no U-turns this because I always used to say, I was like, no U-turns. Like at that point in my life, I was like, I've already done the, you know,

how it's going to work out when you make, when you spin the block. If you have this turnaround, it usually don't work. So what I always do, what I said was, is like, I just kept going and he met me where I was at. So, yeah, cause I wasn't looking back. I was like, if you are my person, you, we will align. I don't have to pull back and you don't have to, like you're gonna meet me where I'm at.

And I had done a lot of work at that time, so I wasn't willing to compromise the amount of self work I had done. I knew the love that I deserved, I knew the love that I wanted. I felt like we could have it, but again, you gotta say yes to overcoming some of those things. So why'd y'all break up?

You know, at that time, we, I'll say this, we've both gotten out of long relationships and I had done the work to figure out how to move on from that and I don't think that he had at the time. He had never given himself permission to be single, he'd never enjoyed that part and so I think when he met me, I think it was a moment where he was kind of like, whoa, I think I just met the person I'm gonna be with for the rest of my life. Like, am I ready for that?

Yeah, I need to be the man that she deserves. For sure, and I respected him for that. And when we parted ways, it was in love. Like, that was one of the most beautiful breakups I think I'd ever had because we saw each other for who we were as individuals. And I was just like, whatever work you need to do for yourself has nothing to do with me.

And I actually don't even wanna be the catalyst for it. So I'm gonna remove myself so that you have the space to go and do and be what you wanna do and be without my influence or me planting seeds. And so I know that if you show back up, you showed up because you wanna be here. You showed up because this is where you know you're supposed to be, not because I've been

planting the seed of hope, like, are you gonna, hey, I'm still here, no, I started dating someone else. Like, we really started. Oh hell no, he called the lady immediately after that. He got the therapist online, what, hey. But he did that work, he did that work. And when he showed back up, it was on. Like, I I had whatever reservations

that I had thought about spinning the block or getting back together with an ex they were just gone I was like I'm choosing to do this with you so what was the moment that it was okay he's ready like what was it or did you just feel I just I just knew he came back We didn't talk for six months. I'm like a no contact kind of person. Right? He text you, hey big head? No.

What you doing big head? Exactly. I told him, I said, don't call me. I said, don't call me about the weather. I said, don't ask me how I'm doing. I'll be fine. But I was like, when you call me, have something to say. Grand Rising Queen.

You know? No, you're doing any of that. No, you're doing any of that. No, you're doing any of that Grandest of Rises Queen. No, he just hit me and he was like, hey, I was just calling to see how you were doing. I was like, I told you, I'm doing good. I'm doing good. You're a tough cookie.

You know what he called me for, I told you I'm doing good. No, but I had to. I respected, you did the work. I had to and then finally he hit me, I was in LA and he was like, hey, will you have dinner with me? And I was like, no. Jesus.

No, I was really trying to, and a friend of mine was like, she was like, you love this person, why don't you just go have dinner with them? Like, he wants to see you. And so I went and we had dinner, and he was like, hey, I was just hoping, he was living in out of state at the hoping, he was living in out of state

at the time, he was living in Florida and I was living in California. And he was like, I was wondering if you'd come out and just hang out with me and I was like, no. I was like, I'm not, I'm not coming out. And he was like, okay, well then I'm coming back to LA. And so then he came out to LA and this is like my favorite part of the story because I was like don't do this.

Like don't do this if you're not ready. Like for real, like I'm not playing. So then after he's like I'm coming to LA and he's like I will be here for three days. And he's like if you will see me, he was like this is where I'll be. And I was like I'll let you know. And then I called him 30 minutes before and I was like, I'm pulling up in 30 minutes. He's like, I'm here. So he really posted up.

And when I went there- He was in front of your house, just waiting. No, no, no, this was at a hotel. He was at a hotel in LA. And I, but I was really, I really was like, let me see if you're really about that action. But like, I wasn't making it difficult for him. I was just really being firm on my boundaries.

Did you get fly when you pulled up? Oh, you know I did. You know, because if it's the last time you're going to see somebody, you got to leave a letter of impression. But it wasn't, it really wasn't. And you know, the things that he said, it was just the most genuine. I just knew Spirit was like, we're aligned here. And I knew that it was the right decision for me.

I knew that I was going to, and that's, you know, even on the EP I wrote this song called I Choose You, because I think that choice is the greatest thing we have, and when we exercise it in empowerment, it can be so beautiful. And so for me, I was like, all right, I'm gonna choose to say yes to this. You're choosing me and I'm choosing you,

and we are going to do this together. We know where we've come from, we know what we've been through. With all of that said, let are going to do this together. We know where we've come from. We know what we've been through. With all of that said, let's choose to do this together. And so we did. And in six months, I was pregnant. Oh, so this is about him. He chose you.

Say yes. Listen, oh, listen, let me tell you something. That moment of us finding out I was pregnant, again, like I didn't think, that wasn't the plan, but it was God's plan. And when I really happened, like as soon as we got pregnant and then we had our son, I literally was just like, oh, this is why.

Like I, of course we have a beautiful love and life and connection. And I really do feel like that is my person. But when we had our son, I literally was like, oh, this, this little spirit needed us to get our shit together so that he could be here. There's so much that I'm hearing in what you said.

Number one, the power of intention. Absolutely. Because you told your home girl, I need to find my person. The set boundaries find peace, the set boundaries find peace part is very important. And you know, just people doing the work and what's for you won't escape you.

It's there for you. Time and time again, you just have to trust the process. You really do. You have to be willing to journey and pay attention and learn and allow yourself to be a student of life, truly. In all the work that I feel like I've done on myself, I'm still learning. I'm still being tested.

These kids come along and test you. They show you parts of yourself that you didn't even know that you still needed to work on. In marriage, even at this time right now, we're both in the busiest seasons of our lives together and that's a challenge. So how do we navigate that? We're not the same people we were.

We have more responsibilities, more stress. So it's an evolution always. But the intention, the power of intention is everything. You cannot do anything without intention. Yeah. Yeah. I was gonna say the setting boundaries part though. Just the fact that you were firm in your nose.

I want you to expound on that. Why is that important? You know, I think for a lot of my life, I was a people pleaser. And I think for a lot of my life, I felt like I had to be nice and I had to get along and I had to go with the flow and not rock the boat. And I really realized that people,

you get more by people knowing that you know who you are and that you can't be swayed on that. And I think that no is, we hear it, a complete sentence. And you don't have to be rude about anything. Like, no thank you, you know what? Not at this moment, I appreciate that, but no thank you. I'll pass, like there's so many ways, you know, that doesn't align with me right now.

There's so many ways we can say no that still empower us and if you don't wanna feel offensive. But the setting boundaries is everything, because again, I think because of the boundaries that I've set for myself in my life, I can now freely say yes and feel like I'm doing it from wisdom, from experience, from divine protection. I feel like the universe responds

when you operate at a high frequency. And so I know that I've done the work. You cannot get to that free space of saying yes by just being like, I'ma just say yes to everybody. That's people-pleasing tendencies. The say yes from a point of empowerment comes from setting those boundaries. So they go hand in hand.

Yeah. Why only six songs? All the time? It's not enough. Something to say? It's not a full album, it's an EP. Why just six songs? Because that's what I got.

Got you, got you. That's what I wanted to do. She show you all the things she doing. It seems like it's the timeline of your love, like of how you and your husband, you know? Yes, it really is. And you know, the thing is is that we, there's been so much time between these projects,

and I understand that, but you know, six songs are still six songs. It could have been no songs. There's someone, it really could have. Or it could have been 12 songs. There's someone, it really could have been. Or it could have been 12 songs, but people only really love six. Basura. So just give them the six. Yeah, people don't really love it.

Basura. They don't like it. You know, they don't like it. It's not for everybody. And I think that that's the thing. With this project, it's been so long. I wanted to give people something that allows them to, I think, connect with the foundation, I think, of who I am.

Like Mona Lisa's smile in the project is very much a true Melanie Fiona fan record. They will love that. But then you got Say Yes, which is a completely live song. The version on the project, there's a version on the project that's seven minutes long. It's fully artful, it's transcendent, it's ethereal, it's Andre Harris, Chris Dave, Thunder's transcendent. It's ethereal. It's Andre Harris Chris Dave

Thundercat Charlie Burrell and sir like we crafted this it's art, you know So these songs are really special to me. La Russell is on the project the feature, you know I got James Fauntleroy on this project. We did a song so these songs to me are just It's the right offering for right now and I think that people will enjoy it and they'll wanna run it back and listen to it over and over again.

Because like you said, you give some people 12 songs, people's attention spans are TikTok long. You know what I mean? And so it's been a while. I wanna reintroduce and reestablish myself. And so I felt like an EP was the best way. And we can move on and make many albums and many songs and many projects.

So I'm just not limiting myself. I'm just, this is what we got, six songs. Well, the inspiration of Mona Lisa smile. Was it the movie or was it the actual smile? No, so Mona Lisa smile came from a place of, honestly being a black woman in this world. Mona Lisa smile, you know, when you think about the Mona Lisa, nobody ever knows if she's smiling, if she's sad.

Like we don't know, it's just very nondescript. Like, yeah. She don't really have lips. It's based on how you focus your gaze. Right, exactly. But her lips not really that full. Right. Well, she's white.

Yeah. Yes. Well, we have black Mona Lisa now. You know, and she's smiling today. But no, the thing is, is that Mona Lisa smile, if you listen to it, it's this like beautiful song that sounds really pretty. It's got this vintage sound. But what I'm talking about is the stress of being in life

and love with somebody, and just being like, I'm not going anywhere, and I'm gonna put my best Mona Lisa Smile on, because if I let one tear fall, I might fall apart. But as a black woman in this world, as a woman in this world, I have to show up with my head held high and nobody will know what's going on inside. And that's really what Mona Lisa Smile is.

Even in that side, it's just like, when you're in a relationship with somebody, it's just like, oh, uh, mm-mm. I'ma just hold it together right now. I'ma just hold it together right now. You know? So I really love Mona Lisa's smile for that reason, because I think it really is the untold story

of what so many women carry in their relationships and in their roles and their lives, yeah. Another thing that you've talked about, you know, this conversation that I would love to just expound on, because somebody was up here, I forgot who it was, and they were just saying how work-life balance does not exist. Like, there's no such thing.

It's a lie that we tell ourselves. You're gonna give your energy to your family, and that's gonna be that. You're gonna give your energy to your work, and that's gonna be that. Like you said earlier, it's not gonna be 50-50, it might be 90-10. Did you just expound on that a little bit?

Yeah, you know, they say something that I've heard many people say is you can have it all, you just can't have it all at the same time. And so, you know, I think for the wellbeing of ourselves, we have to give ourselves grace to be able to just be like, I wanna show up 100% in everything, but all you gotta do is show up 100% in where you're at in that moment.

If that's cooking dinner, that's what I'm doing today. I'm cooking dinner, I'm doing that. Multitasking is this thing that they've told us, you know, like, it's not actually real. We're not supposed to be able to multitask. Like, the only thing we really can do is, like, talk and look at the same time, walk maybe and talk. You know, in order to be present

and really great at something, you really do have to give it your full attention. Parenting, marriage, all of these things. So you can only do that in certain times of your day. We, you know, I don't know how many hours Beyoncé has, because they said she's got more than 24 hours, because she'll be getting it done. But in my 24-hour day, I just do the best I can in the moment.

Right now, I'm not checking on my kids. I can't. I'm here. So you just have to give yourself the grace to just say, like I said, sometimes it's 90, sometimes it's 10. Just do the best every day, 100%. And if you're 100%... See, we don't know.

She do have little lips, but she is smiling. Once I zoomed all the way in, Melanie... He does, about how you focus your game. That's why people stare at that picture forever. That's right, and I had no idea that she was really smiling. What is she looking at? What is she... Is she stoic? Is she happy? Is she sad?

We don't know. What are her eyes say? I say that she is said we don't even know if that's a woman. We don't. And that's the thing. There's so much conversation about the moment. Yeah. Yeah.

What? See, I know there are think pieces about it. There are like people who are just like, we don't know. Yeah. His name is Mona. Malcolm. She's clearly not Malcolm. A sad woman.

Can we get into a join off the EP? What you wanna hear? Ooh. Say yes. Say yes? You can't pick one. You're out there, I'm sorry. My fault, my fault, my fault. What you,

cause you got some upbeat stuff on here too. I do have some upbeat. Oh my gosh. This is tricky. It's six songs. Eenie, Meenie, Minnie, Minnie. First of all, why you talking about that? Yo. This is tricky. It's six songs. Een now, and we appreciate you for joining us. Thank you.

Don't be a 13 year stranger. Never, I won't be. Don't. I won't be, I really won't be. New York always has a special place in my heart, so I'm just happy to be back here. Thank y'all. And I gotta turn into your podcast, girl.

I'm dealing with some mommy stuff. Let's have you on it. Next time you're in LA, please come through. We can talk about all the things. Thank you, girl. And it is a safe space, absolutely. Appreciate you. All right, at the Breakfast Club all the things. Thank you. And it is a safe space. Absolutely. Appreciate you. All right. At The Breakfast Club is Melanie Fiona. Thank you.

Hey all you women's soups fans and folks who just don't know yet that they're women's soups fans. We've got a big week over at Good Game with Sarah Spain as we near the end of one of the most exciting women's college basketball seasons ever. The most parody we've seen in years, with games coming down to the wire and everyone wondering which team will be crowned national champions this weekend in Tampa. Listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain

on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine you're scrolling through TikTok. You come across a video of a teenage girl and then a photo of the person suspected of killing her. It was shocking. It was very shocking. Like that could have been my daughter.

Like you never know. I'm Jen Swan. I'm the host of a new podcast called My Friend Daisy. It's the story of how and why a group of teenagers turn to social media to help track down their friend's killer. Listen to My Friend Daisy on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2020, a group of young women found themselves in an AI-fueled nightmare. Someone was posting photos. It was just me naked. Well, not me, but me with

someone else's body parts. This is Levittown, a new podcast from iHeart Podcasts, Bloomberg, and Kaleidoscope about the rise of deep fake pornography and the battle to stop it. Listen to Levittown on Bloomberg's Big Take podcast. Find it on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up? I'm Laura, host of the podcast, Quartzside with Laura Corenti, a master class case study of the business of women's sports. I'll be chatting with leaders like tennis icon, Alana Kloss. I don't do what I do only for women. I do it for everyone. And I want the whole market. And innovators like Jenny Nguyen. I would say 50% of the people that come visit the Sports Bra

aren't sports fans. They come to be in community. They come to be part of this culture. Courtside with Laura Karenty is an iHeart Women's Sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. Listen to Courtside with Laura Karenty on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports.