Danielle Bregoli, aka Bhad Bhabie, is going indie, launching her own label, BHAD Music, and releasing a new single called “Miss Understood” on Sept. 17. She’s also advocating for artists to retain master rights to their music, crediting Kanye West for inspiring the move.
“Kanye brought a lot of attention last year to artists owning their masters,” says Bregoli. “I feel lucky to be 18 and now I get to own mine going forward. I have my own platform to get my music out to my fans.”
The rapper was signed to APG/Atlantic Records in 2017 based on the strength of the viral “These Heaux,” which landed her the honor of becoming the youngest female rapper to debut on the Billboard Hot 100, at 14. Bhad Bhabie later saw features by hip-hop heavies like Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Baby, Ty Dolla $ign, YG, Lil Yachty, Kodak Black and City Girls on her 2018 debut album, “15.” As previously reported by PvNew, Bhad Bhabie and the Warner Music Group label parted ways earlier this year.
“Signing a deal when you aren’t established, artists don’t really understand that labels get to approve you doing features and have basically total control on when and if your music comes out,” Bregoli contends. “Not to mention they keep like 80% of all the money that comes in. It’s pretty fucked up. … I’m finally ready to put out music I want on my own terms.”
With BHAD Music, the 18-year-old multi-millionaire is also considering the possibility of future signings. But “for now,” says Bhad Bhabie, “I’m going to just put out my own music on my label but I am open to signing other artists. I have a platform to help launch them and I want them to be able to own their masters as well.”
The song “Miss Understood” offers a more mature outlook by the outspoken personality who became a viral sensation following an appearance on the “Dr. Phil” show — her mother pleaded for his help controlling her “car-stealing, knife-wielding, twerking 13-year-old daughter” — which yielded the meme-worthy saying “Cash me ousside, howbow dah?”
Following that thread, “Miss Understood” includes the lyric, “They say I’m trouble, but maybe I’m just misunderstood.”
“This song is kind of like an intro for my new project but also an re-introduction to me as a newly independent artist,” she says, referencing a forthcoming EP. “I’ve grown up a lot in the past year and know what I want my sound to be like now and this is a little taste. I feel it really sums up my story as well. We cut this in L.A. a couple months ago, Go Grizzly produced and I wrote it with London Jae.” (Go Grizzly has worked with Future, Nicki Minaj and Kehlani; Atlanta’s London Jae has collaborated with Beyonce, Rihanna and Cardi B.)
The video for “Miss Understood” was directed by Tiny Tapes and Orazio.
Since becoming an adult, Bregoli has earned millions through subscriptions on onlyFans along with monetized video views and social media posts. Her music has amassed over 1.5 billion global streams and she has used her megaphone to speak out against abuses within the “troubled teen industry” and institutions like the Dr. Phil-endorsed Turn-about Ranch.
