(Hint: It involves Amazon Alexa and wind chimes.)
Revisit that conversation here.
Chioma Nnadi: Well.
Photographed by Jamie Hawkesworth,Vogue, March 2023.
Erykah Badu: Hey.
Chioma Nnadi: Ms. Badu.
Erykah Badu: Yeah.
Chioma Nnadi: So good to have you in the studio with us.
Tell us how your Fashion Week has been.
Erykah Badu: My Fashion Week has been eventful, successful, tiring.
It’s a lot of work.
I’m super grateful for it.
Chioma Nnadi: I spied you across the room at Thom Browne.
Erykah Badu: Oh, I didn’t see you.
Chioma Nnadi: Yeah.
What do you love about Thom?
And he’s courageous and always imaginative and uninhibited.
That’s what I like about him.
Chioma Nnadi: Tell us what you wore that day.
Erykah Badu: I wore Thom Browne that day.
Thom’s look was inspired by the actual look itself.
I looked at a photo of the full look, and I interpreted it in my way.
Chioma Nnadi: I love the curlers.
Erykah Badu: Thank you.
Chioma Nnadi: Yeah, they were really great.
Erykah Badu: Thank you.
Erykah Badu: Yeah, just a little bit.
Chioma Nnadi: Weren’t they from this young designer duo in Brooklyn?
Erykah Badu: Yes, Elle and Chantelle.
Chioma Nnadi: That’s it.
Very, very cool jewelry brand.
Erykah Badu: Yeah, two very talented twin sisters, originally from Nigeria.
Chioma Nnadi: You’re like a jewelry connoisseur.
I feel like you always have incredible jewelry, that you have either custom made or you’ve commissioned.
Erykah Badu: Yeah, I love it.
I think it creates, sometimes, the look.
Chioma Nnadi: So now, we’re dying to know, how do you decide?
Is it a mood thing?
Is it a vibe thing?
Erykah Badu: Yeah, that’s how I feel too.
I wake up, and I do my morning ritual and I’m thinking about it the whole time.
Chloe Malle: What’s the ritual, do you mind me asking?
Erykah Badu: I light a candle on my altar and I make a cup of tea.
Chloe Malle: What kind of candle?
Erykah Badu: Just a small tea light that can go out in about an hour.
Chloe Malle: Okay.
Erykah Badu: Yeah.
So I say it again, “Alexa, play soothing wind chimes.”
She plays it again.
There’s not a lot of thought that goes into it.
I would love to have a really eloquent answer, but it’s grace.
Yeah, it’s what it is.
It happens to work.
Chioma Nnadi: We very much enjoyed your cover.
Chloe Malle: We really did.
Chioma Nnadi: Yeah.
Tell us about the shoot.
Erykah Badu: Oh, it was really fun.
Chloe Malle: Where was it?
Erykah Badu: It was Santa Monica, I believe, on the beach.
Some of them were things that were really cool looks, and we kept a couple of those.
And Alex had some things in mind.
So it was a true collab.
It was his vision and my vision, seasonings and stuff that I can add.
Erykah Badu: There was a special piece we talked about for two weeks.
We talked about we need to locate the perfect tattered T-shirt.
Chloe Malle: Oh wow.
Chioma Nnadi: Wow.
Erykah Badu: Perfect tattered T-shirt, and I’m going to wear it throughout the whole shoot.
Erykah Badu: Yes, exactly.
Chioma Nnadi: I love that your daughter’s in there with you.
There’s really beautiful photos together.
Erykah Badu: Puma.
Chioma Nnadi: What was it like shooting with her?
Erykah Badu: Easy, just like doing everything with her.
She’s just easy breezy.
She’s helpful, she’s kind, considerate, hardworking, so she didn’t mind.
She’s very humble.
Chioma Nnadi: She is very humble.
I got that impression from her.
She’s very polite and lovely.
Erykah Badu: Yeah.
Everyone thinks that you’re going to be perfect for it.
Come on, hey."
Yeah, that’s how it is most of the time.
Chioma Nnadi: Didn’t she come with you to deliver those twins?
Erykah Badu: She did.
It was almost the same thing, “Puma, come on, we got to go to this.
It’s going to be perfect.
Everybody is waiting for you.
The babies need this.”
Chloe Malle: Well, tell us about that, because I can’t imagine delivering twins.
Erykah Badu: Well, this story is going to break first with you.
We weren’t actually there.
We went for the first visit.
Chloe Malle: We should say, for anyone who doesn’t know, that you are a doula.
Erykah Badu: I’m a doula.
Chloe Malle: Yes.
Chioma Nnadi: And Summer Walker was…
Erykah Badu: Yes, and this is my second time.
Chloe Malle: Oh, I see, I see.
Erykah Badu: Second time around with her.
She had a daughter that I was present for the first time, two years ago.
So I go afterwards and give post support if I miss a birth.
I haven’t missed a birth before, because you never know how quickly it’s going to happen.
And luckily, we had set up a great support team.
We always have a really good support team, a internet, where there are people on hand.
I had other doulas who were available to help.
Chloe Malle: Twins are always seems so complicated though.
Chioma Nnadi: How’s she doing?
Erykah Badu: She’s doing wonderful.
She’s back in these streets and being a good mommy and working, being creative.
Chloe Malle: Wow.
Chioma Nnadi: I love how you bring ritual into everything that you do.
My doula kit, I’ll say, it’s the kit is the whole experience, I think.
And we decide on a birthing plan.
This is probably fourth, fifth month.
And ahead of time, we decide who’s going to be there and what the vision is.
And that changes sometime.
But just to have a foundation of that.
Then we come with our own dual ritual.
Chloe Malle: Do you usually do home births or hospital births?
It doesn’t matter to me.
It’s no wrong way to have a baby.
Chloe Malle: And your babies aren’t babies anymore.
Erykah Badu: My babies are not.
My youngest just turned 14, and that’s a special time.
Chioma Nnadi: She’s an Aquarius?
Erykah Badu: She is an Aquarius.
She’s the only Aquarius air sign in the house.
The rest of us are water.
I’m Pisces and Puma’s Cancer and Seven’s Scorpio.
So she’s a regulator.
Chloe Malle: That brings new meaning to family business.
Erykah Badu: Listen, we had an intervention today.
Then they’ll tell me, “Sometimes you have a tendency to zah zah zah zah.
You’re moving and snapping quick this week.”
They’ll tell me, because they’re my family members.
It’s my sister, I grow with her.
It’s my daughter, she’s honest.
It’s my mother.
She’s like, “Come on now.”
Chioma Nnadi: She’s definitely honest.
Chioma Nnadi: Straight shooter.
Erykah Badu: And she’s witty.
Chioma Nnadi: She’s so funny.
My uncles, they’re going to coddle me.
Chioma Nnadi: That’s so sweet.
Erykah Badu: I get the balance of everything.
Erykah Badu: My first memories are in church with my great-grandmother.
The house that you were in, she also lived there and passed on there.
Chloe Malle: In Dallas.
Erykah Badu: In Dallas.
And my grandmother lived there and passed on there.
Erykah Badu: Now, my mother has inherited the position of the matriarch of that house.
And she played for a church.
So she would play it all the time.
Chioma Nnadi: Oh wow.
I always find it.
But I didn’t know I would be a singer, but that’s my first understanding.
Chioma Nnadi: Did you teach yourself?
Or did you take lessons?
Erykah Badu: Yeah, I can’t read music.
Chioma Nnadi: Wow.
And I know that people are eager to see what you will do next with music.
How are you feeling about that?
Erykah Badu: Soon come.
I feel like I’ve been going through a downloading period.
And I think that I’m ready to have something to say.
Chioma Nnadi: Maybe.
Chloe Malle: To upload.
Erykah Badu: Yeah, I’m ready.
Because I’m feeling music a lot right now.
I listen to it all the time, but I’m really feeling like participating.
Even though I perform live, it’s a totally different feeling.
A live performance is like creating a moment.
Is that what you asked me?
Chioma Nnadi: Yeah.
Erykah Badu: Okay.
I’m ready to do that, I think.
And I was just wondering, how do you sort of integrate that into your life?
Are you playing pranks on people and your family?
Is April Fools a big holiday?
Erykah Badu: Okay.
I think that’s what she meant.
Chloe Malle: Oh, I don’t know about this.
Chioma Nnadi: No.
Erykah Badu: My welcome mat-
Chioma Nnadi: -Says what?
There’s always a little bit of fun.
There’s always a little bit of like…
Erykah Badu: Yes.
It’s a little mischief.
Chloe Malle: What does the welcome mat say?
Erykah Badu: I got to tell you the story first.
Chloe Malle: All right.
But people are also still scared of things, that they don’t understand.
Chloe Malle: Now, did you make this custom?
Erykah Badu: I did.
Chioma Nnadi: I didn’t know it was custom.
Erykah Badu: It was custom.
Chloe Malle: Like on Etsy?
Or how does that work?
Erykah Badu: It was custom from, I saw this mat company on Instagram actually.
Chloe Malle: Everyone else has their name on it.
Erykah Badu: And they said, “Yeah, we can probably do that.”
Came in the mail.
Chioma Nnadi: I’m happy to hear that.
Erykah Badu: Heyoka.
Chioma Nnadi: That’s right.
Explain that to everybody, because I was really intrigued about it.
Heyoka is very blunt with their opinions, and they are very curt with their statements.
So that could be seen as rude.
And people do say they’re rude, but sound like I’m talking about myself.
Who job is it?
It is my job.
Chloe Malle: There you go.
Erykah Badu: There you have it.
Chioma Nnadi: You have so many talents.
Chioma Nnadi: We actually have a deck of tarot cards here.
Erykah Badu: Oh, okay.
Chioma Nnadi: Yes.
I think they’re actually in French.
Are they in French?
Chloe Malle: They’re my father’s.
They’re 30-year-old French tarot cards.
Chioma Nnadi: They’re beautiful cards.
Erykah Badu: Yeah, tarot.
Are you guys into tarot at all?
Chloe Malle: Yeah, I haven’t had my cards read in a long time.
Erykah Badu: What do you know about tarot?
And she read our cards, and I forget what she said about me.
Chioma Nnadi: How long have you been into tarot, Erykah?
Erykah Badu: Five minutes.
But I can do it.
I’m new to this, but I’m not new to this.
All readers don’t do this.
Chioma Nnadi: So Erykah’s tapping on the stack of cards with her grill, which is amazing.
Erykah Badu: That’s the only stones I had available.
Chioma Nnadi: I know.
Erykah Badu: They’re pearls in here.
Chioma Nnadi: They’re beautiful.
I was admiring them.
Erykah Badu: I’m also resourceful.
You have a question in mind?
Chloe Malle: That’s my question.
And I feel like there’s no way to control that.
But I wonder, I am constantly concerned about having health issues early.
Erykah Badu: Death.
No, I’m joking.
Chioma Nnadi: Don’t do that, Erykah.
That’s not funny.
Erykah Badu: No, no, I was kidding.
Your card is the 10 of cups.
Because you do need to take some time to regenerate.
10 of cups generally says that you are you wanting more support, more love.
You are willing to receive it as well.
Chloe Malle: All right, that’s very helpful.
Chioma Nnadi: That’s lovely.
Tell us what you’ve got coming up, in brief.
So basically, in Erykah’s house is a whiteboard with all the projects.
Chioma Nnadi: And I know several have been crossed off now.
How are you feeling about your to-do list?
Erykah Badu: I’m almost done, usually at the beginning of the year.
Chioma Nnadi: Oh my God, it’s your birthday coming up soon too.
Erykah Badu: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, because let me tell you about those.
Chioma Nnadi: Tell me about your… Because I know that those are big.
Let me venture to use my left brain.
Chloe Malle: Is the birthday on the board?
Erykah Badu: The birthday is on the board.
Chioma Nnadi: The birthday is a big thing every year.
Erykah Badu: Yes, yes, yes.
Chloe Malle: What does that look like?
Chloe Malle: Just always in Dallas?
Erykah Badu: Always in Dallas at the same venue, The Factory.
And I have it each year and I’ve had it each year for about 10 years now.
This is going to be my 52nd birthday.
Chioma Nnadi: Oh, you look like, honestly, your skin, it’s unbelievable.
Chioma Nnadi: You look so young.
Erykah Badu: I know.
Chloe Malle: What’s the skin secret?
Erykah Badu: Really?
Chloe Malle: Yeah.
Erykah Badu: I use money for lotion.
Chioma Nnadi: I was wondering and I never got to ask you that.
Erykah Badu: That’s it.
Don’t tell all the girls.
Chioma Nnadi: No, it’s just between us.
Erykah Badu: Yes, but that’s what’s coming up.
The birthday party is February 24th in Dallas.
I’m looking forward to seeing all of my amazing friends that come out every year.
Chloe Malle: Do you have an outfit yet?
Erykah Badu: I don’t.
I don’t lay my clothes out on the bed like that.
Chloe Malle: You don’t lay them on your bed?
Chioma Nnadi: That’s a birthday.
Erykah Badu: That’s the best day to just create.
Erykah Badu: Yes.
Chioma Nnadi: Oh, you are insane.
Erykah Badu: Listen, I’m not insane.
I’m telling you, I thrift.
I’ve been thrifting this month.
I thrift a month or two before.
Just get some cool pieces that I see.
These rings, I found on Etsy.
Chioma Nnadi: They’re great.
They basically look like broken plates.
They’re like little porcelain.
Chloe Malle: Like Chinese Mings.
Chioma Nnadi: Yeah, they’re so good.
Erykah Badu: The key to this whole thing is just kind of like you have tools around.
But it’s just how my mind works.
Chioma Nnadi: Your mind is a magical thing.
Erykah Badu: -I don’t want to disrespect it by trying to label it.
I don’t know what I’m going to do.
It’s like I don’t, and it’s fun like that.
So the birthday’s coming up, which I don’t know what I’m going to wear for.
There’s a collab I have with Cookies.
Chioma Nnadi: Yep, yep.
Erykah Badu: Cookies is a cannabis brand.
One of the most influential ones.
Chloe Malle: Oh, I thought it was an actual cookie.
Chloe Malle: That might not be the nurturing I need right now.
Erykah Badu: No, that might not be the cookie for you.
My weed brand is called Apple Trees and his is called Cookies.
And that’s my interest.
Chioma Nnadi: Can you describe the packaging?
You showed it to me.
Can you reveal it yet?
Erykah Badu: I did reveal it today on Instagram.
Chioma Nnadi: Oh, great.
Erykah Badu: So it looks kind of like this.
Chioma Nnadi: It’s beautiful.
Erykah Badu: Yeah.
I thought of a vase.
So I thought, “Wow, wouldn’t that be beautiful for someone?”
And that was the first thing I thought of.
So I’m excited about this drop I have with Cookies.
Chloe Malle: No pun intended.
Chloe Malle: Sparked an idea.
Erykah Badu: It did spark an idea.
And the name of the documentary will be called Pussy and Weed.
Chioma Nnadi: I love it.
Chioma Nnadi: Perfect.
Chloe Malle: Wonderful.
Erykah Badu: I had a drum roll in my head.
Chloe Malle: I thought you were maybe having a stroke.
Erykah Badu: I was listening to the drum roll.
Yes, because I was real stiff.
I was waiting for the audience to quiet down.
Chloe Malle: Erykah, thank you so much.
This has been the highlight of our, definitely, of our Fashion Weeks, by far.
Chioma Nnadi: Yes, this is definitely the highlight of our Fashion Week.
Erykah Badu: Thank you so very much.
And thank you, Vogue.
Chloe Malle: One of my top favorite interviews of all time.
Chioma Nnadi: What an experience.
Once you meet Erykah, you will never forget Erykah.
I feel very soothed.
Chioma Nnadi: That voice, that whisper.
Chloe Malle: Yeah, exactly.
Well, until next week, everyone, the Run-Through with Vogue is a production of Conde Nast Entertainment.
I’m Chloe Malle.
Chioma Nnadi: And I’m Chioma Nnadi.
We’ll be back next week.
