Saweetie’s ascension was pretty organic. She spent her years at college and a few years after she graduated doing freestyles over beats in her car, and uploading them onto Instagram.  She rapped for almost anyone who would be willing to hear a 16 from her. Her most notable listener was J. Cole. Saweetie was persistent and consistent with her uploads. Despite her cousin being award-winning producer Zaytoven, she still had to navigate the industry like any other rookie.

At the end of 2017 she posted a freestyle to Khia’s provocative “My Neck My Back” and it blew up. She quickly used her momentum and made a video for the song and it garnered over 78 million views. And with that, the Icy Girl was born.

It wasn’t Saweetie’s compelling lyrics or witty wordplay which caught the attention of many, it was her Girl Next Door appeal. Her lyrics were just as a laid back as her image. She was sexy without being overly provocative. She struck the perfect balance between being effortless and sultry. We saw this balance in how she dressed, how she carried herself in her interviews and in the sound of her first EP, High Maintenance.

Fast forward to 2018, and Saweetie seems to have done a 180 and her Girl Next Door image has switched to being overly sexual. It’s unknown what the driving force behind this change was. Was it her label Warner Bros wanting her to match the sex appeal of City Girls and Meg Thee Stallion? Was it the pressure from her relationship with Migos member Quavo and needing to keep up with her industry sister-in-law, Cardi B? Or was it just Saweetie wanting to make a change. In her interview with Hot New Hip Hop, she did say she wanted to step out of her comfort zone. Whatever the driving force, her new image looks awkward, forced and label-orchestrated. She seems to have become the antithesis of everything her laid-back, Bay Area image previously was.

In her summer block party inspired video for My Type, she twerks on a basket ball rim whilst gleefully flashing her mouth full of grills. Her disjointed flow seems to constantly clash with Peety Pablo’s Freek-A-Leek beat. I’m all for artist development and change but this metamorphosis from Saweetie looks and feels inorganic I hope her new image was a personal decision, and not the label forcing a new aesthetic because its on trend.