Erykah Badu Talks 20th Anniversary of 'Tyrone', Reveals Whether New Music Is On The Way (Exclusive)
"Tyrone" will always hold a special place in Erykah Badu's heart.
ET's Denny Directo sat down with the 46-year-old singer for a Facebook Live interview on Tuesday, as she prepared to host the 2017 Soul Train Awards, and reflected on the 20th anniversary of her iconic song.
"It just came together on stage actually. You know, the tradition of hip-hop, we just freestyle on stage a lot. And that song was actually freestyled. We used to play around on the rose in rehearsal... it was a real soulful kind of thing," Badu recalled. "I got on stage one night and gave [Norman "Keys" Hurt] the cue to play that, and the background singers would just look or nod, they understood, 'This is what we're going to do. Are you sure you want to do this?' And I'm like, 'OK.'"
"I just started and it just turned into 'Tyrone,'" she shared. "It was on the radio the next day in its live version."
While fans still can't get enough of the song today, Badu said "Tyrone" has become somewhat of "an ex-boyfriend."
"It's like an ex-boyfriend who won't stop following me," she confessed. "And it's a blessing at the same time because it's an anthem."
As for whether Badu would ever record a follow-up to "Tyrone," she said, "That's it." Releasing new music, however, seems a little more likely.
"Maybe. I'm tired. I wrote enough songs. I ain't got nothing else," she said, before confessing that she's waiting for inspiration to hit.
"I think I'm uploading right now, so once I get some information, I'll download it and write it and sing it," she expressed. "It always comes from a very honest place. It's autobiographical."
BET Presents: 2017 Soul Train Awards airs Sunday, Nov. 26 at 8 p.m. ET on BET.
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