Megan Thee Stallion releases ‘Cobra,’ her first single since shedding her label
Written by laserteam on November 6, 2023
(Los Angeles Times) – Megan Thee Stallion dropped a new single this week, her first since leaving her longtime label and after the end of the criminal case against Tory Lanez, who was sentenced to prison in August.
The music video for “Cobra,” released late Thursday, begins with Megan’s mouth speaking aloud the song’s thesis, a nod to what has been a tumultuous year for the rapper: “Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past, over and over again.”
As the music begins, brooding electric-guitar chords, she reveals her snake eyes and fangs before crawling out of the mouth of a large serpent that recently slithered out of its skin.
Since early 2022, Megan Thee Stallion — real name Megan Pete — had been embroiled in a legal battle with her label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, during which she filed successive lawsuits to get out of the deal she signed in 2018 with the label’s founder, former MLB star and Dodgers player Carl Crawford.
Pete gave tearful testimony during the trial, recounting both the trauma of getting shot by Peterson, someone she once considered a friend, and also the toll of online abuse she received for speaking out and from those who doubted her story. The backlash had also been fueled by lyrics from Lanez and Drake, who both took shots at her account of the shooting.
In her new serpent-themed single, which she produced and released independently and had been teasing for weeks, Megan Thee Stallion metaphorically sheds the challenges of the past year, moving confidently toward a new chapter in her career. But the song also reckons with the pain she is leaving behind.
“Cobra,” which had been leading trending videos on YouTube, is also the first single off an upcoming untitled album. It is expected to be her first album without the support of a label and released independently through her Hot Girl Productions. As a part of her comeback, she has also celebrated her feature-film acting debut in the A24 musical comedy “Dicks: The Musical.”
