(AllHipHop News) Before the infamous “Nipplegate” incident during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show, Janet Jackson shocked the world in 1993 with a Rolling Stone cover which featured her then-boyfriend Rene Elizondo covering her bare breasts with his hands. Rising R&B singer Justine Skye somewhat channeled Janet’s iconic image for her new body of work.
Skye spoke to Ebro Darden on Apple Music’s Beats 1 about her recently released Bare With Me EP. Darden asked the 24-year-old Brooklynite about going topless for the project’s main artwork.
“I don’t think it’s raunchy. I think it’s pretty tasteful,” said Skye. “Honestly, I think I was getting ready to go to an event and one of my photographers, Cooper Sebastian – he was just there. He’s really tight with taking Polaroids, so I was just like, ‘Take this photo real quick. My makeup looks dope.'”
She continued, “I took that like six months ago. I knew I was getting ready to put music out. I didn’t know when, but I knew I was working. So I was like, ‘Maybe I want to use this as artwork.’ I feel like everything I’ve done has been so overly produced since I was 17. Since I got into this industry professionally, everything has been so overly produced… Looking at my peers, they’re literally spending zero dollars on this… It’s super-organic. That’s how I was before I got into the system.”
The “Maybe” performer also told Ebro the picture represents her saying: “bare with me, give me another chance.” Plus, the Beats 1 interview included Justine Skye discussing the aftermath of publicly accusing former boyfriend Sheck Wes of abusing her during their relationship as well as GoldLink putting her on the cover of his Diaspora album.