Megan Thee Stallion Is on a Hot Girl Streak

Just minutes into 2024, Megan Thee Stallion already had her first big moment of the new year. Live on ABC from Times Square, Megan delivered her fans (or “thee hotties,” as she calls them) a medley of her hits. And she did it all while dressed as Planet Fitness brand character Mother Fitness, topping off her look with custom matching footwear to tease her Nike collab. That moment, in her eyes, revealed to the world a new Megan Thee Stallion: one who was fully in control of her brand as her music and business worlds completely synced. After splitting with her record label last year, Megan calls herself her own boss and chief decision-maker of her brand. “I’m definitely coming with some things for thee hotties,” the “Hot Girl Summer” rapper cryptically told ADWEEK. “[They] are gonna like it … because nobody could tell me no. Nobody had any input. Nobody could tell me what to do!” Megan’s 2024 entails an entertainment mix that will put her everywhere. Her hotties can look forward to an upcoming album and a “Hot Girl Summer” tour years in the making. Her new entertainment company, Hot Girl Productions—which she founded in late 2023—has a slew of projects, including collaborations with her new music distribution partner, Warner Music Group, and projects with Netflix to boost her TV profile. She already appeared in Netflix’s Big Mouth in October and also has a Netflix project centered around her. (She could not reveal those details yet.) “Megan Thee Stallion wants a big role … let’s manifest that,” she said in third person. The writers strike (which ended in September 2023) slowed things down, but she’s getting back on track with Netflix and predicts new things are coming very soon. “We actually have a few shows we’re working on, and I just had a lot of meetings with some good production companies.” Megan Thee Stallion is finally living her vision as an artist, entrepreneur and philanthropist, with a newfound freedom and determination to reward the fans who’ve stuck with her through a stretch of tumultuous years upended by personal and professional challenges and loss. To thee hotties, Megan’s recent ubiquity is simply a new chapter in the story of an artist whose risqué and provocative musical persona belies a resilient, talented, business-savvy creator. She's one who understands her perceived brand but refuses to be beholden to the confines of it. And one whose confidence, advocacy and drive to improve the lives of others, combined with her empowering and entertaining social media content, have endeared her to millions of fans around the globe. Thee hot girl brand partner Thee hotties aren’t the only ones who have fallen in love with Megan—the artist's vixen-meets-homegirl aesthetic, infectiously uplifting personality and unstoppable work ethic have made her a force to be reckoned with since coming onto the music scene in 2018 with her brazen, chart-topping bangers. And brands are lining up. Coach, Revlon, Frito-Lay’s Flamin’ Hot, Cash App, Crunchyroll, Popeyes (of which she owns multiple chain locations) and others have latched onto the Hot Girl brand in recent years, with Nike and Planet Fitness tapping into her well-documented fitness journey, which she shares with her 53 million followers across social media. With a hyperawareness of her reach and influence, the entrepreneur is intentional about her partnerships—aligning with brands that match her interests and already share an authentic connection with her. In the case of Nike, she's been a lifelong fan of the brand, having worn its apparel during her days on her high school’s dance team and more recently in her wildly popular TikTok workout videos. The early days of social media helped propel Megan's career. The brand worked closely with Megan, pairing her with a predominantly female design team to develop the Nike x Megan Thee Stallion Hot Girl Systems collection—the line of apparel and sneakers she teased during her NYE performance—to be true to her style preferences and design tastes. Those tastes included anime elements she co-designed with the lone male on the team (and “other anime nerd,” she joked). “For [Nike] to allow me to have so much creative input—I just felt really good, because I knew exactly what colors I wanted. I knew exactly what the vibe was,” she said. Of the collection, she added: “When I work out, I like to feel sexy. I like to feel confident. I like to feel like a little superhero. I like to feel snatched! The better you feel in your gym clothes, the harder you want to go. It keeps you motivated to keep coming back, because you want to see yourself look as good as you feel. With my collection, when I put it on … and hopefully when thee hotties put it on ... they see themselves looking good, and it just pushes them to further their fitness goals.” Megan’s mission for the collection—which was met with such high demand the website crashed within hours of its launch on her 29th birthday—was perfectly aligned with the brand’s. “We exist to champion athletes and sport. That’s what Nike is all about,” John Jowers, vice president of communications for Nike North America, told ADWEEK. “Our goal is helping people feel good in their bodies through style, movement and self-expression. Working with Megan Thee Stallion is Nike at its best, bringing sport and culture together for the next generation to create a more inclusive, accessible wellness and fitness community for all.” Planet Fitness, another serendipitous pairing, approached Megan to star in its “Big Fitness Energy” campaign as part of the brand’s push to attract new and younger members to its gym in the new year—a time when gyms see their biggest registration spikes. The fitness company offered members workouts inspired by Megan through its in-club screens and app, and branded merch emblazoned with her famous catchphrases. “When they came to me, I was like, ‘Oh wow, that’s so crazy … of course I know about y’all!’” gushed Megan, who said she grew up seeing the gyms all around her hometown of Houston. “It felt natural to me. And I don’t know if you noticed … but it’s always lit in Planet Fitness.” Any brand marketer would agree: An endorsement with that level of genuine enthusiasm is priceless. It's an authenticity she has owned since she her days as an aspiring rapper sharing her performances on YouTube. And it's helped her become one of the biggest names in hip-hop and a brand by her own design. The journey from social star to superstar The early days of social media proved to be a defining career catalyst for the artist born Megan Pete. It’s where she first began posting videos of her rap freestyles and increasingly viral cyphers, as well as tweeting predictions of her meteoric rise before being discovered in 2016 and becoming the celebrated, award-winning talent who’s landed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list twice. “All I had to do [back then] was stay consistent with my rapping, post my videos and go,” she said of her early content-creating days. Megan—whose star status has earned her the monikers “Hot Girl Meg,” the “Hot Girl Coach” and alter ego “Tina Snow”—has since moved on to sharing content promoting her projects, cosplay of anime characters and sped-up viral videos in which she gives viewers hilariously unfiltered narrations of her fitness journey and other adventures. “It literally went from me doing my Hottie Bootcamps on YouTube a couple years ago to me being on TikTok just talking mess about workouts,” she said of the videos. “In the gym, it’s [not just] about being cute. And that’s really what I wanted my hotties to see. Like, I’m going on this fitness journey, [but] it wasn’t just because I wanted to get my body right, but I wanted to get my mind right too. And I wanted to give my supporters a real inside scoop on what was going on in my brain when I’m working out." 'As a businesswoman, I've learned you don’t have to take no for an answer,' Megan said. These days, however, she uses social media in moderation, as her fame has made her more susceptible to the problematic aspects of internet fandom. “All I want to do is show y’all how cute I look, how good I rap and just promote the things that I’m trying to promote, and I’m outta there,” she said. “I talk to thee hotties sometimes, but I really had to learn to not pay attention to the negativity, because [I realized] these people don’t know me.” That said, she still believes social media is a powerful tool to amplify advocacy, causes and brands, declaring, “It’s one of the best things that has happened to marketing.” She advises up-and-coming creators navigating a more challenging social landscape on the best route to success: “If you stay consistent with the posting, and you stay authentic to yourself … I feel like social media definitely can propel you in the direction that you’re trying to go.” And the direction Megan is trying to go is as an independent artist who controls her own brand. Thee 'hisstory'-maker The release of “Cobra” in November 2023 marked Megan’s first single as an independent artist, after reaching an amicable legal agreement in October to sever ties with her former record label, 1501 Certified Entertainment. In January, she followed that release with her second single, “Hiss,” a searing diss track aimed at her detractors, which made “hisstory” by becoming the first female solo rap song to debut at No. 1 across all music streaming services, along with the Billboard Hot 100 and Global 200. The song was also her first No. 1 as a solo artist, having previously achieved the feat with “WAP,” her controversial first collaboration with Cardi B, and “Savage Remix,” her Grammy award-winning duet with her idol and fellow Houston native Beyoncé. Both “Cobra” and “Hiss”—with their overtly snake-themed symbolism from the cover artwork to the visually gripping videos—allude to a newfound freedom for the artist and her desire to metaphorically “shed her skin” creatively, personally and professionally in her new music. Megan is now an independent artist who retains ownership of her masters and publishing rights. “In my real life and in my musical life, I am constantly shedding my skin,” said Megan, who admitted she was surprised by fans’ overwhelmingly positive response to the tracks. “I was trying to force myself to go through a rebirth during my Traumazine era,” she said, referring to her 2022 album, which was critically lauded for its raw and vulnerable songs tackling her grief following the 2019 passing of her mom and manager, Holly Thomas, and the mental health struggles that ensued. “I wasn’t really ready to shed my skin yet.” She continued: “At this point in my life, I’m making the music that I like to make, which when my mom was alive, that’s what I used to do. And making music used to be fun. And I feel like I’m finally getting back to that space.” Thee real hot girl boss Megan wasn’t done making history, but what happened next would reverberate throughout the music industry potentially for generations to come. Just days after releasing “Hiss,” Megan announced an unprecedented new deal with Warner Music Group, which would allow her to have access to the label’s resources (distribution, marketing and promotional support) while remaining an independent artist and retaining ownership of her masters and publishing rights. It’s an unheard-of agreement for an industry that has profited greatly from owning the lion’s share of an artist’s IP. But as streaming models continue to erode the industry’s profit share and artists have become more reticent to sign with larger labels in favor of building their own indie shops to avoid predatory contracts, the deal marks a potential olive branch in artist–label relations going forward. The significance of being an artist—notably an artist who is also a Black woman—inking a deal like that is massive, and she doesn't take the achievement lightly. “I feel so proud of myself, and I do a lot of great things, and sometimes I feel like I’m not present in the moment,” she said. “But this is one time where I was very present and I allowed myself to be proud of myself, because I have been through so much in the music industry.” Megan is interested in gaming partnerships in the future. She continued: “It feels so great. It feels so empowering. It feels like … I hope that a lot of artists see [that] it doesn’t matter how many nos, how many obstacles, how many terrible experiences that you may have in this [business]—you shouldn’t give up. Because there is a light on the other side. It doesn’t matter how you get there, as long as you take the journey, and you don’t quit. Because if I would’ve quit, I would’ve never made it here.” Megan credits Roc Nation founder Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter and CEO Desiree Perez with giving her the advice, support and tools that have helped her navigate the stickiness of the music business and expand her brand beyond it as founder of Hot Girl Productions. And with high-wattage mentors like Carter, Perez and Beyoncé, along with inspirations like the “OG Queen,” aka Queen Latifah—whose trailblazing career path both parallels and serves as a blueprint for Megan’s own career—she’s learning what she will and will not accept as she moves forward on her entrepreneurial journey. “As a businesswoman, I've learned you don’t have to take no for an answer,” she said. “Sometimes in this industry … especially being a woman … especially being a Black woman … people don’t even present you with all of your options. They don’t even tell you everything that you could get.” Among the things she is hoping to get in the near future: a swimwear partnership (“Because how could you not have the Hot Girl Coach over the Hot Girl Summer and not have Hot Girl swimwear?” she reasons) and a gaming opportunity. “I love Grand Theft Auto. I definitely want to be in [that game]. I definitely want to be in the Rockstar Universe. I definitely would love to see myself in Mortal Kombat, because everybody knows I love that game. Or Tekken or something. We just need to figure out how to get me in there … and kicking!” Building a legacy with the Pete and Thomas Foundation As committed as Megan is to her craft, her business interests and her physical fitness, she's equally passionate about her mental health and wellness. Through her openness about her struggles via her music and interviews, Megan has become a champion of women and girls seeking mental health services and education. With a history of fundraising and donating proceeds from her chart-topping hits to charities, Megan founded the Pete and Thomas Foundation—a nonprofit named after her late parents—to provide wellness, education and housing resources to women, children and seniors in Houston and other underserved communities. The artist works with brands such as Popeyes and Planet Fitness. She now makes it a requirement for brands and companies she partners with to support initiatives through the foundation, with brands such as Popeyes and Planet Fitness happy to oblige. “I feel like there’s enough money to go around for all of us,” she said. “[There are] enough resources for us to be able to help each other. I [learned] that from my great-grandmother. She was the type of grandmother that everybody on the block knew. Everybody in the neighborhood knows her. You [can] go past my Big Mama’s house and [find her] passing out dollars, candies, cookies … and I just feel like she would’ve wanted me to be this type of woman. The woman that always gives back.” By her own measure, she is just getting started. But by any other measure, her contributions to Houston (which bestowed her a key to the city), her brand partners, her hotties and the artists following her path in the entertainment industry are an indication she has more than fulfilled that prophecy.

Creative Thinkers

New Projects, Partnerships and Beginnings: Megan Thee Stallion Is on a Hot Girl Streak

The rapper on staying true to herself and her craft

Leslie Blount

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Leslie Blount