Bryson Tiller says DJ Khaled gave him some advice to help him get through his depression.
The 31-year-old singer sat down with The Breakfast Club to talk about his latest self-titled album which arrived in April, making it his first studio album in four years.
However, Tiller suggests that the gap between projects wasn’t intentional. He explained that he was living with depression in light of the criticism he received for his debut album, Trapsoul.
Tiller confirmed to Charlmagne tha God that he was depressed while creating his sophomore album True to Self and Anniversary, spanning from 2015 to 2020.
“Don't get me wrong, I definitely still got some platinum songs out of it. which is great,” said Tiller at the 11:27 mark in the video above. “You know, I'm just wasn't operating at 100%. There's a lot of stuff that still worked. But now it's just different.”
When asked if he ever felt “pressured” to record music during that period, Tiller recalled the time he went into the studio to record “Ima Be Alright” off of DJ Khaled’s 2016 Major Key album.
“I told him before we did it. He was like, ‘Yo, I need a song. I need a song.’ This is when I'm super buzzing at the time," he said. "He's like, ‘I need a song for the album.’ I was just like, ‘Yeah, I'm gonna be honest with you, Khaled, I'm depressed right now.’”
Tiller continued, “I got a lot going on. Lawsuits, people threatening me back in my hometown, all types of stuff, and I'm depressed. And he was like, ‘Nah, man. Just put it in music.’ Every time I listen to it, I cringe so hard cause I'm just like, ‘Man, this is not who I am.’”
Tiller says Khaled eventually brought him on 2017’s “Wild Thoughts” with Rihanna.
The singer’s recollection of Khaled’s advice did not sit well with Charlamagne, who then said, “I'm not dissing Khaled, I'm telling the truth. He's only thinking about himself. He's thinking about what he wants.”
“The biggest thing is this, like, if I'm going through all this personal stuff, whatever. But I still got my confidence. Sure, I go in the studio all day,” Tiller added. “But if I don't have confidence and I'm going through stuff, it's just not a good mixture at all. Like, I'll just make dogshit, you know, which is what I did make dogshit for six years straight.”
