Latto’s ‘Big Energy’ Was Originally Supposed To Be For Cardi B

Latto‘s mainstream breakthrough came thanks to her hit “Big Energy,” but apparently it was initially written for Cardi B, according to the songwriter behind it.

Appearing as a guest on the See, The Thing Is… podcast, songwriter and producer Theron Thomas talked about some of the artists he’s collaborated with and revealed a big secret about Latto’s chart-topper.

“I wrote it for Cardi B,” he explained. “We went to Hawaii, I wrote it to that beat, and met Latto, and she was like, ‘Yeah man, you know, I want to do some crossover shit.’

“When I meet an artist and they tell me they want to do something, it’s like, okay cool. Cardi never got to hear it. We didn’t get it to her.”

Thomas also addressed whether he wrote Latto’s bars, admitting that while he drafted a “shell” of the song, she ended up making it what it is today. “Latto changed [the] verses, the words, [and] made it better. True story.”

The song was featured on Latto’s 777 album, which was released in March 2022. It also scored the Atlanta rap star a Grammy nomination for Best Melodic Rap Performance at the 2023 Grammys, as well as a No.3 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, US Mainstream Top 40 chart, and US Rhythmic chart.

In other Latto news, the rapper appears to have taken shots at Nicki Minaj through an unreleased song, which she premiered at her recent Coachella performance.

The new track comes after Latto and the Pinkprint rapper engaged in a vitriolic Twitter spat last year, which stemmed from the latter’s frustration that “Super Freaky Girl” was deemed a pop — rather than rap — song by the Grammys, but Latto’s “Big Energy” wasn’t.

“I have no prob being moved out the RAP category as long as we r ALL being treated FAIRLY, If [‘Super Freaky Girl’] has [2 billion views] moved out RAP then so does Big Energy,” Nicki tweeted, referring to the Atlanta rap rookie’s multi-platinum single.

Latto ultimately responded by tweeting: “Damn I can’t win for losing… all these awards/noms I can’t even celebrate,” which led to the two taking personal shots at each other.

On the new track, which she premiered during her performance at the Indio, California festival on Sunday (April 16), Latto spits: “Bitches acting like they running shit, they really ran through,” and “She thought I would kiss her ass, she mustn’t have took her meds.”