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The Daily Dish The Real Housewives of Atlanta

Ariana Grande Casually Reminded Us That Kandi Burruss Is an R&B Queen

The 2019 Grammy nominee sampled the RHOA singer/songwriter on her new album, thank u, next, and we're here for it.

By Jocelyn Vena
Kandi Burruss Opens the Vault and Discusses Making Music with *NSYNC

We're anything but bored by the fact that Ariana Grande  just dropped her bop-filled new album, thank u, next — and solidified her boss status thanks to its sassy anthems and sleek and fun visuals. And she further declared her queen status by referencing another R&B queen on the release: The Real Housewives of Atlanta singer/songwriter Kandi Burruss. On the track, "Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored," Ariana samples *NSYNC's "It Makes Me Ill" off 2000's No Strings Attached album, which was co-written and co-produced by Kandi.

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The 2019 Grammy nominee even puts her own spin on the track's bridge, "You can say I'm crazy, if you want to/ That's true," referencing "I'm crazy 'bout you," and "You can call me crazy cuz I want you/ And I never even never f---kin' met you."

Kandi first confirmed she was somehow involved  in the project last month on Instagram, writing, "I’m forever thankful for my blessings."

Back in 2016, Kandi opened up to The Daily Dish about the recording session for "It Makes Me Ill," and what it was like to work with *NSYNC back in the day. (More on it in the video above.)

"We were young. We were having fun in the studio. I had wrote the song 'It Makes Me Ill' for them on their No Strings Attached album and She'kspeare was the producer, and we just had a good time. They were super talented," she recalled. "They were really silly in the studio too, so you see  Chris [Kirkpatrick] was acting crazy in the picture. It was really fun working with them. I really enjoyed it and I'm glad I had the opportunity. It's so funny to see where we started and where we are now."

Below, Kandi dishes a bit more about her life as a singer/songwriter.

Kandi and NeNe Answer Fan Questions
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