The Untold Truth Of Queen Naija
For years, Queen Bulls — better known as Queen Naija — had been chasing internet fame, from posting silly videos on Vine, Facebook, and Twitter, to becoming one-half of the #relationshipgoals memes you've probably stumbled across online. Once she and her ex-husband, Chris Sails, launched their YouTube channel (Sails has since rebranded the channel in his solo image) in 2016, suddenly, e-fame was in the palm of her hands.
After a series of marital woes, Queen Naija converted her pain into a hit record called "Medicine." She and Sails got divorced, and her ode to her allegedly cheating ex racked up millions of online views, earning her the no. 1 spot on Billboard's Emerging Artists chart. Before she knew it, the R&B starlet went from chasing her dreams to signing a recording contract with Capitol Records and releasing a self-titled EP. Not bad for a social media influencer-turned-singer, right?
The mom and internet personality has allowed her fans to witness all the trials and tribulations of her personal life, her innermost secrets, and the ups and downs of her rocky relationship, but there's still so much we don't know about this Michigan native who's taking the music world by storm. This is the untold truth of Queen Naija.
This is not a prank
Through their joint YouTube channel, Queen Naija and her ex-husband, Chris Sails, showed off their dance moves, participated in internet challenges, and shared videos of life behind the scenes with their son, CJ.
While their subscribers were initially smitten over their love story — which began when the "Karma" singer got pregnant and married at the age of 19 — they were more entertained by the former couple's antics, in particular, their cheating pranks. The former duo used faux infidelity scenarios to prank each other back and forth, over and over again, up until Sails was busted for allegedly really cheating...in real life. Doh! But instead of addressing her then-husband's philandering, Queen Naija remained silent and allowed her lyrics to give Sails a taste of his own medicine.
"'Medicine' was basically made to confirm to my supporters on YouTube what happened in my marriage. They wanted to know was I leaving or not," she told The Fader.
She eventually did leave, and their divorce proved to be a dramatic ending to one of the internet's most-beloved couples.
From low-income to a luxury high-rise
During an interview with Hot 97, Queen Naija said that after getting pregnant and tying the knot at the age of 19, she and her family shared a one-bedroom apartment in a low-income housing development. And at one point, she had even gotten fired from her job as a security guard.
The 9-to-5 life clearly wasn't working for her, so she and Sails launched their first Instagram account full of cute, lovey-dovey photos. Their aesthetic caught on quick, but having tons of followers and "likes" didn't put money in the young couple's bank account. "We were still broke, so I was like, 'We should do YouTube,'" she said.
After watching another couple take the video-sharing website by storm, Queen Naija and Sails carved out their own niche and recorded videos on their cell phone. Soon enough, their days of struggling were behind them.
As a seasoned YouTube star, she was able to kick the cramped one-bedroom apartment to the curb. After her divorce, she moved on with her new beau, fellow social media star, Clarence White, and they moved into a luxury, high-rise apartment in Atlanta. She even took her YouTube followers on a tour of her new, flashy digs, and we couldn't help but feel a little jelly. Girlfriend's living large!
From singing in the pews to headlining a tour
Queen Naija discovered she had the gift of song while singing in church at just three-years-old. By third grade, she had already added songwriting to her burgeoning musical repertoire. "At first I mostly wrote love songs about boys — I was really boy-crazy — but after a while I started writing from my own life," she said in her Capitol Records bio.
Since she's matured, she still writes about her male counterparts, in songs ranging from growing up without a father, to being betrayed by her ex, to falling in love with a bad boy. But one thing's for certain: you'll only hear her sing about what she knows. "My music came from experiences I had personally gone through," she said.
Her life has done a complete 180, and the little girl who was singing in a place of worship went on to headline her own The Birth of Queen Naija Tour. Pretty amazing, right?
She was an 'American Idol' hopeful
Queen Naija has been working diligently to get noticed for her vocal prowess ever since she auditioned for American Idol back in 2012. She didn't make it far in the audition process that time, but she tried her luck again in 2014 for Season 13.
After receiving three "yes's" from the judges and a golden ticket, Queen Naija advanced in the competition. It seemed as though even back then, channeling her experiences into her vocals was her forte. "I feel like I'm the next American Idol because I've been through so much in the past. ... I feel like I've been through so much and I didn't think that I would be anything in life, and I feel like it's my calling now," she said in a taped interview
Sadly, she was eliminated from the contest "when the top 30 [singers] were chosen," according to Inside Edition. But, little did she know, life had so much more in store for her.
She knew music was her passion right away
Some people are clueless about which direction they want their lives to take until they're much older, but not Queen Naija. "Even when I was really little, I knew that music was what I wanted to do with my life," she said in press release shared by Billboard.
Of course, it didn't all happen overnight, so uncertainty began to sink in at times as she wondered when her dreams would come true. She didn't know exactly when or how she would become a superstar, but she said she always felt deep down inside that being a singer was her "purpose."
Now that she has a signed contract with Capitol Records on her résumé, Queen Naija is focused on giving the people what they want. "More than anything I want my music to be heartfelt — true, heartfelt soul and R&B songs that people can relate to their own lives," she said. So far, so good!
A surprising addition
With her song, "Medicine," climbing the charts, the future looked bright for Queen Naija, but she was still learning to cope in the aftermath of her disastrous marriage. "It hurts to think you're going to spend your life with somebody and you don't, but life goes on. I'm doing things I never thought I could do without him," she told Billboard magazine.
Following her breakup, fans noticed she was been spending a lot of time with fellow social media star and her Instagram crush, Clarence White (above)— or, "ClareBear" as she calls him. Before confirming they were a couple, they launched a joint YouTube channel, Royal Family, and posted a video to announce they were expecting their first child together. A gender reveal video, posted to YouTube, of course, confirmed the new couple was expecting a baby boy.
The news was definitely unexpected, especially since the pregnancy was announced a mere four months after her divorce was finalized, according to Bossip. Still, we wish them the best!
Social media was a gift and a curse
Queen Naija's YouTube and Instagram platforms definitely played a huge role in launching her singing career. However, ironically enough, social media also caused some problems in her relationship with her ex-husband, Chris Sails (above). Like bigly.
As their YouTube channel began to pick up steam, they told their subscribers that they would always remain humble. But being in the spotlight caused their lives to spiral.
While speaking with Vlad TV, Sails admitted they had grown apart in their marriage and lost faith in God — all of which sent their marriage on a downward spiral. Internet fame also gave them access to the things in life that they always dreamed of having, and Sails stated they made a wrong move by putting those things in front of their faith. "That's one of the huge reasons why we actually fell apart and everything started going downhill," he said.
Following their divorce, they've continued to use social media to air out each other's dirty laundry, but did you really expect anything less from two social media stars?