Megan Thee Stallion is ready for her next act. After recently reaching a settlement with her former label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, following three years of litigation over a record deal the rapper called “unconscionable,” the Houston MC teased “ACT ONE” of her new era in a social post on Monday night (Oct. 23).
The caption also featured a snake emoji, the latest in a recent string of teases that has employed slithery language and imagery. With the camera zeroed in on Meg’s lips floating in a black void, she says, “Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past, over and over again” with what sounds like bits of an ominous new track in the background.
As the focus pulls back to reveal Meg’s face — complete with vertical snake eyeballs — the short clip ends with a shot of a pair of dripping fangs. The title card reads: “A story by Megan Thee Stallion” and “Directed by Douglas Bernardt.” The Brazilian director is best known for his work on videos by Arlo Park, Masego and Gregory Porter, as well as the 2019 Cannes Lions Grand Prix-winning short film Bluesman.
Though she hasn’t announced her new project, the “Bongos” MC has been leaning into snake imagery lately, including a tweet earlier this month with serious Hottieween vibes in which she appeared to bear her vampire fangs. The post featured a cryptic message, “Let’s begin…,” accompanied by a sliver of a picture with a slime green filter that animated into a 3-second video in which Meg bared her sharp teeth. The clip did not have any sound, but Megan followed it with a series of Instagram posts with additional scary scenes.
The trio of posts dubbed “Act One” featured an O made up of a red snake swallowing its own tail. The captions on the slides also spotlighted the snake emoji, accompanied by a video of a white snake coiled on someone’s hand, a close-up of Megan’s face and a third of her wrists covered in thorny bracelets. The second slide added the caption “Begin [snake emoji],” and a glimpse of a green-skinned Megan reclining on a dark red divan, her long nails sharpened to sharp points.
The tease also seemed to preview what looked like a music video, with a shot in which Meg bared her vamp fangs again, as well as an image of a bowl of fruit and other totems on an altar. At press time Megan had not officially announced any new music as she eases her way back into the game following the end of the trial of Tory Lanez, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in August for shooting Megan in the feet in July 2020. Since then she’s released her hit Cardi B collab “Bongos” and “Out Alpha the Alpha,” the lead single from the A24 move Dicks: The Musical, in which she also co-stars.
Either way, it seems like she’s going to go it alone this time, after revealing in an Instagram Live earlier this month that she’s not signed to a label and will be funding her own music projects moving forward “This part of my album is very much so funded by Megan Thee Stallion because we’re trying to get off… Y’all know what’s the tea. But I have no label right now,” she said at the time. “We’re doing everything funded straight out of Megan Thee Stallion’s pockets. So, the budget is coming from me. Motherf—ing Hot Girl Productions! The next s— y’all about to see is all straight from Megan Thee Stallion’s brain and Megan Thee Stallion’s wallet. We are in my pockets, hotties, so let’s do our big one.”
Check out Megan’s latest snake-themed tease below.
