Photo credit: @mpvinny300
If you need a pick-me-up in life, you definitely need to follow [Inas X](https://www.instagram.com/inasx/?hl=en). Boasting 1.7 million followers on Instagram alone, the charismatic, bubbly, and down-to-earth model, influencer, and recording artist exudes nothing short of positive energy and vibrations, reminding the masses to do what you love and fuck the rest!
Channelling both inner and outer beauty, the New York native fondly recalls the early days opening for Fetty Wap and Post Malone on tour. Having gone through her own stint with a bad record deal, she now paves the way for all independent artists out there that they too can turn their dreams into a reality without a major label backing. To date, Inas has been consistently grinding day in and day out, perfecting her craft and shooting fire content while doing it.
Most recently, she unleashed her newest visual for “Honey,” which recently hit over one million views on Youtube within just a few months.
[Shirley Ju](https://www.instagram.com/shirju) sat down with Inas X at Matrix Studios LA for the [fifth episode of Shirley’s Temple](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1ofUfspPsY). Read below as we discuss being a social media star, her fashion inspo, love for weed, shooting the “Honey” visual, collaborating with PnB Rock, opening for a young Post Malone, being diagnosed with MS, self-care routines, her dating life, forthcoming album titled _Muse,_ reading _The Four Agreements,_ and more!
Photo credit: @mpvinny300
**Every other day you have a different look or shoot. Have you always been on your grind, shooting all this content?**
I always saw the power of social media, but I've gone in and out of being motivated. It's hard to keep the motivation alive. Honestly, it’s Capricorn season. New Years Eve, New Years Day, then it's our birthdays. So many introspective moments. You have that motivation: New Year's resolution and we're starting a new year of life. Right now, I'm feeling that motivation and fire. When I feel it, it shows. The only times I haven't been on my social media shit is when I was in my little relationships. You know when you get so caught up? \[laughs\] Fuck social media!
**My favorite thing in life is to spend time off my phone.**
Legit. Personally my relationships, my friendships, I’m barely on my phone. We have a strong social media presence, it's hard. It’s a lot. I've been trying to keep on their heads.
**You got 1.7 million followers watching you, what’s the reality of the grind to get there?**
Honestly, it's been so much of consistency, persistency, and not giving up. \[sighs\] Ugh, Instagram changed their algorithms. Not as many people see my posts! It's annoying dealing with that. I always gotta be making bomb content, be on my A game. It’s those factors but realizing that no matter what business we have or what we do, social media is most of what we have nowadays. It's the #1 resource we have. You know us Capricorns are such business-oriented people. When we see that something can be built, there can be success, money, situations, resources and relationships out of it, we love that shit. Social media always aligned with what I was trying to do. I have to keep that motivation and excitement, which is why I find things that excite me.
**Where do you get your fashion inspiration from?**
I've been inspired by everything as of lately, been trying to explore with different vibes. I'm a very girly girl. Pink, I always like wearing shoes with heels. I've been into sneakers, the baggy pants, the shorts, the crop tops. I want to switch it up because I get bored. Sometimes I get into my comfort zone, I'll realize I'm in a comfort zone and I gotta get out of it. I gotta do something different. I was doing long dark hair for so long, why? I love long dark hair. As a little girl, I had long dark hair. As I've grown up, I fucked up so much that I have to put all these extensions in. Why am I doing this to myself? So I cut my hair, rocked the natural for a while, then I got bored and pony it is! It's a form of expression. Recently, I've been studying more fashion designers and trying to get into it.
**How’s marijuanna treating you? I know you like to smoke before everything.**
I honestly do smoke before everything. I'm not into drugs, not into drinking. We went out for dinner, we had a couple drinks and I got drunk off 3 drinks. I’m a fun drunk. Too lit, that’s the problem. I don't like losing control, I’m a control freak. I don't like getting drunk because I hate when I'm losing control of myself and the situation.
**Do you feel like when you're high you always have control?**
Yeah because the worst thing you're gonna do when you're high is eat too much or go to sleep. If that’s the worst that’s gonna happen… \[laughs\]
**"Honey" visual hit over a million views on Youtube. How are you feeling?**
It's crazy because we just dropped it. It hasn't been long so that's a great feeling. It's produced by Brian, the illest! "Honey" has been doing a life of its own. It’s a fucking banger, we gotta go crazy. It's a good feeling. I honestly love the feeling of letting it go and seeing people's reactions. "Wait! This is you?" Little things like that are sweet.
**I revisited your song with PnB Rock from 4 years ago.**
PnB had maybe 150K followers at the time. "Stupid" came out right before "Selfish.” What's so crazy about the whole thing, I'm from New York but I lived in the Tri-state. At the time I was in Jersey. The girl who wrote that song “Selfish” is Liana who has green hair, she's fire as fuck. We lived in the same building, crazy because all the stars aligned. She wrote that song for him, which wound up being a huge record. I wound up meeting him on tour.
**What tour?!**
When I was on tour with Post and Fetty, we met in Philly. He was already on me but I’m like “bro back off. Let's go to the studio though, wassup?” He was so sweet, such a sweetheart. He literally did it off the strength, did the video. He actually missed our shoot day, but we did another shoot day to get his parts. He did let us know in advance: “I can't do that day, but I can do it this day.” We ended up getting it, so fire. We both ended up booming out because I only had 50K followers at the time, he had 150K at the time. It's nice to have good relationships with people. Obviously this is a business about relationships, but it's nice when people are legit. He's a good guy, he deserves all the success that he gets. Shout out to Rakim.
**How was touring with Post and Fetty?**
Fetty was in prime, Post wasn’t yet. This was during “White Iverson,” pre-_Hollywood’s Bleeding._ Pre-his Justin Bieber tour, he left our tour to go on tour with Justin Bieber. When he did that, oh he's out of here. It’s over. Post was so sweet. He had a girlfriend at the time, she’s everywhere with him. They’re so cute, they wore their hair the same way in pigtails. My mic check was always right before his because I went right before him, he’d always stay and watch my mic check. He’s really really humble, sweet, cute and dope. He deserves all the success he gets because he's gotten a fucking lot of it.
**You saw him way early on.**
It's crazy when you see people before \[the fame\]. It's a good feeling because I know that's how people feel about me. They'll say "oh, I remember seeing you when you were...!" Don't bring that up please. \[laughs\] At the same time, it's sweet because seeing people before, during, and after the music industry has jaded you is a great thing.
**The thing that saddens me the most about the industry is when artists can't drop music when they want to.**
I was stuck in a bad deal. I was signed to the same label as Fetty Wap, RGF. Shout out to them, it's all love now. No hard feelings. It's the worst feeling in the world. There's being in jail, then there's being in a bad deal. You're not in jail because you're not in a cell, but as an artist when you can't drop music, it feels like you're in a cell artistically and creatively. You feel like you're jailed. Lil Wayne said it too, he's been to jail. When he couldn't drop music, he said it was worse than being in jail. It’s crazy because it's that suffocating feeling, which made me get more into social media because I couldn't drop music. What else am I going to do?
Not being able to drop music as an artist is the most suffocating feeling ever. Nowadays, finally artists are getting more of a voice than ever. Now we got social media now, you got artists calling their labels out or their people. You're able to expose what's happening. It's still happening a lot and people aren't even able to figure their way out. They give up, which is the worst thing ever because they can't put out music. Thank God I had the strength to keep going, it's fucking hard.
**My girl was stuck to Dr. Luke’s label for 8 years.**
Thank God for me, I only had a year left. I had built so much momentum that it hurt, but at the same time, Capricorn shit! We're the GOATs, we keep going. You ain't stopping me with my horns. It hurts me a lot when I find out stories like that. This girl on Clubhouse came on, she had placements. She’s doing music, doing huge things. She had a multi-million dollar deal. She was booming, she’s beautiful too. She said she was stuck in a bad deal so she stopped dropping music. She wound up having kids and starting her family, but always feeling unfulfilled inside. Hearing that, I wanted to cry because I feel so bad. It sucks but it's survival of the fittest, you have to keep going.
**You’ve been killing it independent, do you have a team?**
I have a great team, I have people in position. Putting more people in position is essential. Nowadays as an independent artist, you're running your own label. When you don't have the machine, you have to build your own machine. You’re the CEO, you have to have employees and people in position. It's a lot because you have to wear multiple hats. I’m constantly switching off my hats: artist, businesswoman, social media expert, this and that. It's insane but at the same time, it's important to have people in position because it takes too much. It's not physically possible to do everything.
**What do you do to stay grounded?**
This is a deep topic, I love that you made this show about mental health. Especially in the music industry, we need more outlets. I was diagnosed with MS (multiple sclerosis) 5 years ago. Thank God I've been doing amazing, but I'm very proactive. I’m on treatment but I try to be vegan. I try to be plant-based, it’s very hard. Diet, drinking water, working out helps me a lot with my mental. I had an optic nerve attack 5 years ago, I started losing my vision in my left eye. It was crazy. So many things were happening for me, then I got sick. It was insane, I was so stressed. The main thing I've been suffering and surviving is anxiety and depression. I deal with a lot of anxiety and depression so I’m very proactive with that. I do a lot to make myself happy.
I got the two puppies during the pandemic. As a performing recording artist, you work hard to perform. Not being able to perform, well what else? I was on tour with Tokyo Jetz, she's amazing. We’re on tour middle of 2019, then 2020 boom. I wanted to go back on tour. I performed at the Peppermint Club right before the pandemic, it was insane. Become adaptable and figuring out: since this is going on, how can we make it still happen? How can you still do what you love and be happy doing it? The industry takes your love away but when you focus on the creativity and the art, what you're doing, you fall in love with it again.
**You find new loves!**
Exactly. I had to focus on the creativity and creating, really having fun with it. You lose the fun sometimes because you're so focused on getting to the destination, that you forget about the journey and the fun in that. I've been really trying to have fun. I just got back from Miami…
**You went back twice! \[laughs\]**
I went for my birthday, then I went to Atlanta for my birthday and it was turnt. I went back to Miami for a feature, so dope because they took care of everything. Everything was handled. I was so happy. I’m getting a bag in Miami, oh it’s up! I love traveling. I love LA, but so many elements I fell in love with in LA is not LA anymore. It's hard because being here feels like you're rotting sometimes. It has you stuck inside, everything’s closed. No gyms. There’s one Yoga spot open that I go to, you still need to come with me! Honestly for now until this surpasses, it’s an acceptance thing. This is what it is. People say "pull up your mask!" Shut the fuck up! \[laughs\]
**Are you tapped into politics?**
I don't normally like to talk about politics, but I'm very tapped in. Michael Jackson said it best, "They don't really care about us, PERIOD." Until they still start showing that care about us, all of us are gonna be feeling unsettled. So many people are not at peace right now because we don't know what's going on. What’s this pandemic? What’s the truth? So many people are searching for the answers because we want to know. I had COVID twice, and I have MS.
**How was your COVID experience?**
It was frustrating. What the hell’s going on? The first time was really bad. At the end of 2019. I was sick for 3 months. I got sick before the pandemic and didn't know what’s going on. I had bronchitis, I had lung inflammation, I had a stomach flu. I went to my moms, it was so bad. I had my mom take care of me for 2 months, then I got it again on Thanksgiving. I was really tired. Frustrating especially the second time because you see that the healthcare system is suffering, corrupt, annoying. They don't care about our well-being. We have to be proactive and on top of our well-being, they're not giving us the resources.
We have to take care of ourselves and make sure we're informing each other. Herbs and all the homeopathic natural healing because they're not giving us those resources, we have to figure it out. Definitely a frustrating situation and time for us as a whole. America’s going through a lot of changes, our generations and the younger generation are wanting to step up more. People want to step up and have a voice, say something about it because it's not right. It's all about money, that's understandable but also we're humans. We're people. It's survival of humanity at this point. They want to make us robotic, okay but we're still human. People now more than ever are speaking up about it, I love that.
We need to show each other that we’re all here. I'm here, we know what's going on. We're not stupid, we're woke. We know it's all about the money. All of us as a whole need to start caring, teaching, helping each other, because they're not gonna do that for us. It's about the money for them. I love this conversation because it's showing how I survive. I was diagnosed with MS, then I got COVID twice. This has been killing people. One of my best friend's mom passed away from Covid, it's crazy. What’s this time we're in right now? It's scary to think about because what's next? Knowing that as a whole, as long as you take care of yourself, I'm so proactive about self-care.
**I need to prioritize self-care more!**
Self-care, I treat it like a full-time job. Normally I'm getting massages, because I workout a lot. I like to go to the spa, get my facials when it's not all closed. I still try to make sure I spend an hour or two a day taking care of myself. Whether it's a hot bath, meditation, playing with the pups, going on a nice workout or a nice hike. You have to be sure you're good. Knowing that I'm on Western medicine and don't trust western medicine, we have to be proactive now more than ever. Now’s the time. We have all the resources, we have it at our fingertips.
We can Google anything, I'm Googling everything. I wanna know everything. We take what we can. There's a lot going on, let's take control and let's start taking care of ourselves and each other more, really be that community for each other. That's important right now because they can't stop us. They tried, but they can't. They don't care about us but it's all good, I heard you.
**What’s the latest with your upcoming album?**
It's in the works right now, honestly that's the goal this year. My goal’s to put out an album. I want to be able to show all my assets, talk about everything that I want to talk about in the music. Show all my sides. A single only shows one side, but an album shows all your colors, all your sides, all your personalities. I have so many. \[laughs\]
**How many?!**
I have quite a few. I have that ratchet side. I have my pop-y “I want to be loved” side. I have my “I care about the world, they don't care about us” side. I have all of these sides, I want to be able to show all that in an album, in a project. I want to call it _Muse._ I looked it up, it’s the term used for all 9 Greek goddesses. If anybody else takes that, let them know you heard it here first. That’s my shit. My goal is album of the year, I'm on that right now. Going to Miami recording, Atlanta recording, coming back recording and trying to get to it.
**What does moms think of your career?**
My mom’s my biggest supporter. I love her so much. I really wouldn't be able to do any of this without her. My career, anything I do, she's my biggest supporter. She's part momager. She's very hands-on with my career. She's amazing. I honestly wouldn't be able to do anything with her. She's been mom, she's been dad, she's grandma and grandpa. She's everything to me. I didn't have grandparents, I didn't have my dad. I love mommy. It's hard, being a mom of two puppies takes so much sacrifice. Being a dog mom is so hard so being a real mom is so much. I definitely have a lot of respect for her and what she's done for her kids.
**Do you want kids?**
I do! What's so crazy is ever since getting the puppies, I feel like my motherly instinct is turned on. I was always that girl: "I don't want kids,” but I was always really good with kids. I loved being around them because they're really fun but I didn't want to pop any out. Recently, I want kids. I want marriage, I want children. I never wanted to be married, now I want marriage. I’m changing, I'm growing up.
**Do you have a bae?**
I'm on my Capricorn shit right now: focused on my business. We're not that good with relationships. I personally am so focused on my career right now. I desire companionship more than anything, and I get companionship in friendships. I get companionship in my family, people I see. I do want a relationship and I don't want to settle. How can I get my relationship without settling? I’m trying to cultivate the woman that I see myself being in the relationship that I see myself being in. Seeing myself being a wife and a mother, seeing myself being in that relationship, what does that woman look like? I'm not that woman yet. I'm still young, having fun and reckless. I love this woman I am now. When that woman comes, I’m seeing what she's about and wanting to cultivate that as well, but I still want to live in my moment and in my age.
Manifest what I want, knowing I want companionship in a relationship, but knowing I'm not going to settle because I still have a lot of work to do on myself. I want to attract the person I see myself being. I don't want to get into situations or relationships that make me take away from me, when I'm working on me. It's about being selfish for a while. I don't want to be selfish in a relationship, I want to be selfless. In order to be selfless, I have to be selfish for a while to make sure that I'm good and who I want to be. I felt insufficient in relationships because me or my partner felt insufficient. Either we're both on the grind, or I'm on the grind and I make him feel that way, or he makes me feel that way because he feels like he may not be enough for me.
I wanna feel sufficient and satisfied with myself. Somebody who makes me feel more me, and I can make them more them. Not change each other, because how many people do we try to change? You gotta change this, you gotta change that. No, we're not doing this. I'm not trying to change anything about you. I know so many great men right now. I'm such a women empowerment type of female and I love men. We need men, but I'm so women empowerment. “Btich get your money!” But we need men. We shouldn't take advantage, we build partnerships with men. I've been working on my partnerships and my relationships, that’s essential. But I definitely wanna be bae'd up.
**Anything that you think the people need to know?**
Live your life. Do what makes you happy. That's been a really big thing lately, do what makes you happy. If it makes you happy, then do it. Don't be sad. Life’s too short to be sad, I keep telling myself that. You will achieve, it’s the power of the mind. I read this book _The Four Agreements_ and it really got me. It was great, really good. I've been really big on affirmations lately. Be impeccable with your words, absolutely because your words are so important. Be careful with what you say to people. Be careful of the curses and blessings that you put on yourself and others. Don't take things personally, that’s been big for me. I take things personally and I hold it. “They did that to me, that happened to me.” I'm not on that time right now, I don’t want to be a victim. I'm a survivor not a victim. Always try your best. I'm always trying my best, amen. Don't make assumptions, because I'm always making assumptions too. “This person’s this, that person’s that.” I don't want to do that. Reading books has been helping me, I like to read.
**Sounds like you were motivated on the way home!**
I read it on the flight back from Atlanta to LA. I was so motivated. No movies, no wifi, I’m not doing it.
