Fresh off the release of her debut studio LP missunderstood, Queen Naija keeps the momentum going by releasing visual after visual. Her latest offering is the new “Pretend” music video, which sees the singer in a simple room with a plain backdrop set up, as she shifts through reenacted scenes of various chapters of her life so far. On the song, Queen sings about dealing with reality:
“They say that I’m weak, they say that I’m way too naïve. Always tryna see, see the good in everybody. You would probably think disappointments would’ve stopped me. Love just keep on bleedin’, I know that God still got me. The reality hits, I learned not to expect people to give what I give. Or think how I think or love how I love. It could be too much for some of you to love the way I do.”
The new project includes 18 tracks and assists from Jacquees, Toosii, Mulatto, Pretty Vee, Russ, Lucky Daye, Kiana Ledé, and more. missunderstood follows Queen Naija’s 2018 self-titled EP, which boasted the successful singles “Medicine” and “Karma.” Recently, Queen Naija hopped on the remix of Ne-Yo’s “U 2 Luv” alongside Lil Durk and also Tee Grizzley’s “Mr. Officer.”
Along with the release of the project, Queen Naija shared some commentary on each song on the album, and had this to say about “Pretend” specifically:
“‘Pretend’ is actually one of my favorite songs. I feel like it’s very tailored to me. I’m a really nice person, and I could be naïve sometimes with people—just being super nice, trying to see the good in people—and they still take advantage of me or hurt me. So I’m politely asking, ‘Please don’t pretend. Just keep it real. I’m going to give you a chance. You don’t have to try to lie to kick it.’”
Watch Queen Naija’s new music video for “Pretend” down below.