Cardi B Explains How Her Anxiety and Critics Kept Her Out the Public Eye Last Year: “I Was Afraid To Do Everything”

Cardi B has revealed she was afraid to do anything last year when fans were asking for her to drop her album.

During her conversation with Speedy Morman, The Bronx rap star reflected on her recent Instagram Live appearance, where she apologized to her fans for losing herself and letting critics get the best of her. According to Cardi, she let all the criticisms and questions about her sophomore album get her out of character.

"I just feel like I lost myself like with everything like, you know like a lot of like music commenters and everything and a lot of people just be like, you know, 'She's afraid to drop an album, she's afraid to drop music,' Cardi said at the 16:33 mark. "Like last year, I barely dropped music. It's just like I was just afraid to do everything."

She further confessed, "I was afraid to go live, I was afraid to post a picture, I was afraid to go to the club, and then the next day seeing people, what they going to say about me, and everything. I was afraid to do everything."

Cardi also stated that she has never taken a break from the internet, as she was a huge social media star before her rap career took off in 2015. She needed time off as she felt she was going "crazy" to the point that she couldn't even speak on things she was passionate about out of fear someone would criticize her.

"I love talking about politics and everything. I don't even want to talk about it anymore because I'm just so afraid of just getting dragged every single fucking day like I'm tired," she said.

Cardi's issues with being in the public eye and critics watching her every move have even affected her making music. Elsewhere in the conversation with Speedy, the leader of the Bardi Gang revealed she recorded a verse for a remix to Ice Spice's breakthrough record "Munch" but didn't like what she wrote and felt she would get "dragged" by the public.

"I did do a thing for Ice Spice, but I just did not like how it sound," she said at the 32:30 mark. "I love the record, I did not like how I sound. You know it being on a drill beat, it's not as easy as it look. ... I was like, 'They're gonna drag me and they're going to drag the song bad.'"

Cardi also revealed she's been sitting on music for over a year during an Instagram Live session shortly after she released "Like What (Freestyle)" earlier this month. According to Cardi, she will no longer let her anxiety or anything critics and fans have to say keep her from dropping music.