Grammy winner Megan Thee Stallion dropping a hard anime-themed banger may not have been on your 2024 bingo, but the artist tirelessly pulled through anyway.
However, her journey to the final release day wasn’t all sunshine and roses; instead, Stallion came very close to losing the essence of her new single, “Otaku Hot Girl,” which is brimming with anime references.
As an avid fan of anime herself, Megan was presumably on Cloud 9, working on this track, which is featured on her third studio album, MEGAN. Although the hit music star delivered on her loyal status as an earnest anime enthusiast, she was forced to tweak the track days before the release date, i.e. June 28.
She jumped on the chance to candidly speak her truth to the fans on an Instagram Live ahead of the release. The song doesn’t merely heavily reference iconic anime characters like Jujutsu Kaisen’s (JJK) Satoru Gojo, Yuji Itadori, its supervillain Sukuna, and Naruto’s Sasuke; it also directly samples the commercial jingle of the former hit series, which earned its rightful title as one of the most in-demand anime shows among Gen Z.
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But what ultimately takes the cake in the situation is that Stallion, whose real name is Megan Pete, also enlists the help of the JJK protagonist Yuji Itadori’s English voice actor, Adam McArthur, who kicks off the track with an unexpected verse: “I like a tall woman with a nice big a** (Haha) / Just sayin’ / Like Grammy winner, Megan Thee Stallion.”
Why Megan Thee Stallion had to redo her song despite it being cleared earlier
During her Instagram broadcast, Stallion said she had to “jump through eight million hoops” to play the cards right with the production company MAPPA Studios, which brought the legendary anime to life.
Once she sent the song to them for approval, they told her, “OK, you gotta change some words,” Stallion detailed the debacle on social media.
Consequently, she agreed to the demands and followed through. However, the company then commented, “OK, if you shoot a video to this song, you cannot cosplay any of the characters in the show.” Stallion did everything she had to appease the anime studio as she wanted the “song real bad.”
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Thereafter, she crafted the song accordingly. Megan claimed her self-titled album was already “turnt in” and ready for release. Nevertheless, her team received an email just days before her record was ready to drop, stating, “You can either have the music clearance or you can have the name clearance.” Stallion playfully expressed her frustration, but her true heartbreak was evidently visible.
She cried, “Take out the names of the characters that [are] in the show? [screams] That is the whole song! [screams] That makes the song make sense.” Although Stallion expressed her gratitude to MAPPA for letter her sample the commercial tune for the anime without complaining, she couldn’t help but exclaim in agony when they asked her to “change the names a day before the album [comes] out.”
Regardless of the concerning e-mail reminder, Megan still raps on the song: “Ayy, can’t touch me like Gojo… Fightin’ demons in my head like I’m Itadori.” She also alludes to other anime-inspired lingo.
Following up on her 2022 album “Traumazine,” “MEGAN” features a total of 10 songs. “Otaku Hot Girl” is listed as the seventh track on the record.
Earlier this year, Megan also pulled up to the Crunchyroll Anime Awards as a presenter.
Reactions to Megan Thee Stallion’s anime-sampled track “Otaku Hot Girl”
Anime fans quickly responded to the jaw-dropping revelation on social media as the song started trending on X/Twitter following its release.
An X user wrote, “megan thee stallion sampling a jujutsu kaisen track and getting yuji itadori’s english VA (adam mcarthur) to narrate the intro like she is so insane for this lmfkskdkskdr.”
“She snapped on the anime references though ‘bow down when I pop out like Sukuna’🔥” another commented.
Many others couldn’t get over the fact that Yuji’s English voice actor actually came through with an unprecedented collaboration: “THE INTRO ACTUALLY HAS ME GAGGED. It’s over, we have a winner 😭”
Some others validated her “real anime fan” status with remarks like, “She’s such a real fan, and you know she was happy as hell about this.”
“Her brain is actually so massive with using the jjk commercial jingle,” a fellow Otaku chimed in.
Members of the Jujutsu Kaisen fan club were also quick to drop their video compilations, edited to Megan’s latest track.
The general response to her song on social media was favourably in her odds. Countless users came to her side, possibly expanding the size of her own fandom, which she affectionately dubbed the “Hotties.” “What rapper you know getting a JUJUTSU KAISEN SAMPLE cleared? & Megan made sure she kept them names in & SLID. PUT SOME RESPECT ON OTAKU HOT GIRL #Megan,” an X user tweeted.
Another user wrote, “Otaku Hot Girl is for the girls who like anime who was getting charged up and quizzed by anime boys.”
