Megan Thee Stallion knows that it’s not a good time to be her hater.
Before the end of Q1, the three-time Grammy-winning rapper has already released a new Billboard Hot 100 single with “Lover Girl,” collaborated with Southern rap legend Juvenile on a remix of his viral track “B.B.B.,” and made her broadway debut as Zidler in Moulin Rouge — making history as the first woman to ever play the role in any production of the show.
Related
Outside the world of music and performing, Megan has also found success as an entrepreneur in the food industry. Last year, she dropped her own tequila brand, Chicas Divertidas, and in January, she opened her first Popeyes franchise in South Beach, Florida. In 2022, Megan combined her passion for music with her love of food when she partnered with Frito-Lay for a Super Bowl LVI commercial advertising their Flamin’ Hot line. Along with the ad, the rapper released “Flamin’ Hottie,” a single that samples Salt-N-Pepa’s “Push It” and pays homage to her love of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
Now, Megan and Cheetos are coming together again for a brand-new campaign surrounding the return of the brand’s popular Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle flavor. In true Megan fashion, the partnership of course comes with a new song — this time in the form of an unexpected remix. Cheetos brought together Megan Thee Stallion and Canadian rock icons Nickelback for “Pickle’s Back,” a reimagining of the band’s Hot 100 chart-topper “How You Remind Me,” now with a hottie twist.
Hear the song and watch “thee incredible almost true story” behind how Meg and Nickelback brought back the Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle flavor below:
Ahead of the campaign announcement and “Pickle’s Back” drop, Billboard caught up with Megan Thee Stallion to talk all things Flamin’ Hot, her recent collaborations, her forthcoming album MEGAN: ACT III, joining the cast of Moulin Rouge, and why it’s an awful time to be her hater right now.
You’re a big foodie and you’ve been making some serious waves in the food and beverage industry with Chicas Divertidas, opening your first Popeyes franchise, and now you’re working with Cheetos for the second time. With your food expertise, why did you want to reunite with Cheetos?
I feel like the relationship that Flamin’ Hot and I have built has been very organic since I was a child, and to grow up and be able to work with the brand, I feel like, “Wow, I was doing this already. Y’all were my favorite already.” So just for them to acknowledge me back, I feel really good about that. And I get to show the world all of my crazy concoctions that I like to make — and we all compare notes. I was like, “You like that? You like that too? What does that taste like?” I feel like it’s like a little family over here.
Real fans know that you’re no stranger to rock music. I especially love your collabs with Spiritbox. What was it like doing another rock song and working with rock legends Nickelback on “Pickle’s Back”?
I know it sounds crazy and it looks crazy, but when you put it together, it’s like, “Wow, I did not know my two worlds needed to collide like this.”
I feel like growing up listening to a song like “How You Remind Me,” it’s just in your brain. You hear it on the radio all the time, you hear it in TV shows, you just know the song. You know the words, without ever having really learned the words. I feel like it’s just very nostalgic. So when I got the opportunity to work with them and then remix this song, I was like, “Damn, what does Megan Thee Stallion bring to this song? What am I gonna say that’s gonna make this ‘hot girl’?”
It was very fun figuring out how to Meg-ify Nickelback. And they were super excited. That’s something that really shocked me too, because I was like, “Does Nickelback know who the hell I am?” So when we met and they were fans too, I was like, “Not Nickelback is hot boys!” We were both in there fanning out, and it was great. So when the song got all finished, I was like, “Yeah, I would definitely listen to this. If it wasn’t me, I would be listening to this.”
Are there any other rock songs that someday you would love to “Meg-ify”?
I love Paramore. I love Hayley Williams. When I go to the gym, I’ll be on that Stairmaster going in to “Ain’t It Fun,” so maybe I can see myself “Meg-ifying” that.
Speaking of collaborations, you and Juvenile just released the “B.B.B.” remix. When Juvenile first dropped the song, the Internet was begging for him to put you on it. How did this collab come to be?
I think everybody in the South collectively just knows that Juvenile is the best. He’s great. It doesn’t matter what Juvenile song you play, in what rotation, at what club, at what party — he’s getting the party going. He’s getting the party started. So to see him still continue that, he ain’t lost it at all, the voice is timeless.
It’s something about Louisiana artists that I feel like can get any party going. So when I heard the song, I said, “I know this ain’t my Juvenile. I know this ain’t my Juvie sounding like this.” I heard it and I was like, “Juvenile, you don’t want me to be on this?” I saw everybody tagging me in it, and then when I finally listened to it, I was like, “Oh wait, friend, send me the instrumental, we’re going to go ahead and give the people what they want! How can you not have called me in the first place?” He was like, “I ain’t know you was gonna want to do it.” I was like, “Juvenile, call me anytime. You want to do a whole mixtape together? We could do that too!”
So he definitely owes me one for my album. The hotties ain’t ready for that.
Speaking of a new album, when can fans expect the next Megan project? Is it going to be Megan: Act III or is it going to be something completely different?
It’s definitely going to be Act III, and it’s going to wrap up this saga of acts that I’ve been doing. And it’s definitely going to come out in 2026. On this album, I’m doing definitely what I want to do — as I always do — but I’m also gonna do something a little different. I don’t want to say too much, but I’m gonna do something a little different on this one. Maybe we could call it introducing another alter ego.
On the topic of doing something different, congrats on Moulin Rouge!
It’s blowing my mind, I can’t believe it. When I got the opportunity to do it. I was like, “Hell yes, I’m coming up here doing it. How many times a day we gotta perform? OK, hell yeah, I’m doing that.” This is not like a regular Megan Thee Stallion concert. This is Zidler. This is not even me, but the hotties get to come. Please make sure you tell the hotties this: I would like for them to come dressed the part. Because when I went to go see the show, I met the “hottie version” of Moulin Rouge fans — they call it “fan fan fans” — and they’re on their sh– up there. So the hotties need to come up there ready to see a Broadway show, babe, this is different. We’re coming up here, we’re gonna act right, and we’re gonna be dressed the part.
This is your Broadway debut, but you were in the movie Dicks: The Musical a few years back. Can you tell me more about your relationship to musical theater?
When I was little, my mom put me in a few plays, and I was very nervous. It felt like it was something that I was always scared to do because I was a little shy growing up. But then, as I continued to rap in secrecy, and now not rapping in secrecy and evolving into Megan Thee Stallion, I feel like my stage presence is definitely bigger, and now I’m ready. Now I feel like it’s evolving past music stages, it’s evolving past concerts. I’m ready to be on Broadway. This is a whole new Meg.
You’re the first woman to play Zidler in any production of Moulin Rouge. What do you think you’re going to bring to this character that no one else has before?
I feel like I’m gonna be able to bring a new type of sass, a new type of energy, my own personality. I feel like I’m gonna make Zidler be “Zi-leisha.” She’s gonna be funny.
Moulin Rouge is very famously a jukebox show. Are we going to get any Meg songs in the mix?
Definitely. The music is already amazing. When I want to go see the show, I said, “I know they not up here singing all this.” They incorporated [Outkast’s] “So Fresh and So Clean” into this musical! So they’re up there doing the things, but now we’re gonna put the little Megan Thee Stallion spice on there. It’s gonna be mwah, bon appetit.
Right before the Moulin Rouge news broke, you tweeted, “It’s a very bad time to be my hater lol I’m EVERYWHERE” — and it’s true. Do you have any other words for your haters right now?
I’m sticking to that. It’s the wrong time to hate me, because I’m not done yet. 2026, we’re only three months in, babe, you might as well go back to bed. Go back to sleep.