CHIKA has announced that she is no longer set to retire from music.
Last week (April 11), the 2021 Grammy nominee said that she was quitting the industry due to the “mental toll” it was taking on her.
“Today I told Twitter [about retiring],” she tweeted then. “What followed was a hoard of psychotic fans rejoicing in the decline of my mental health, harassing me as if I spoke to them first. It’s not fucking cool, it’s not ‘trolling’ or ‘stan culture’, you’re pushing people to a point of no return.”
Now, in a further set of tweets, CHIKA said she has reconsidered her decision and will no longer be retiring from music, and thanked everyone who “reached out to check in” with her after a “very intense week” which she previously said had led to suicidal thoughts.
“I am alive. I am okay,” she wrote, before addressing her previous claims of retirement. “I’m not retiring. After what I’ve endured in the past few days, I’m not ever allowing anything to stop me or almost take me from this ghetto ass earth.”
I am alive. I am okay.
Thank you to everyone who has reached out to check in. It’s been a very intense week.
I’m not retiring. After what I’ve endured in the past few days, I’m not ever allowing anything to stop me or almost take me from this ghetto ass earth.
— CHIKA
(@oranicuhh) April 19, 2021
“I will be stepping back from social media for the time being, whether that means silence or just having someone else post for me.
“I’m too valuable to be tampered with. And it took almost not being here to realize this internet shit isn’t worth it.”
I will be stepping back from social media for the time being, whether that means silence or just having someone else post for me.
I’m too valuable to be tampered with. And it took almost not being here to realize this internet shit isn’t worth it.
— CHIKA
She then later tweeted another message, discussing how her previous comments were “not simply a result of online bullying,” and that she was “working through a rough patch in life that trolls did not cause.”
Later in the message, she discussed how the online trolling was “the straw that broke the camel’s back” and asked fans to “listen more when people say they are not okay.”
She concluded: “I’m just bout to go be human for a little bit.”
— CHIKA
Nominated for Best New Artist at this year’s Grammy Awards, CHIKA dropped a new EP last month, entitled ‘Once Upon A Time’. The release followed on from two EPs, ‘Full Bloom // A Poetry’ and ‘Industry Games’, released in 2017 and 2020 respectively.
In 2020, the Alabama MC released an empowering single, ‘My Power’, which featured on the Netflix film Project Power.
For help and advice on mental health:
- Help Musicians UK – Around the clock mental health support and advice for musicians (CALL MUSIC MINDS MATTER ON: 0808 802 8008)
- CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably
- Music Support Org – Help and support for musicians struggling with alcoholism, addiction, or mental health issues (CALL: 0800 030 6789)
- YOUNG MINDS – The voice for young people’s health and wellbeing
- Time To Change – Let’s end mental health discrimination
- The Samaritans – Confidential support 24 hours a day
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