Own sounded like nostalgia, a jungle, and the future when I first heard it. DeAira, the producer of Own, sent me the record after conversing for awhile about the sound I was looking for. She said the inspiration behind the production was the Timbaland-produced song, "What's So Different" by Ginuwine, which is similarly futuristic and gritty. When I got in the studio, I had freestyled the words and sang what came to mind. Naturally, I'll go in whichever direction the beat initially pulls me towards. Alpha, another artist I work with very closely, suggested the sporadic arrangement, a spin on Jermaine Dupri's ad libs from Monica's old song "First Night", along with adding some speaking vocals at the end of the arrangement. My engineer, Matt Cody, is responsible for the fluid sound and how you experience the record. I wanted two breakdowns at the end with less vocals to let the track breathe�and also because they sounded so crazy on their own.

Lyrically, I was touching on the common female experience of dating a man off and on who is scared to/or just doesn't want to fully commit to you. Truly, there are many women who put up with only having some of a man, are aware of it, yet don't play the damsel in distress role. There are women who are aware of their worth and find themselves in a predicament where they come to terms with the fact that they just like the attention whether they have all of it or not. There's also the take on it that even under those circumstances, some women thrive off of the sport (there are other female competitors and whoever wins the title is the best) "You had a couple in line from time to time, hit it, split, they flip and come back. Baby get a grip, you need a queen." These are the experiences of most women.

I grew up in a family where we are all bluntly honest with one another. Although I can be vulnerable, I won't ever lie to myself. I've been in a predicament where I settled for some of a man's time while wanting commitment, but I never made myself or anyone else believe it was more than what it was. I know plenty of women who do the same, and just as many or more who lie to themselves in the process. Even when they do lie to themselves, they know when they hear the truth about their situation. The hook is very straightforward in the approach: "I don't own you, though I want to. I don't own you, you belong to�you." A lot of my music comes from an honestly vulnerable place, while still gripping onto my ego.