Lead singer of California-based metal band Otep, Otep Shamaya had recently appeared on Belgian Jasper’s YouTube channel for an interview regarding her potential future productions. This comes not long after the release of the band’s newest studio album The God Slayer, which includes covers like “The Way I Am” and original singles like “Ostracized”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVgoMdE1cdQ&t=892s

Over the course of the interview, Jasper talks with Shamaya on a variety of topics, from international fans to the judgment of others. At one point during the interview, Shamaya is asked about what made her decide to come back to making music.

In response to the question, Shamaya says “Since my last album, a lot of things happened in my personal life – my oldest brother died, everybody worldwide had the big plague where we couldn’t trust the air we breathe. So there was a lot going on at the time, and we were in quarantine here in the States…”  (Transcribed by Blabbermouth)

She continued with “… and this label reached out to me and said ‘Hey, would you like to do a cover album?’ I thought ‘Uh, do I really?’ And then I’m thinking ‘Okay, it’s quarantine. Nothing’s open. Nothing’s happening. I’m in the house. Why not?’ It just kind of came back to that. I missed it. I missed creating music and I missed that outlet.” 

With the release of The God Slayer, the question of whether Shamaya was planning on releasing any more tracks would come up. However, she would go on to say “And so that’s what brought me back around. In symbolic terms, nine is the last single digit. So it is the last; it represents the last. I don’t know if I’ll make another record.”