Lola Brooke and Skai Jackson Compare Bedtimes and Star Signs

Brooklyn native Lola Brooke wasn’t playing when she dropped her viral hit “Don’t Play With It” earlier this year. On the heels of breakout success, the 2023 XXL Freshman is ready to switch it up, channeling her inner Foxy Brown on her newest slow jam, “You,” with Bryson Tiller. As the small but mighty Brooke acclimates to stardom, she’s bound to make a few famous Insta-friends along the way, including actress, Dancing with the Stars alum, and Dime sunglass collection designer Skai Jackson, who joined her on Zoom to graduate their friendship from the DMs to real life and talk Twitter-ascribed evil twinship.

———

SKAI JACKSON: How are you? You look so pretty. I love the hair, the makeup.

LOLA BROOKE: Girl, I’ve been working so much. I’m tired. I got in the house at 7 in the morning.

JACKSON: What were you doing?

BROOKE: Studio.

JACKSON: I don’t know how you do it.

BROOKE: I’m used to it. The earliest I’ve ever left from the studio is 1.

JACKSON: You’re crazy.

BROOKE: I ain’t got no choice, bro. I’m a whole rapper.

JACKSON: Y’all’s schedule is opposite. My work is during the day and I’m asleep by nighttime. I’m knocked out.

BROOKE: What’s your bedtime?

JACKSON: Before, it was 2 in the morning, but I changed my schedule and now it’s 10:30. If I’m outside at 10:30, I’m yawning and I’m tired. 

BROOKE: How did you get disciplined like that?

JACKSON: I would just wake up every morning at whatever time and it was affecting the way I would do business. I can’t be in meetings tired or looking sad or on the phone just waiting to get off. And my mom don’t play around either. She’s like, “Business people are up at 6 in the morning. Get up.” I started doing it and I felt so much better, so I can’t go back.

BROOKE: Yeah, I cut down on pork and red meat and it made me feel different.

JACKSON: I’ve been trying to do that too. I don’t eat pork anymore. I love fruit, so I’ll eat fruit all day. I’ve been trying to eat healthier because I realized when I stopped eating fast food for a while and then I ate it again a couple of weeks ago, it made me feel like I was on a drug. Like, that’s not normal.

BROOKE: You look good. You can tell you’re disciplined. Your skin is glowing.

JACKSON: Thank you. I’ve been trying to drink more water. I tried to get into the skincare, but I’m so lazy with skincare. I literally will wash my face, tone it with witch hazel and put on vitamin E oil. And people are like, “You can’t do that. You gotta get a full regimen.” 

BROOKE: I thought that was one. The most I do is a cute sugar scrub. I just moisturize it and keep it going.

JACKSON: That’s what I did too, the sugar scrub. And they’re like, “That is so bad for your skin.”

BROOKE: You lying.

JACKSON: That’s what they said. But listen, my mom, me, we use the apricot scrub. We’ve always used that and it works for us. 

BROOKE: Right, because I be needing to take the dead skin off.

JACKSON: Me too. I can’t.

BROOKE: All right, so which one of us is the evil one? [Laughs].

JACKSON: I can’t stand when people say that because if anything, I’m more the evil one. That’s what has me cracking up. But I think we both the same because we both speak our mind. I don’t sugarcoat anything. So if it comes off a little rough, my bad.

BROOKE: I do too. But we from New York. I have my days where I want to be sweet. I’m like a Sour Patch Kid. Catch us on a good day and you got it all.

JACKSON: For real. Especially because I’m an Aries.

BROOKE: Oh my god, my best friend is an Aries. I’m an Aquarius.

JACKSON: I love Aquariuses. But when I’m on IG or TikTok live, they’re like, “Why you got an attitude?” But I’m just talking.

BROOKE: They like the vibes anyways.

JACKSON: And I’m being compared to you, and you’re so beautiful and talented. You’re real.

BROOKE: That’s what I was saying about you. 

JACKSON: It’s funny though, because my makeup artist, Brandy, would send me your pictures before I got hip to you like, “Y’all could be family.” Sometimes people tell me I look like somebody and I’m like, “No, I don’t. Don’t say that.” But with you, I see it.

BROOKE: You’re that girl, so it is what it is.

JACKSON: You’re that girl too. We’re both that girl.

BROOKE: And I love those shades! Are they your brand?

JACKSON: Oh, yes. I’m going to DM you after this because I’m going to send them to you.

BROOKE: Do you have a small face? 

JACKSON: Yeah, I have problems with shades because I got a tiny face. Even when it comes to hair, I can’t have thick weave in my head. I got you.

BROOKE: I can’t go out looking crazy like my mom just picked me up from daycare and I was chilling in the closet.

JACKSON: That’s why I made these shades. Let me cater to the girls that might like a big shade, but it’s still got to fit us correct. I’m excited for it. It comes out on the 21st. It was a lot of work to design them, but they came out.

BROOKE: Was it fun even though it got stressful?

JACKSON: It did because you realize how many different shades there are and you want to be original and creative. But it’s fun being able to design whatever you want.

BROOKE: Are you a perfectionist?

JACKSON: I am. That’s why I can’t even watch my movies or shows, because I’ll critique myself so bad.

BROOKE: I’m the same way. I don’t watch videos from my shows, it’s cringey. 

JACKSON: I don’t like hearing my own voice. I’m like, “Turn it off.”

BROOKE: When I look at my stories too, I be like, “Girl, why is you talking?”

JACKSON: I just always think things could be better.

BROOKE: Yeah, I be hard on myself a lot too. I can’t help it.

JACKSON: Nothing’s going to be perfect at the end of the day. You just got to be happy with what you put out as long as other people respond positively. And even if they don’t, I don’t care. I’m not for everyone. 

BROOKE: Yeah, I just stay in my own little bubble. 

JACKSON: Are you a homebody when you’re not working? 

BROOKE: I love home. If I could stay home today, I would be so happy. But I be feeling like even when we’re home, it’s still all work.

JACKSON: It is. My friends don’t understand that. They’ll be like, “You’re always home. Why don’t you go out?” But just because I’m not physically somewhere doesn’t mean I’m not working on the phone. I could be home for six, seven, eight weekends at a time.

BROOKE: But you know the thing about me? I don’t like to party, but I know how to party. I be having a blast, girl. If I get outside, I be going crazy. And when I get home, I’ll be like, “I’m not going outside no more.”

JACKSON: I wish I was like that. I’m very shy because I never really went to parties when I was young. I have to get more into that. It’s just too crowded and I get anxiety. But New York is a vibe and I want to go back so bad.

BROOKE: Where you at?

JACKSON: I’m in L.A.

BROOKE: You an L.A. girl now? I thought you wouldn’t move fully.

JACKSON: I’m fully here. L.A. is all right, the weather’s cool, but it’s always something to do in New York. That’s my favorite thing about it. The food, the culture, I miss it so bad. 

BROOKE: I love L.A. but I can’t stay out there too long. For me, L.A. is for a good three or four days. I feel productive every morning. But I got to come back to New York because it gets too quiet.

JACKSON: It’s just not the same, even down to the people. I could move back. 

BROOKE: You don’t have to rush though.

JACKSON: I don’t, but I like traveling. I can take this time because the strike is going on. Let me just travel, go to New York, go to different countries. That’s what I’m going to do in the next couple months.

BROOKE: You be traveling, girl.

JACKSON: I do. [Laughs] It’s to the point where the last couple months, every single month I was somewhere. I needed to be home with my little dog, my son. 

BROOKE: That’s crazy because my dog passed a few weeks ago. 

JACKSON: No, I’m sorry. I get so nervous because my baby, he’s about to be 12. 

BROOKE: It hasn’t hit me yet. I named him Gucci. I don’t know why. But I know when I go to Atlanta, I’m going to be yelling his name.

JACKSON: I know. My dog’s got an old man name. His name is Otis Redding. Rest in peace to Gucci. My mind is all over the place too. 

BROOKE: You’re an overthinker?

JACKSON: I am. I will stress about other people’s problems that are not even mine.

BROOKE: Me too. Us Aries and Aquarius love hard.

JACKSON: I’m very emotional. I cry so much.

BROOKE: Me too. Sometimes we can be a little crazy.

JACKSON: It depends though. My gut is always right about people. For instance, I was just looking at somebody’s picture and I got a sick feeling. I was trying to warn my friend about them. I swear, every time I do that, I’m right. 

BROOKE: So you’re spiritual. 

JACKSON: Yes. You know what else I learned? When you’re talking to a guy, if you get continuous butterflies in your stomach, that’s not a good thing.

BROOKE: Wait, what?

JACKSON: That’s your gut telling you that they’re not a good person.

BROOKE: Hold on, the honeymoon stage is what, three months?

JACKSON: I think it might be if it’s very continuous for a longer period of time. 

BROOKE: I’m never going to know anyways because I stop liking people really quick.

JACKSON: Me too. That’s my favorite thing to do. You’re blocked. 

BROOKE: You block?

JACKSON: I do, because people love to argue with me including dudes that I used to talk to. So just to save both of us, I’m going to block you and you can just talk to yourself.

BROOKE: I recently blocked someone, but I unblocked them because I wanted them to know that I was ignoring them. I couldn’t do the block. I wanted to see them slowly die inside.

JACKSON: Do you also think New York guys are crazy? 

BROOKE: Mm-hmm. I don’t want to say I don’t do New York guys though. And lately I’ve been focused.

JACKSON: Me too. I’m worried about getting to the next level. Sometimes I get so into that where I neglect my friends. 

BROOKE: I really don’t have time. I love love, but at this time in my life, love got to wait because it took me so long to get where I’m at right now.

JACKSON: Love will always be there. I’m into divine timing, so if it is really meant to be, that love is going to happen no matter what. I learned to stop searching for stuff.

BROOKE: Yeah, it’s no rush.

JACKSON: I’m so glad that we got to talk. I’ve been wanting to meet you for so long. Next time I hope to see you in person.

BROOKE: Thank you. I appreciate you doing this, girl. We’re Insta cool, but I didn’t know when to just go for it. 

JACKSON: I get nervous too.

BROOKE: I’m pretty sure we act just alike. So it is not even that weird. I’m going to tell Paul to make sure I get your number.

JACKSON: Girl, I’ll DM it to you after we get off of here.

BROOKE: Okay, baby.

JACKSON: Bye.