“I really thought keeping my head down was the safest thing I could do,” the Philadelphia artist wrote in a new Instagram post
In a new Instagram post, singer and rapper Bri Steves writes that she was a victim of “mental and sexual abuse from men nearly 20 years older than me” while she was coming up in the music industry and signed to a label and a production company. “They smiled in my face and called me family while running a cycle of control, fear, and manipulation behind closed doors,” Steves’ post says.
She also notes that she was signed to Atlantic Records and an unnamed production company in 2016, writing, “For years I’ve been fighting to free myself. Trying to break out of contracts I should’ve been released from a long time ago.” She adds: “Whether they sign those papers or not, I’m done being quiet. I’m standing on truth.”
Steves did not immediately return Rolling Stone‘s request for comment. Steves has not been on the Atlantic roster since 2023, according to a source close to the situation.
In 2018, Steves released one of her breakthrough tracks, “Jealousy,” which has earned more than 2.5 million views on YouTube. Last March, she made her debut on YouTube’s popular performance platform Colors with “Lonely with You/Back Outside.”
In her statement, which was posted on a black background to her Instagram profile, Steves alleges that the aforementioned men “Controlled every part of my life-my music, my money, where I lived, who l could talk to, what I was allowed to say. They groomed me. Manipulated me. Made me believe I had no other option but to stay in it. They threatened me with blackmail and violence. They made sure I felt trapped. And when my mom passed, they told me they were glad she was gone-so l’d have no one left to run to. I’ll never forget that.”
Steves alleges that the men have other victims and that other girls and women warned her that “You’ll lose your life if you speak up” and that she “thought being silent would protect me.”
“Honestly, I’m tired,” Steves writes. “A woman’s voice is more powerful than any man who tries to silence her.”
