Missy Elliott ditched party for cleaning

Singer Missy Elliott disappointed her friends by refusing to throw a party when she released her new single because she was too busy washing her dogs.

The rapper surprised fans by unveiling her track WTF (Where They From) this week (end20Nov15), with the song coming 10 years after her last album, The Cookbook, hit stores. It was an instant smash which lit up social media, but Missy wasn't ready to ditch her everyday routines to celebrate her success.

"I do regular things!" she laughed to Britain's The Guardian newspaper. "When WTF dropped, my phone was blowing up – people were texting me and emailing me. People be like: 'You're not gonna have no GET-TOGETHER? No dinner?' I'm like: 'I'm here WASHING MY DOGS!' They're like: 'WASHING YOUR DOGS? Don't you see what's happening on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook?' I'm like: 'I'm washing my dogs.'"

Missy teamed up with Pharrell Williams for her new track, revealing when he got in touch about working together she was in the middle of cleaning her house. She soon realised the vacuuming could wait, so she agreed to hit the studio and see what they could come up with.

The star has a history of teaming up with big names, having worked with Timbaland on her 2002 hit Work It. That includes a line about getting "your hair did", something Missy continues to make time for in her life.

"Oh, I get my hair did every other day," she said. "HELL YEAH. Every. Other. Day. Oh trust me. My hairdresser's house is probably looking bigger than mine at this point!"

Missy's comeback has been much discussed over the years, but it was seeing the reaction her surprise performance alongside Katy Perry at the 2015 Super Bowl received which made her fast forward her plans. That said, she isn't going to make some of the mistakes she did in the past.

"I don't take things as serious any more. I used to worry a lot," she said. "The reason I stay home more is because I realise that my blood pressure started going up. And I never had a vacation until 2005! I've only ever had two vacations in my whole career and I've been in the industry over 20-something years! I felt like I had to take a second for myself before I look up and realise I haven't enjoyed life. That's the outlook now."