Mykki Blanco

PRAISE FOR MYKKI BLANCO

"Mykki Blanco helped make rap a more exciting place with their debut 10 years ago - everything about them, from style to sound to presence forced hip-hop fans to reconfigure what truly rebellious art looked like, and whether or not they could handle it."
FADER

“one of the most arresting leftfield artists to have emerged in the last decade”
British GQ Style

“Apparently influenced by Luther Vandross, the rapper’s return is a joyous, tumbling Hudson Mohawke-co-produced pleasure”
The Guardian

"one of the most original, unpredictable artistic voices to emerge over the last decade"
BILLBOARD

On October 14, Mykki Blanco shared their new album, Stay Close To Music, via Transgressive. Adventurous and expansive, it shatters any previously held assumptions about Mykki’s artistry, leaving them free to define their sound for themselves. Today they share a new taste of the record via ‘Pink Diamond Bezel’ which, like the rest, was created with producer FaltyDL. The track exemplifies Blanco’s artistic metamorphosis and the organic textures on the record via the swell of an orchestra and the calming presence of watery pianos.

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Speaking about their new single, Mykki describes, "I am always hoping to create a new alchemy for my sound and for my entire career I have been experimenting with how far I can push rap - from the production to the musical choices to the inspirations. Much of my new album and last year's Broken Hearts & Beauty Sleep is a departure from anything I had done in the past and I hadn’t really made a hip-hop track in years when I wrote ‘Pink Diamond Bezel.’ The song feels as if it’s the love child of Pharrell Williams and The Neptunes as much as Jack White."

Explaining further, "When I think about the vibe of ‘Pink Diamond Bezel’ I imagine a stretch limousine riding through snow-capped mountains, drinking Kahula and cream with a group of friends in cashmere sweaters, very après-ski- then out of nowhere a shaman appears in the middle of the road, the car halts - a spell is cast, the road catches fire, and we’re forced to kneel in supplication to the forces of nature! I had fun creating this song, it’s a flirtation, it’s sexy and thumping and the second half is pure psychedelic rock chaos."

Blanco announced Stay Close To The Music with the Lou Reed-indebted single ‘French Lessons’ which features Kelsey Lu (ANOHNI lends a feature on the album version). Most recently, they shared the single ‘Steps’ featuring Saul Williams and MNEK and previous to that, they shared two additional songs from the LP - ‘Your Love Was a Gift’ featuring Diana Gordon and ‘Family Ties’ which features Michael Stipe.

Throughout their evolution, poet, artist, musician Mykki Blanco has continuously blurred genres - pulling rave, trap, grunge and punk influences into a swirling pool of experimental hip hop that celebrated queer and trans experiences. With their upcoming LP, they are stepping into the next phase of their career with music that represents an artist who now understands their limitless potential. In 2018, after completing a years-long touring schedule, Mykki found themselves living in Lisbon, Portugal, slowly readying themselves to record new music. They note, “I wanted to see what it would be like to go back and be a musician from another time where you had to start every ingredient raw from scratch. That process, ideology and that way of making has not only changed me as a musician, it has creatively changed me as a person.”