S. Raekwon Shares “Talk,” the Summer-y First Single from His New EP “I Like It When You Smile”

A visual for the breezy track arrives ahead of the EP’s September 2 release via Father/Daughter.
First Listen

S. Raekwon Shares “Talk,” the Summer-y First Single from His New EP I Like It When You Smile

A visual for the breezy track arrives ahead of the EP’s September 2 release via Father/Daughter.

Words: Mike LeSuer

Photo: POND Creative

July 19, 2022

Back in May when S. Raekwon dropped the Mother’s Day loosie “Single Mom’s Day”—an eight-minute mother/son ballad released via Father/Daughter Records—it felt like a bit of a continuation of Where I’m at Now, the full-length collection of diaristic tunes with a similar often-downcast focus on the rearview released back in October. Yet today the songwriter’s looking forward with an upbeat new single called “Talk,” which serves as the first single from his newly unveiled summer-ready EP I Like It When You Smile, which deals in a different form of nostalgia.

While “Talk” feels firmly in the present lyrically, the track is built upon a ’90s hip-hop drumbeat and Raekwon’s pop vocals from a similar era bygone. He claims the track sums up the “tonal and emotional direction” the full EP takes, which, to reduce it to a single word, is “fun.” “I was interested in seeing how I could combine the drums and low end of hip-hop records with softer and more intimate instruments like the acoustic guitar and piano,” he continues. “I wanted to see how far I could push the idea of drums carrying a song, rather than the ‘music’ or melody.” 

In addition to the grainy quality and ’90s-conscious fashion choices of the music video shot and directed by POND Creative’s Rachel Cabbitt and Natalie Leonard, the visual adds to the nostalgia factor by incorporating crayon scrawlings over its live-action imagery. “After chatting with Steven, we knew we wanted to signal a visual change in line with the tonal change of the EP,” they explain. “Where I'm at Now lives in a beautifully quiet, black-and-white world, so why not create an alter ego that is both bold and colorful?”

Check out the video below, and pre-order the EP here. You can also find S. Raekwon’s upcoming tour dates with Alex Dupree and Annie Blackman here.