Earlier this year, Mykki Blanco returned with news of two forthcoming albums, a new label signing, and more trailblazing music. So far we’ve heard the tracks “Free Ride” and “Love Me” off the mini-album Broken Hearts & Beauty Sleep that’s out June 18, and today they shared the third single “Summer Fling” that features Arkansas rapper Kari Faux; it’s a prime contender for summer anthem 2k21. “Summer Fling” is about keeping your options open, embracing your sexual autonomy, and having a grand-ass time enjoying the season’s rising temperatures.
The track’s production was inspired by ’90s hits from Missy Elliott and Timbaland. Whispery backing vocals recall Ashanti, while there’s a bouncing bass and drum combo. Blanco and Faux riff back and forth about the seasonal changes for relationship standards. When the season’s hot, Faux keeps her suitors sweating. “It’s the summertime, the block is hot / You can’t cuff me because I don’t fuck with no cops,” she asserts during the chorus. Another iconic line from the track has Blanco narrating: “He told me J. Cole saved rap / Well how bout that / I said your dick smells like hamster / Go take a bath.”
Mykki commented about the new single, “I wanted ‘Summer Fling’ to feel like a song I could have heard at my middle school dance, maybe it’s because those were the years in which I was coming of age. Y2K aesthetics still influence me heavily at some point in the creation of my songs. I always feel like the Y2K vibe haunts its way into the room and makes its presence felt on my records.” On Faux, they added, “Kari’s delivery is slick and charged up, she takes no prisoners with her bars. She adds a layer of bravado and feminine mystique to the song. In addition to her verse that she wrote, she also contributed to the writing of the hook.”
Watch the visual for “Summer Fling” below.
