Entertainment
And previewed her upcoming new song “Nani.”
On a recent night in Los Angeles, Saweetie transformed a paint and sip class into her own intimate meet-and-greet. She and 25 of her closest “icy boys and icy girls” indulged in endless wine, painted a cartoonified portrait of the rapper, and broke out into a minor dance party when she played everyone her unreleased, upcoming single “Nani.”
“They tapped in!” the rapper tells NYLON over the phone, adding that she knew everyone had done their homework because they were mouthing all the words. By the end of the night, they’d all bonded. “Nobody really wanted to go home,” she says.
It’s all part of the lead-up to Saweetie’s long-awaited debut album (its title still TBD), a project that was originally slated to drop in 2021 and now arrives later this year. But before its release, she’s planning to unleash a few more singles — including “Nani,” which is out in May — and host more opportunities to meet her most dedicated fans. Below, NYLON got an exclusive look inside the rapper’s most recent event, which she’s hoping to replicate in other cities all summer long. She’s just got one question: “Icy girls and icy boys, what city I should go to next?”
Although the space allowed for 40 fans, Saweetie says she intentionally brought the attendance down to 25 so “I really had an opportunity to get to know them.”
The rapper says she was moved by some fans’ dedication to the event: “I learned that some girls bought outfits for the event. Some people drove an hour and a half just to come to the paintings!”
Others told her how her songs motivated them to go back to school or “move to L.A. to pursue their dreams,” she says. “It was nice to know that my platform is being of service to people.”
The rapper says she’s feeling “optimistic” about her new album. “The past two years I've been recording nonstop. I think my fans will be able to notice that.”
She worked with producer Jay White, who pushed her to really sing on the song “Can’t Trust You Now.” “When I play it for my friends, my family, they always ask, ‘Who is that on the chorus?’” she says.
The rapper calls another track on the record, “Blew It,” the “epitome of ‘pretty bitch music.’”
Saweetie calls the three-year trek to her album “exciting, frustrating, and a true roller-coaster journey,” she says. “You wanna get it close to perfect because nothing's ever really perfect in this world.”
For future paint and sip events, the rapper advises her fans to “come prepared for a good time,” she says. “It turned into a TikTok, picture-taking vibe afterwards. My fans became friends with each other.”
