Kenya Grace Returns With 'Mr. Cool'

Her first official release since 2024's The After Taste EP " which included her history-making and 5x ARIA Platinum breakout smash "Strangers" " "Mr. Cool" instantly drops the listener onto the dancefloor via warm bass, shuffling drums, and swelling synths. Against that upbeat backdrop, though, Kenya paints a vivid picture of a lothario type stuck in a soulless cycle: "I know what you think about / I know how you play around / Gone through every girl in town / But tell me, are you happy now?"

"This song is about hookup culture and specifically a guy who is a player," says Kenya about "Mr. Cool." "It's about how this kind of behavior is looked up to in society, but I think it must be lonely never making any substantial connection. It's an upbeat dance song representing the party lifestyle, but the lyrics speak about the darker side of this way of living."

After writing, producing, and performing her past works with zero input from anyone else, Kenya is now evolving " from a one-woman show working out of her bedroom, to the director of her sonic world. For "Mr. Cool," she writes and produces, but also brings in additional programming from Tony Berg (Boygenius, Taylor Swift), JOYRYDE (Owsla, HARD Recs), and EASYFUN (PC Music, Charli XCX). The end result is expansive, impactful, and unmistakably Kenya Grace.

The South African born, UK-based artist has recently been teasing other new songs on her social media accounts, performing one track from a mattress in the woods and another from the front seat of a car. From the response seen thus far, it's clear that anticipation has been building in the wake of Kenya's whirlwind 2024 in which she not only dropped her debut project, but also launched a headlining North American tour with stops at Coachella and Lollapalooza, plus made countless international festival appearances including a critically acclaimed Glastonbury set.

Of course, in 2023, "Strangers" hit like a hurricane. The wistful, intensely relatable drum 'n' bass cut logged three consecutive weeks at #1 on the UK Top Singles Chart and made history as the first track written, sung, and produced entirely by a woman to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. It's since amassed more than 1.3 billion streams. "Strangers" also notably garnered a "Song of the Year" nomination at the BRIT Awards, while Kenya was christened an "Artist to Watch" by Pandora, Shazam, Zane Lowe, EDM.com, and others.

After taking a moment to reset, Kenya Grace is now ready to begin unveiling her new and improved vision " her most emotionally grounded, sonically elevated, and highly personal music yet.