Pink Sweat$ Is R&B’s Best-Kept Secret

Mya Abraham
·7 min read
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Philadelphia has bred some of R&B’s most prestigious acts. Musiq Soulchild, Jazmine Sullivan, Patti LaBelle, Teddy Pendergrass, Boyz II Men, Jill Scott, and more all hail from the City of Brotherly Love. While these talents and others have birthed their own subgenres and brought countless wins back home, it’s 30-year-old crooner Pink Sweat$ who is picking up the torch.

Pink Sweat$ released his first EP, Volume 1, in November 2018 and has gained prominence ever since with the help of singles, “Honesty,” “17,” and “At My Worst,” which have amassed nearly one billion streams alone. Most recently, he co-wrote and produced three records, “LOVE,” HOME,” and “MEMORIES,” on John Legend’s newest album, Legend. Though the singer channels a certain level of vulnerability and sings of love with the mystique of ‘70s and ‘80s classics, you wouldn’t guess that he wasn’t able to listen to secular music growing up in a strict, religious household.

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“I’ve never told this story before, but if I had on headphones and my dad could hear that it was something that he didn’t like, he’d be like, ‘Yo, your music is too loud. I shouldn’t be able to hear that secular music you’re listening to,’” he explained backstage at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, Calif., ahead of his opening set during Alicia Keys’ tour.

Despite him being a somewhat rebellious child who wasn’t keen on following the rules, he still had solid morals and a good heart. He carried that foundation with him, so he remains conscious and intentional when it comes to his music, leading to no regrets about not being the artist his parents thought he’d be.

Sweat$ and I quickly bonded over trying to make sense of his “quiet storm” stardom, his status as a certified lover boy, and our shared love for Musiq Soulchild.

Luckily, I’m in my own lane. There’s no competition with what I do when it comes to this specific moment in time.

Pink sweat$

VIBE: What has it been like touring with Alicia?

Pink Sweat$: Fun, man. She’s just super dope and always shows me love. The other day she came out, and she’s like, “Yo, you’re really dope. You really went out there, and it was just you and your guitarist, and you’re bodying it.” She’s a very positive and uplifting, kindred soul. I feel like we’re on that same kind of energy.

Who else would you like to work with in the R&B space?

Everybody. Nobody wants to work with me.

See, no. That’s crazy, and I find that baffling. I specifically chose this tour date because you were on it.

I don’t know. I feel like nobody wants to work with me, probably because I’m not toxic and I’m like a silent giant, I guess. That’s my new phrase that I picked up.

Like a quiet storm.

Yeah, because when you look at all the things on social media, I’m not really loud there. But then when you go to my music, you’re like, “Oh shoot. What? He’s got all these fans, and these songs are big?” For me, I focus only on music, really. Maybe my peers are just like, yo, that’s not what they want to do because my brand is very uplifting and positive. It’s like R&B in this current state is more—either sexual or [many are] trying to be like a rapper. Nobody has really stepped into what I’m doing yet [and] I feel like in the years to come when it comes back around … At least the feeling I’ll have is like, yo, I was a part of the shift of bringing love songs back.

When did you fall in love with R&B?

When I fell in love with R&B … No one has ever asked me that before, [but] probably Boyz II Men’s “I’ll Make Love To You.” I was definitely 10 or 11, and to me, it was a church song for a long time because my parents let me listen to it. It didn’t register to me that it wasn’t.  My dad would never listen to any kind of R&B or nothing, but for some reason, he liked Boyz II Men, and that just kind of passed down to me. As I started learning about songs and songwriting, I started studying Babyface [and] my brain would just go towards that sound.

Where do you fall in line when it comes to the men of R&B right now?

Luckily, I’m in my own lane. There’s no competition with what I do when it comes to this specific moment in time. I didn’t create love songs, but right now, I feel like there’s nobody doing what I’m doing, and nobody even trying. As far as I can see, at least. I’m getting to create this space for the next person who wants to jump in, and they don’t have to mimic me. They can be them because my imprint is what R&B is to me. It’s like, nobody really sounds like themselves, if that makes any sense. You’ve got people like Lucky Daye, who, I think, does a nice blend of old and new. So, you do have people doing it. But when I say brand-wise, positivity is just something you can’t lose with. And I feel like R&B, you don’t see a lot of people doing brand deals. I do a lot of brand deals, international and at home, too. Like, how do I get the maximum exposure on every front?

So, you’re giving “certified lover boy without the toxicity” and now that you’re a newlywed, how would that impact your next project?

Honestly, I don’t fully know. I feel like I’m always trying to push myself and push the genre overall, because, a lot of times, it’s either one thing or the other. So I’m in the process of trying to formulate moments. Each song, I want to be a moment in time, where it’s like a time capsule of what I’m feeling and what I’m dealing with at that exact moment. And if it ends up being like a “Lay Up N Chill” and then a country Western song, and then a love song … I haven’t fully figured it out yet, but I’m experimenting for sure.

I like that you don’t put yourself in one particular box per se.

Yeah, because everything is R&B to a degree, you know what I’m saying? The roots of R&B is blues, and a lot of stuff borrows from that. So, even if I did a country song, to me that’s still R&B. Because that’s all rooted in the same thing.

Tell us the story behind your new single, “Lay Up N Chill.”

So, my girl is in the room. My wife. [blushes] That song really came about having an actual good time. We’re chilling, we start sipping and realizing when the vibes get high, and it’s just like, “All right, I want to lay up and chill with you.” Anybody in a relationship or if you’re dating in general, sometimes you meet a person, and they have their character on, like we all do. And once you start sipping, the characters start going away, and all of a sudden, they’re saying things they wasn’t saying before, doing things.

The real you comes out when you’re drunk.

You’re like, “Okay, there you go.”  You know, I would love to do Love [by Musiq Soulchild] over.

Like a cover?

That’d be fire. I feel like people forget about Musiq. It’s so many people that don’t even know who he is, the new generation.

I don’t understand it.

That “Love” song is crazy to me. The lyrics, the melody. It’s like conversation, but it also feels like a tutorial lowkey, too.

A lot of his songs are guides on how to love, and “Teach Me” is another one.

(Sings) Oh my God.

You all should do that. Make just a Musiq/Pink Sweat$ EP. That’d be great.

That’d be crazy. If I did “Love” over with guitar … (sings) And if that was a hit again? That’d be crazy.

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