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It’s hard to think of many figures in the U.S. underground scene over the past two decades as eclectic as Mykki Blanco. Born forty years ago in California but raised in North Carolina, he went from his early days as a poet, rapper, and activist on the New York scene to bursting onto the scene as a disruptive global queer icon in just a few years, with rap albums heavily influenced by soul, funk, Eurodance, R&B, indie rock, and much more. An explosive, irreverent, yet elegantly over-the-top performer, he released his first defining LP—Mykki—ten years ago (following the trilogy of EPs Mykki Blanco & the Mutant Angels, Betty Rubble: The Initiation, and Spring/Summer 2014, with which he had begun to make a name for himself overseas as well). Over the years, he has collaborated and performed duets with Björk, Arca, Kanye West, Michael Stipe, Basement Jaxx, Arca, Teyana Taylor, Charli XCX, BloodOrange, Madonna, ANOHNI, and Kelsey Lu, among others.
“CAFE PARADISO” is his fourth LP released on 4 September 2026 via Transgressive in which Mykki fluidly shifts between different styles and scenes, bringing together fragments of dance music, art pop, underground club culture, and genre-bending experimentation in what he describes as a “three-act drama” or a “festival album.” For me—having followed him since his early days and his first performances in New York—it was inevitably an opportunity to look back with Mykki Blanco (who will kick off his European tour on Friday, October 9, with a one-night-only Italian show at the ROBOT Festival in Bologna) these first fifteen years of his artistic and musical journey, from the most exhilarating moments to the most delicate ones, from New York to the utopia of “CAFE PARADISO.”
Let’s start with the title. Why “Cafe Paradiso”?
I really enjoyed the idea of creating a third place, a place where… in Europe and in other places in the world, there’s still, you know, a very strong cafe culture. But in America, especially in the larger cities like New York or LA, it’s become very strenuous to just have these third spaces where you don’t have to pay for anything and you can kind of languish and listen to music and have a coffee and stay for, you know, five or six hours. And so growing up, I was very much someone who would spend a lot of time in these places. And as an adult, I still am. So I enjoyed the idea of creating this fictional space where the music, this album, because the music is very diverse and I play with different genre. But at the same time, I was enjoying the idea of feeling like it all could have come out of the same jukebox. So it was this idea that, you know…
Like an ideal, an utopian place…
Yeah, like you entered this cafe, you entered this space, and, you know, you would have your little drink and maybe you have a soup or a sandwich, but then all of these songs are selections out of the same jukebox.
I find Cafe Paradiso to be a very eclectic album in its consistency and coherence. You can hear elements of art-pop in songs like NYC Dogs or Foxes; it has some more energetic dance/funk moments (Butt Sex) and some more introspective like Tough Guy or God Is Alive; there’s contemporary R&B in songs like Easy Does It and much more. Among your influences, you’ve mentioned Saint Etienne, The Silver Apples, and Towa Te. How did you manage to bring it all together?
Those influences, I think, they are more kind of live— they kind of live in my brain and they’re not direct reference. And they’re not direct references that come out in the music, but that after the album is created, I can kind of say, or I can kind of trace, oh, you know, like this kind of, you know, gives me the energy of this artist, or this kind of gives me the feeling reminds me of, of this kind of music that I grew up on. And so, one of the— I mean, one of the first intentions that we ever made, FaltyDL, and I, one of the first intentions we ever made was I wanted to make a record that had a lot of live drums.
And I wanted to do that because I wanted to make a record that a lot of times artists will make an album- And then, I mean, I’ve done this too, and then when it’s time to perform it live, you have to figure out all of these things because maybe you’ve made a really electronic sounding album. But now it has to translate into being live and into being good live. And so I wanted to make a record where already in the studio we were intentionally thinking about what is this record gonna sound like sound like at a festival? What is this record gonna sound like outdoors? What is this record gonna sound like in a big venue? And so that was definitely one of the— I mean, one of the stronger intentions. I think that was probably stronger than any reference.
I guess you said, like, introducing your album, and I felt in the same way Like, Café Bar, this is a very New York album. Sounds like, uh, I don’t want to say an elogy or a tribute, but i feel this New York inspiration…maybe it’s only in your brain, like you said.
Well, I think also because it was, you know, it was recorded in New York a lot.
By the way, it’s always been difficult lately to define the sound of New York. I lived there around the same time you moved there. And the music scene—especially in Brooklyn—had a more distinct character. Every time I’ve gone back there lately,I find it harder and harder to pinpoint a common thread. On that note, what’s your relationship with New York City today, looking back? What do you like about it now? Is there anything you feel is truly authentic and makes you feel at home when you go back there?
When I was 16, I ran away from home and went to New York. I actually only stayed there for one summer, but that experience left an indelible impression on me. And, you know, I ended up moving there when I was 21. And I lived there from when I was 21 until I was about 27 or 28. So many things happened during those years that shaped and defined who I am. And, you know, it was… I mean, New York has always been a very tough place to live, but it really shaped my personality. I mean, it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. Some really traumatic things happened while I was living there.
I think there’s that phrase that’s like, you know, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. And I did. New York is where I started to make music for the first time in my life. And, you know, and then with my story, I mean, it’s very true. It’s like I was one of the lucky ones where within the first year of me making music, I started to receive notoriety from people about it. And my career took off very, very quickly compared to other people. You know, I didn’t have the situation where, you know, I was trying to make it as an artist for years doing different it’s like, no, like I really had that fast track. And I think that had a lot to do with being discovered in New York. So I have so many friends there, people that I literally will love and know for the rest of my life. But it’s definitely a city that I consider home, I feel comfortable there, but I don’t think it’s a place that creatively nourishes me anymore. But I think that, I mean, working with, I will always work with Faulty DL because our connection is so strong. 
Maybe it’s just a sign of the times, especially since I’m the same age as you—there’s certainly no shortage of places to have fun, especially for younger people.
Young people will always find their way But it’s been— but it’s become— I mean, it’s really become really— it’s, it’s finally become as expensive as everybody warned it was going to become like 30 years ago.
All the artists I talk to about this situation in New York say more or less the same thing. Maybe it’s just yet another transition toward something new. It’s probably just another cycle of renewal and gentrification, much like what happened in Manhattan fifty years ago and has been happening in Brooklyn since the start of the new century.
Yeah, I mean, the city’s really— the city’s really becoming like a, like a city for— well, it’s always been a city for finance — but it’s really becoming now a city for tech. So, um, it’s like, yeah, they’re, kind of ripping the soul out of it, but they’ve been doing that for the last thirty years.
So let’s talk instead about about your relations, your relationship with Italy? Because we know you released the EP Postcards from Italia. Um, do you see like this Italian cowboy era, as you call it, like a parallel path, like a detour, or there’s something, I don’t know, like in the future you following this kind of parallel?
I don’t know. Well, Postcards from Italia was, was really important because It was a very short release, but the time that we spent— basically, it was the period between after I finished doing “Broken Hearts and Beauty Sleep” and “Stay Close to Music”. And the music on “Stay Close to Music” was very— It was very beautiful. It was very meditative. It was very almost— it was very transcendental. And so it was like with “Postcards”. I wanted to become experimental again, but in a really fun way, in a way that was really kind of like wild and was really just saying, okay, you know what? We know what we’re doing. We know how to make— we know we know how to make good music. Let’s just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks and don’t, and like literally for the first time, just completely let loose, like really let loose, you know, and hopefully things don’t turn out badly. And when things turned out, really, really good, there were ideas there, there were, there were sounds, there were, so it was like this really important period of experimentation where I shed, I would say it was extremely important because I shed another layer.
I shed another layer of insecurity, of feeling like I couldn’t use my voice in a certain way, of, yeah, of just really like, really having a certain level of self-confidence to feel like I could finally make the music that I’ve always wanted to make. So that’s why that body of music is so important. And I think with Italy, as I’m getting older, it’s just so important for me to be in— like, I just don’t wanna, you know, it’s like, I couldn’t see myself living in Italy full-time, but I love spending the time there that I do. And countries like Italy, or now where I live (Morocco)…I kind really am drawn to the Mediterranean and kind of just the whole the whole region. Whether I’m in whether I’m in Morocco or in Greece or in Italy (I was back in Puglia, in the Salento region, a few weeks ago) or in parts of southern Morocco now. So like, yeah, I’m in Morocco right now, or I’m in parts of southern France, or it’s— but that I feel like that Mediterranean spirit like lives in me.
So you’ve moved to Morocco while you prepare for your European tour, which will kick off in Italy on Friday, October 10, at the ROBOT Festival in Bologna. How’s it going? What should we expect from the tour? Without giving too much away…
I’m working with a musical director and a drummer named Matti Dunietz. And so Matti and I are gonna be a 2-piece. And it’s gonna be like a lot of— I mean, it’s gonna be like a lot of live drums. It’s gonna be a very high-energy show, because, you know, it’s only, it’s only he and I on stage, so we really have to like bring the intensity.
I can think of very few artists who have collaborated with—and found favor with—artists so diverse in genre and generation. And on this new album, you’ve collaborated with artists who are less mainstream but I find excellent, such as Evanora Unlimited, Ian Isiah, and Simone Alysia. So, to wrap things up, I’d like to ask: What collaboration—not just musical—do you think has been the most crucial in helping you grow as Mykki Blanco?
I really can’t say one in particular, but I think that anytime— I would say this— I think that anytime there’s been kind of like a celebrity that really lifted me up, you know, in the early, early days, someone that really lifted me up and, you know, I went on— I opened for her for two concerts was Björk. But it’s like also one of the people in the super early days that lifted me up and had me do some shows with him was Diplo- I feel really lucky when I think about it because there’s been a lot of like— there actually has been a lot of celebrity artists that— I mean, yeah, I would say Diplo had me open for him, Björk in those early days, of course Kanye and Madonna, Michael Stipe. So, it’s like, there’s been— I mean, now there’s another one: Woodkid. At a time when I thought I was gonna quit music. So, it’s like, there’s been a lot of— there’s been a lot of artists that have really shown me a lot of love and support. And I guess I’m in a period of my life now where I can really look back on that and feel very grateful. So it’s interesting, you know. Cafe Paradiso is the first time— you know what I feel like? I feel like a new artist because the music— I feel like a new artist because the music on Cafe Paradiso is— I feel like it’s very cohesive, but I feel like it sounds nothing like any of my other music from when I was younger, like, you know. And so for people who are just discovering me now, I think that they would be very shocked to hear an album from me in 2012 or 2013.
For those listening to you for the first time—think of people who aren’t familiar with your first three EPs and your debut LP—how would you describe “CAFE PARADISO” in just a few sentences?
I think that Café Paradiso is a high-energy album that’s, that’s very playful, but, I think that there are moments of— I think that there are moments of introspection, but that— I think that the record overall, I feel like it’s really groovy. It’s trickled within this very like kind of like classic rock and roll vibe.