It’s been nearly two years since Saba last released a solo track, but that doesn’t mean the Chicago rapper hasn’t been busy. The low-key Windy City native was busy all 2019 helping to promote his Pivot Gang crew’s debut full-length album, You Can’t Sit With Us, as well as appearing on group member MFnMelo’s “What A Life” and generating buzz for the Ghetto Sage supergroup album featuring Smino and Noname with “Häagen Dazs.” He also shared a standout verse on Dreamville’s Revenge Of The Dreamers III cut “Sacrifices.”
Today, though, Saba began teasing the long-awaited follow-up to his critically-hailed 2018 album Care For Me with the video for “Mrs. Whoever.” After building up buzz with cryptic clues via social media for the past week, Saba shared the moody song with its simple music video that finds him roaming through an orchard, zoning out with his headphones and lamenting the ways public life has short-circuited his personal relationships. He also details the lesson in watchign a former flame switch her attitude once he’s acquired fame: Patience and persistence pay off in the long run.
Saba also shared a statement that may help explain why it’s taken him so long to step back into the spotlight. “For me, releasing music is me letting go and getting out of my own way,” he admitted. It’s me shutting down my own ideas of perfectionism, and me accepting my shit for what it is. I can keep holding on to shit and looking for the next best thing, which I think I’ve done my whole life, but I wanna combat that idea of something not being enough by just letting go and sharing my thoughts in real time.”
Watch the video for “Mrs. Whoever” above.