Peppermint has been hustling hard since coming in second place on season 9 of RuPaul’s Drag Race last year. Not only has she been busy filming a documentary, preparing for her Broadway debut and touring the world, but today she’s announcing a new EP, titled Blend. The project, due March 9 (and available for preorder now), is a joint dance project with electro-hip hop artist Cazwell.
“We’ve practically been married to each other for years,” Peppermint told Billboard of her musical partner. “We’ve worked and performed together since 2000. We also started a successful hip-hop class party in NYC at the Ritz and he was featured in my first music video.”
Cazwell added that the two hadn’t had an opportunity to do a full project together: “We wanted to do an EP that pulled from our club influences of house, pop and rap.”
In anticipation for the EP, the pair have released a music video for its title track, “Blend,” which Cazwell describes as an anthem for the transgender community.
“We wanted all of the songs to be very trans-positive and tell a story of what it is like being a trans woman in 2018,” Cazwell said. The title track “was written from the state of mind of making a positive trans anthem. When you are a woman and especially a trans woman you are under a lot of pressure to blend in society so that no one calls you out for being trans. I wanted to write a song that proved the importance of not needing to blend into society to be happy with yourself.”
While a handful of her Drag Race sisters have come out as transgender after their appearance on the reality show, Peppermint was the first openly transgender contestant to compete.
Check out the video for “Blend” below.