Vince Staples Releases New Single 'Smile'

(Radio.com) Vince Staples released his new EP Prima Donna Friday (August 26), but one day ahead of schedule he premiered the first single off that project, a track called "Smile."

The track takes from several different influences, mashing together rock, hip-hop and even a slight children's song feel to underscore the placating chorus, "Smile for me." Staples repeats that line over and over again on the chorus, suggesting that no matter what he goes through and what kind of violence he encounters in life, the world around him doesn't want to hear about that. They just want a facade.

"How ya feelin everybody? Hope you had a nice day/ Sometimes I feel all alone, sometimes I can't get away/ I feel my life is danger every night when I lay/ So can you do me a favor? Smile for me," he sings in the opening that takes a page out of rock's book before segueing into a harder hip-hop sound (via Pitchfork). Listen here.