A Behind the Scenes Look at PNK KanD’s Latest Release, “POWER PLAY”

Believe it or not, I’ve actually been working on “POWER PLAY” for 10 years.

Yup, you read that right. 10 YEARS.

Sometimes, it just be like that.

The backbone for “POWER PLAY” is actually something I wrote BEFORE PNK KanD existed. …Back when I thought I wanted to “be” a rapper, instead of just cosplay as one.

Needless to say, I’m super excited that this song is finally out in the world. I never imagined I would use it for the PNK KanD Project.

So, in order to commemorate this momentous occasion, I decided I wanted to do a deep dive into the creation of this song.

“POWER PLAY” is a conscious-ego rap that was originally titled “Sex Goddess.” In fact, I was still going back and forth on the title up until I hit “release,” which brings me to my first behind the scenes topic.

Why this song is titled “POWER PLAY,” and not “Sex Goddess”

The first iteration of this song was a lot more explicit. Something more in the lane of Doja Cat or Nicki Minaj.

But then, a couple years ago, one of my most trusted advisors came to me and pointed out that my lyrics were starting to stray from the original “sweetheart” motto that I’d started out with.

It was a hard pill to swallow. But I’m glad she came at me with the truth. It made me completely rethink my lyrics, and PNK KanD’s trajectory throughout the series.

With the help of two of my most trusted advisors, Alysha Rae Webster and Jaye Mack, I rewrote the lyrics for this song. While the original song was about how everyone wants KanD, the new version that is out now is about KanD owning her power and thinking of herself as sexy.

So, the song is called “POWER PLAY” because it is about “playing with” and acknowledging your own power. And I love what this has evolved into.

What Lyrics Stayed?

In rewriting this song, I ended up cutting about half of the original lyrics because they didn’t fit anymore.

So, what stayed?

Well, most of the first verse is actually og.

“Sex goddess, body most flawless, such a beast when you leave you’ll be in awe of this, enlightened beauty wearin’ sweats like it’s full nudity, now turn around and clap that big blessed booty, I’m like a pirate I bury my treasures under my clothes, so I can walk around all stupid sexy but then nobody knows, and I rarely wear any jewelry because my body’s platinum, silver, and gold…”

It was the second and third verse that I needed help with.

Though, the second verse does contain a few of the original lyrics as well.

“That’s stupid sexy, as in you’ losing IQ points standing next to me, got smarts so out of this world, you can’t even begin to understand the complexity…”

It was Alysha who brilliantly suggested the concept of “Big Goddess Energy,” as a play on the masculine version, “Big D*** Energy,” and let me just say, “BGE” has not made its last appearance in PNK KanD’s lyrics.

Verse two also ends with lines from the original version of the song.

“Because it only takes a pair of eyes to see that my body’s a pair of dice, call me a Mother Fuckin pair of dice, why? Cuz I’m on a roll, yes I’m on a roll, yeah I’m on a roll, and my whole body made honor role!”

What Lyrics are New?

Lol, that title is kind of a weird one because the answer is: the rest of them.

The rest of the lyrics were written in 2023 when team and I were working on this project. (Except for one of the last lines in the last verse, that one I tweaked right before recording it.

But, here are the lyrics that my team contributed:

*Jaye essentially came up with the chorus, pitching the idea of being a “delectable, tasty morsel”

*Alysha gave me a list of terms to use for a woman’s goodies, which is where the line “pearls, rubies, sapphires, diamonds, just waiting for the best,” came from.

*The line, “there can only be one in the garden worshipping all these petals,” was perfected right before recording, but the main concept of the garden and referring to a lady’s “flower” was also contributed by Alysha.

*The main theme of the “power play” was contributed by Alysha as well.

Recording Flubs

Believe it or not, there are some slip ups in this song.

There weren’t supposed to be.

But, the other takes of the song that I’d recorded turned out to be unusable. So, what was supposed to be a well cut together piece ended up as a “demo-style” track.

It’s a one take.

And because of that, there are two parts in particular that make me cringe Every-time I listen to it, but didn’t prevent me from using the take (for some reason.)

The first chorus is backwards.

I say “so incredible, you can call me a tasty morsel,” instead of “delectable,” but that wasn’t really a slip up worth re-recording the entire track over.

At the end, however, I kind of trip over my words where the line is, “if you want your sword in this stone need that GENTLENESS…” it sounds like “dental nest,” or something.

It’s lightly embarrassing, but, it stayed because in “On the Rise,” there’s a similar slip up, where I tried to say, “bring it back one time,” and I kind of said, “bring it WHACK…” … and we didn’t re-record that track, so f*** it. (Lol)

But it’s still like a typo that got passed editing, and I’d be silly to try and deny that they’re in there.

Plus, I’m still really proud of this track.

It’s amazing and worth listening to. (And I really hope you enjoy it as much as I do.)

E.