Broken Hearts and Beauty Sleep, the newest album by Mykki Blanco, deserves a spotlight to be shining directly on it. Undercutting vocal traditions and mixing pop, rap and R&B styles, it’s only the artist’s (they/their) second LP (a” mini-album” at that) and first since their self-titled debut nearly five years ago.

These nine songs clock in under 30 minutes in all, but the brief runtime is packed full of collaborations and relevant lyrics to keep your attention. Rapping and distorted production helps Mykki Blanco blend elements of pop and rap, pure elegance and garish flamboyance, with stories about a long relationship that came to an end a few years ago, though the feelings are clearly still burning. Everything mixes to make Broken Hearts and Beauty Sleep a record that feels undeniably free from tradition and is outright self-empowering.

“Free Ride” finds Mykki Blanco wishing for a love that’s more than someone catcalling at them or a last-minute hook-up. Over a snappy pop beat, chanting and almost dream-like “ooh’s” and “ahh’s,” they come in rapping about the misperceptions of those beyond the gender binary. “It take a real kingpin to try and cuff the queen/ It take a real bad chick to try and thug with me/ Why it always a bum that’s in love with me,” they sing. The music video features Mykki Blanco baptizing their child and dancing around a barbecue, emphasizing how authentic love and acceptance are more important than following traditions or looking a certain way.

There’s a collaboration with Blood Orange on “It’s Not My Choice.” Dev Hynes’ vocal assistance and production chops make it one of the best on the album. Opening with vocalizing and pianos, Blood Orange comes in hushed over the mid-tempo beat. It’s blended with Mykki Blanco’s rapping, and jazzy brass, making it feel both retro yet entirely modern.

“F*ck Your Choices” is just under 90 seconds and features fast rapping about a breakup over tinny beats as they call out their ex, who did everything from taking their SIM card to using up their soy milk when they had friends over for smoothies. It’s one of the album’s campier tracks and ends with “that’s some bullshhhhhh,” leading directly into the single “Love Me.” The latter is a much mellower song, featuring Chicagoan singer Jamila Woods and Jay Cue, Mykki Blanco’s brother. With a slower, R&B-influenced beat, it features distorted vocals and forgets any traditional structure with verses situated next to one another and a repeating chorus during most of the second half the track. “Baby, what you do to me/ I just can’t describe,” they sing.

On “Patriarchy Ain’t the End of Me,” Mykki Blanco wonders, “What’s a girl gotta do to get some cash” before realizing that patriarchy is indeed irrelevant, and calls for those before them to bend the knee. And on “Summer Fling,” a snappy no-nonsense collaboration with Kari Faux. Faux and Mykki Blanco penned the track together, one of only two tracks not written by Mykki Blanco along, and the duo’s vocals work well together. “Summer Fling” references the ever-iconic, “Respect” by Aretha Franklin, whose lyrics can be inserted into any political discussion situations; and questions whether J. Cole should really be considered a rap savior. “It’s the summertime, the block is hot/ You can’t cuff me ‘cause I don’t fuck with no cops,” Faux sings nonchalantly throughout the chorus.

“That’s Folks” concludes the album with a frank look at how people will try and cut you down when they’re feeling bad or build you up when it’s good for them. Written and performed with New Orleans rapper Big Freedia, the song doesn’t feel self-pitying, and more like the two are simply shrugging haters off. Mykki Blanco knows they’re here to make music and entertain, and there’s no use in waiting around for others to accept or love their way of doing it.

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