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Wale Borrows From A Michael Jackson Classic For His New Single

His album <i>S.H.I.N.E.</i> is due this summer

Back in March, Wale teased what we should expect from his upcoming fifth solo album, S.H.I.N.E.

“Sonically, I always want to push myself as an artist and I think S.H.I.N.E. is a big example of me pushing myself and trying new things," he told Complex. "My fifth album is a reason to celebrate, and a lot of the music I’ve been making is very chill. I’m singing -- and I’m not singing to be the next Brian McKnight -- I’m singing to enhance my songwriting ability and to evolve as an artist.”

Today, we get our first taste of that new music, with "My PYT," his new single featuring Sam Sneak. As the title suggests, Wale borrows a few lyrics from Michael Jackson's 1982 hit "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)": "I want to love you / Pretty young thing," he sings on the chorus. Still, despite what he said earlier this year, there's not an inordinate amount of crooning for a Wale song -- singing like this is nothing new for him -- and there's still plenty of rapping.

“The day I wrote this record, I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Katherine Jackson, Michael Jackson’s mother, and it inspired me so much that it was pretty much all I could think about in the studio later that night,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “I wanted to pay homage to the legend that is Michael in some way, and the chorus popped into my head and just felt right with the music. It’s just one of those songs that’s been omnipresent in my life since I was a kid.”

Though there's no official date or announcement, Wale said on Twitter last week that S.H.I.N.E. will drop this summer.

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