Princess Nokia has no time for your conventional beauty standards. In her new video, “Sugar Honey Iced Tea,” the New York City rapper rolls up to a boring beauty pageant and turns it upside down with her own unique style and grace. Directed by Emma Westenberg, the video challenges the constraints of traditional femininity using Nokia’s signature feminist attitude, with styling from Marc Ivory and a guest appearance from fellow New York rapper Maliibu Miitch.
“Sugar Honey Iced Tea” is Nokia’s first new single since last year’s A Girl Cried Red and once again finds the scrappy rapper switching up her sound, this time from EDM-influenced emo rap to a more pop-inspired sound similar to Lizzo’s “Juice.” The stripped-down, horn-led beat fizzes and pops with finger snaps that contrast sharply with her earlier, harder-edged sounds from A Girl Cried Red and its predecessor, 1992 Deluxe.
Nokia’s lyrics showcase her feminist philosophy as well, making reference to her infamous New York subway soup-throwing incident and promising to “throw hands on racists, bigots, and scum.” While she makes it a point to decry beef among women, she says “if Colin Kap was a woman then I’d be dead on one knee.” With her new sound and bold stance, it looks like Nokia is ready to imitate her video in real life and shake up the world.
