sassy black’s in the mood on “savvy intellectual bounce”

Valentine’s Day feels like it was an eternity ago. While we hole up in our homes, doing our best to flatten the curve, some of us are blessed to be in close quarters with family, pets, partners, or even friends/roommates. But then there are those of us who are solo dolo — single during the pandemic, fantasizing about love in the time of COVID-19.

Released on V-Day, SassyBlack’s I Be Bae project is about romance, companionship, sensuality, and sexuality. The song “Savvy Intellectual Bounce” is as honest as it is sultry — an unabashed statement of attraction and confession of feeling. “I only need it a few times a week/ maybe thrice in one night/ if we can keep our privacy we can get it on tonight,” coos the Seattle singer-songwriter-producer (formerly of THEESatisfaction) to her would-be lover. She is too proud to beg, so her pleas are dignified: “It’s not a sign of desperation, I just need to get off/ a complicated situation/ I just need to get off.” For her, sex isn’t a taboo and desire isn’t a source of Puritanical shame but a fact of life. Some of the lyrics in the song bear even more weight given the times we’re living in, as she goes beyond the purely sexual to express a greater need: “I don’t wanna die alone/ I need to go meet, ya, meet ya, meet ya, meet ya, right now.”