For more than three decades, Slightly Stoopid have built a career on making music that feels tailor-made for long drives, endless summers, and sun-soaked afternoons. Now, the San Diego veterans are leaning into that tradition once again with “Backseat Drivin’,” an upcoming collaboration featuring Wiz Khalifa and G. Love & Special Sauce that promises to be one of the soundtrack-worthy songs of the season.
The track arrives as the latest preview of Slightly Stoopid’s long-awaited new album, a record that has been years in the making as the band balanced touring, family life, and an endless stream of creativity inside their own studio.
“We’re excited, man,” frontman Miles Doughty tells ThePier.org. “It’s got this song called ‘Backseat Drivin’.’ It’s going to be coming out. It’s a great little summertime track, a little summer anthem.”
That easygoing spirit made the collaboration feel like a natural fit.
For Doughty, bringing Wiz Khalifa into the Slightly Stoopid universe represented an opportunity to work with someone new while continuing the band’s tradition of blending genres without ever sounding forced.
“It was great to work with Wiz,” Doughty says. “We’d never worked with him before, so that was awesome.”
Meanwhile, reconnecting with G. Love felt less like a guest appearance and more like another chapter in a friendship that stretches back decades.
“G. Love, obviously, we’ve been friends over twenty years,” Doughty says. “Stoopid and G. Love have done so many things together.”
The result is exactly what longtime fans have come to expect from Slightly Stoopid: an effortless blend of laid-back grooves, melodic hooks, and collaborations that never feel manufactured. Instead of chasing trends, the band continues to invite artists who naturally fit into their musical world.
That chemistry was evident even before the track was finished.
Discussing Wiz Khalifa’s creative process, Doughty revealed that the rapper was building his verse live while streaming on Twitch, giving fans an unusual glimpse into how the collaboration came together.
“What was cool was he was on Twitch kind of building his verse,” Doughty says. “He was talking about just when a song has that kind of feel, it’s easy to write to. From the music to the hook and to the energy of the track, that’s what was cool.”
For Doughty, hearing that reaction from Wiz validated exactly what the band hoped to create.
“When you hear someone like that, who has that summertime energy always, say something like that, it’s cool.”
“Backseat Drivin'” also signals the beginning of a new era for Slightly Stoopid. While fans have waited patiently for the band’s next full-length album, Doughty says the delay hasn’t been due to a lack of music.
“We love making music,” he explains. “I think probably part of the problem is when you have your own studio, you’re always just making music and then you forget that you also have to release it.”
Now, with new music finally beginning to emerge, “Backseat Drivin'” serves as an ideal first impression. It captures everything that has made Slightly Stoopid one of the defining bands of the Cali Reggae movement: effortless musicianship, genuine collaborations, and songs that feel equally at home blasting through car speakers, beach bonfires, and festival stages.
If the band’s description is any indication, fans should prepare for exactly what summer calls for: windows down, volume up, and nowhere in particular to be.
Listen to “Backseat Drivin'” below:
Watch the full Slightly Stoopid interview below:
