Janelle Monáe is set to return with her first new album in five years (!).
On 11 May, the Grammy-nominated superstar and actor announced her fifth studio album, The Age of Pleasure, which will arrive 9 June.
The album will include the critically-acclaimed lead single Float, featuring Seun Kuti and Egypt 80, as well as the brand new track Lipstick Lover.
Monáe described Lipstick Lover as a “freeassmothafucka anthem inspired by f.a.m. for f.a.m”, adding: “This is our oasis made with love, rooted in self-acceptance, throbbing in self-discovery, and signed with cherry red kisses from me to you.”
The accompanying video, directed by the star and Alan Ferguson, sees Monáe celebrates the female form with a plethora of other women as they dance, smoke and embrace each other’s bodies. There’s some men in there too, but overall it’s a very queer affair.
The Age of Pleasure marks Monáe’s first studio album since 2018’s Dirty Computer. Lauded for their vocals and the production, as well as its queer and feminist themes, the album received two Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year.
Since its release, Monáe has received praise for roles in the biographical drama Harriet (2o19) and Netflix’s mystery comedy Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022), for which she earned a Critics’ Choice Movie Awards nomination.
They also replaced Julia Roberts as the lead in the second season of Prime Video’s thriller series Homecoming (2020).
Lipstick Lover is out now – watch the music video here or below.
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