Janelle Monáe is back in the studio and all set to release her first full-length album in five years. Her new LP, The Age of Pleasure will be a follow-up to her 2018 Dirty Computer effort and is scheduled to be released June 9 through Wondaland Arts Society/Atlantic Records.
To tease the new album, the 37-year-old Kansas City native has dropped Lipstick Lover, an ode to women’s sensuality and sexuality. In the video attached to the song, which was released on Thursday, Monáe is seen kissing another woman at a backyard pool party with dozens of other scantily-clad women who appear to be having fun while caressing each other. In one scene, the singer presses her face to a model’s behind while stroking one ass cheek with her hand.
Co-directed by Monáe andrenowned directorAlan Ferguson, the video sets the stage for what’s to come in the album, which she describes as a journey to “self discovery.”
“As we enter into The Age Of Pleasure, Lipstick Lover is our freeassmothafucka anthem inspired by f.a.m. for f.a.m.,” Monáe wrote in a press release promoting the album. “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.”
Lipstick Lover trails the album’s first single Float, featuring Seun Kuti and Egypt 80. The single was previewed at this year’s Met Gala, where it was widely accepted by the event’s attendees, sources have reported.
In a recent interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, the Q.U.E.E.N. entertainer spoke about the inspiration behind the new record and how she thinks fans will react to her more provocative image.
“What I would do is if I knew we were having a party on that Friday or Saturday, on Monday and Tuesday, I’d be like, ‘All right. We’re going to write three songs,’” she said. “If the songs can’t work at the party, they’re not going on the album,” she said on the radio show. “I was walking around. I was so scared. I almost went to the bathroom one time. But ‘Float,’ we did that. ‘Lipstick Lover,’ we did like that. I have a song called ‘Champagne Machine’ that’s on there… basically every song that you’ll hear on the project, that’s how I did it. I want it to be so specific to this Pan-African crowd who are my friends. I want it to be a love letter to the diaspora. And if they f*ck with it, it’s good. I’m great.”
