After five long years, Janelle Monáe is finally set to release her fifth studio album The Age of Pleasure on June 9.
As of late, the Grammy-nominated star has been acting in movies like Antebellum, Harriet, and most recently Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (where she stole the show!). Now, her brand-new album is about to drop and will feature the critically-acclaimed lead single “Float (feat. Seun Kuti & Egypt 80),” as well as the new song called “Lipstick Lover.”
While creating the album, Monáe started previewing songs for people at parties so she could gauge their reaction and even showed “Lipstick Lover” at a Met Gala after-party.
“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.’ If the songs can’t work at the party, they’re not going on the album,” Monáe said on The Zane Lowe Show on Apple Music 1.
In a press release for the long-awaited follow-up to 2018’s Dirty Computer, Monáe described “Lipstick Lover” as “our freeassmothaf*cka anthem inspired by f.a.m. for f.a.m. 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 multi-talented queer artist’s last album received two Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year. Monáe was also celebrated for her vocals and production, as well as the album’s LGBTQ+ themes and feminist message.
While we have to wait a little bit longer before The Age of Pleasure drops, you can already hear the new single and watch the “Lipstick Lover” music video, directed by Monáe and Alan Ferguson.
There are a few men included, but it’s really all about the ladies. In it, sapphic delights abound as Monáe and a group of bikini-clad women kiss, dance together, and caress each other... and it feels like a true celebration of queerness.
We can’t wait to spend the summer dancing to this album!
When did Janelle Monáe release her first song?
Janelle Monáe started her music career in 2003 upon releasing a demo album titled The Audition. In 2007, Monáe publicly debuted with a conceptual EP titled Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase).
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
