Janelle Monáe Announces New Album ‘The Age Of Pleasure’
Janelle Monáe has announced The Age of Pleasure, her first new album since 2018’s Dirty Computer. It’s due out 9 June via Wondaland Arts Society/Atlantic and can be pre-ordered here.
The album includes Float, Janelle’s February single with Seun Kuti + Egypt 80, and the new single, the reggae-tinged Lipstick Lover. Listen below.
According to a press statement, Lipstick Lover is inspired by: “Muhammed Ali talking shit in Zaire, 1974, Jane’s evolution, Mary Poppins’ umbrella, Aladdin’s magic carpet, Ja Morant’s flotation to the rim while dunking on his ops, Sara Elise’s ropes, excerpts from Paramahmsa Nithyananda’s talks on levitation, Raul’s toast on Dec 1, and Bruce Lee’s mighty philosophy on being ‘shapeless, formless,’ and becoming one with your surroundings, to be like water.”
All the songs were written from such an honest space,” Monáe said of her new record in an interview Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1. “So I hope that people feel that when they listen to the music, that they feel that when they come and, you know, counter with me when I’m around, I definitely have had an opportunity to evolve and grow and to tap into the things that bring me pleasure, the things that perhaps I should rethink and rework.”
“That song, Lipstick Lover, ugh,” she went on. “I’m like, ‘Why didn’t I write this song years ago?’ Because if you know me… Today, I don’t have on any red lipstick, but I’m always in red lipstick. And there have been so many instances where I’ve made out with somebody at a party and it’s dark. Nobody notices it. But when the lights come on, whoever I’ve made out with, lipstick all over their face. And then I’ve also been on the receiving end of a human… who’s so attractive…. Or I’ll get home and I’m like,'”Oh my God. I have lipstick all over my face.’ And I’ve also been the Lipstick Lover where…You know exactly who I kissed.”
JANELLE MONAE – THE AGE OF PLEASURE TRACKLIST
01 Float [ft. Seun Kuti and Egypt 80]
02 Champagne Shit
03 Black Sugar Beach
04 Phenomenal
05 Haute
06 Oh La La
07 Lipstick Lover
08 The Rush
09 The French 75
10 Water Slide
11 Know Better
12 Paid in Pleasure
13 Only Have Eyes 42
14 A Dry Red