Following well-received singles like “Butterflies Pt. 2,” “Pack Lite,” “Lie To Me,” and “Love Language,” Queen Naija liberates her debut studio LP missunderstood, which sees 18 tracks and assists from Jacquees, Toosii, Mulatto, Pretty Vee, Russ, Lucky Daye, Kiana Ledé, and more. In an interview with Apple Music, Naija explained the meaning behind the album’s title:

“I feel like I’m a misunderstood person overall; people misinterpret the things I say … It’s the debut, and I just basically wanted to peel off more layers to who I am. I wanted people to get to know me more, get to like my sound … I really just wanted to mark my place here in the R&B world.”

One particular standout from missunderstood is the Lil Durk-assisted “Lie To Me,” which shows the two midwesterners speaking to the standards they’re looking for in their respective relationships:

“Love me good and lie to me, don’t want broken promises, don’t want apologies, I don’t wanna be the one complainin’, long as you don’t see nobody that I hang with…/”

missunderstood follows Queen Naija’s 2018 self-titled EP, which boasted the viral singles “Medicine” and “Karma.” More recently, the Detroit songstress has also contributed to tracks like Tee Grizzley’s “Mr. Officer” and Ne-Yo’s “U 2 Luv (Remix).”

Prior to the music, she was a contestant on “American Idol” before earning her initial fame through YouTube as one-half of “Chris and Queen” alongside her then-husband Chris Sails. Unfortunately, the relationship soured due to reported infidelity, and the two have since moved on, creating new families with new significant others. Just prior to the release of missunderstood, Chris Sails decided to take to social media to reveal that he had a musical response to Queen Naija’s album cut “Bitter”:

Fans can press play on Queen Naija’s missunderstood below.