Next week, Ari Lennox will unveil her sophomore studio LP age/sex/location, which will contain 12 tracks and the previously released singles “Hoodie” and “Pressure.” Today (Sept. 1), the D.C. songstress decided to surprise everyone with an appetizer titled Away Message, a five-song EP that boasts the recent drop “Queen Space.” With assistance from R&B peer Summer Walker, the Elite, Dre Pinckney, and Ron Gilmore-produced “Queen Space” sees Lennox letting a potential lover know that her time is not to be trifled with:

“There’s one thing we should speak on, this royalty you’re seekin’, don’t have a problem even, uh, there’s something I am sure of, I deserve something purer, my love is a privilege, I guess you can’t take confrontation, well, I ain’t got time, it’s so good when everything going your way, but what about mine? So don’t waste my queen space, true elevation, when I let you taste, let it rearrange the way you think…”

Following the breakthrough EP Pho in 2016, Lennox liberated her official debut album Shea Butter Baby in 2019. That project consisted of 12 songs and a couple of contributions from fellow Dreamville stars J. Cole and JID. The critically acclaimed effort later spawned a remix EP, which took three Shea Butter Baby standouts and upgraded them with help from Doja Cat, Smino, and Durand Bernarr.

As previously reported by REVOLT, Cole shared a text message from Lennox that explained the meaning behind age/sex/location:

“I remember the countless times I was kicked out of dating apps because they didn’t think I was really myself [laughs], it reminded me of those age/sex/location days where I actually wasn’t being myself in those chat rooms [laughs]. I spent so much time seeing the god and good in some abusive people.”

Stream Ari Lennox’s Away Message below. age/sex/location makes landfall Sept. 9.