The Age of Pleasure is upon us. On June 9, Janelle Monáe will release her highly anticipated fourth studio album titillatingly titled The Age of Pleasure. It comes five years after her acclaimed 2018 LP, Dirty Computer, and sees the superstar singer and actor embracing sexual liberation.
With such a sex-positive project, Monáe had to make sure that the cover artwork matched the vibe. She revealed the image on her Instagram today (May 12). It features a nude Monáe swimming in a pool under the legs of three different people. In the background, another apparently naked person prepares to swim through the standing people’s legs. Check out the uncensored photo below.
Monáe also shared the family-friendly version of the album cover, which she dubbed “the clean virgin.”
In a tweet yesterday (May 11), Monáe shared her MO for the future: “Titties out for the next 15 years.” Check it out below.
The Kansas City native has been teasing the upcoming album release with singles “Float,” released in February, and “Lipstick Lover,” released yesterday. When reflecting on how the album came to be, she admitted that she had to create something from scratch.
“I have to learn things all over again,” she told Zane Lowe, as seen below. “It’s like starting on a blank canvas. So I hope that people feel that when they listen to the music.”
“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,” she continued. “Sometimes it really is just saying, ‘You know what? Let’s get back to the basics and also let’s honor the present.'”
The project also celebrates everyone in the African diaspora. “Float,” for example, featured Nigerian musician Seun Kuti and his band Egypt 80 once headed by his father, Fela Kuti. “I want it to be so specific to this Pan-African crowd who are my friends,” Monáe said honestly. “I want it to be a love letter to the diaspora. And if they f**k with it, it’s good.”