Janelle Monaé is in her smoking hot era, so much so that it is dividing fans. On Thursday, May 11, the star announced her upcoming album, The Age of Pleasure with a brand new single “Lipstick Lover” and an accompanying visual that’s so risqué the internet can’t stop talking about it.
“As we enter into The Age Of Pleasure, ‘Lipstick Lover’ is our freeassmothafucka 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,” Monaé says via a press release about the purpose of “Lipstick Lover.”
“I like lipstick on my neck / It let me know I’m your number one select / I like lipstick on my neck / Hands around my waist so you know what’s comin’ next,” she sings in the chorus about how she loves to enjoy her guilty pleasure.
You might want to take a seat while I list the names involved in the writing of this song: Let’s see, there’s Janelle Monaé, Nate “Rocket” Wonder, Nana Kwabena, Sensei Bueno, Ewart E. Brown, Sly Dunbar, Clifton Dillon, Leroy Romans, Herbert Harris, Richard Foulks, Brian Gold, Handel Tucker, and Stevie Wonder.
The accompanying video for “Lipstick Lover” was praised for how it explored black feminine sexuality and how it literally put the pleasure in “pleasure.”
The age-restricted video sees Monaé plant a “red kiss” on a model’s butt towards the ending after showing some arousing scenes in between. Directed by Monaé and Alan Ferguson, the emotional picture depicts Monaé’s adoration for women’s bodies.
“That song, ‘Lipstick Lover,’ 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,” she told Apple Music One’s Zane Lowe. “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.”
“Lipstick Lover” is the second single off of Monaé’s June 9 album “Age of Pleasure” – marking her first album since 2018’s Grammy-nominated “Dirty Computer.”