Who Is Featured On Janelle Monáe’s New Album ‘The Age Of Pleasure’?

Janelle Monáe’s The Age Of Pleasure is a mere hours away, led by singles “Float” featuring Seun Kuti And Egypt 80 and “Lipstick Lover” in all its NSFW glory.

On Wednesday, June 7, Monáe shared the full double disc tracklist and the album’s featured artists on Instagram and Twitter. Appearing on the album are Grace Jones, Doechii, CKay, Seun Kuti And Egypt 80, Sister Nancy, Amaarae, and actress Nia Long.

Their Instagram video showed behind-the-scenes footage from making the album alongside the caption, “#TheAgeOfPleasure TRACKLiSTING AND FEATURES! 2 more days to go [red heart emoji, flame emoji] This project wouldn’t be the same without each of you. I wish everyone could have been a spider on the speaker while we had the most fun making thingsssss. Legendary times were had.”

The Age Of Pleasure arrives at midnight, June 9. (It’s probably safe to assume a 6/9 release date was chosen purposefully.) Monáe announced their supporting North American The Age Of Pleasure Tour last week, which will begin on August 30 in Seattle, Washington and eventually conclude on October 28 at Inglewood, California’s YouTube Theater.

Check out the full The Age Of Pleasure tracklist below.

1. “Float” Feat. Seun Kuti And Egypt 80
2. “Champagne Shit”
3. “Black Sugar Beach”
4. “Phenomenal” Feat. Doechii
5. “Haute”
6. “Ooh La La” Feat. Grace Jones
7. “Lipstick Lover”
8. “The Rush” Feat. Amaarae and Nia Long
9. “The French 75” Feat. Sister Nancy
10. “Water Slide”
11. “Know Better” Feat. CKay
12. “Paid In Pleasure”
13. “Only Have Eyes 42”
14. “A Dry Red”

The Age Of Pleasure is out 6/9 via Wondaland Arts Society/Atlantic Records. Find more information here.

Janelle Monáe is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Janelle Monáe’s ‘The Age Of Pleasure’ Tracklist Has Features From Grace Jones, Nia Long, Doechii, And Others

We are now just days away from The Age Of Pleasure, the much-hyped new album from Janelle Monáe. That drops at midnight, and now, we finally know what the tracklist looks like. Monáe runs the show here, but along the way, she gets help via features from Grace Jones, Doechii, CKay, Seun Kuti And Egypt 80, Sister Nancy, Amaarae, and even actress Nia Long.

Monáe previously said of the album, “All the songs were written from such an honest space. Look, it never stops. Even with this album, this project. I’m just like, ‘You know what? It takes work.’ I have to learn things all over again. I have to practice. I have to… and thank God I love the songs. Yeah. So it’s always a fun thing to do to. It’s like starting on a blank canvas. So I hope that people feel that when they listen to the music, that they feel that when they come and 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. Sometimes it really is just saying, ‘You know what? Let’s get back to the basics and also let’s honor the present.’”

Check out the The Age Of Pleasure tracklist below.

1. “Float” Feat. Seun Kuti And Egypt 80
2. “Champagne Shit”
3. “Black Sugar Beach”
4. “Phenomenal” Feat. Doechii
5. “Haute”
6. “Ooh La La” Feat. Grace Jones
7. “Lipstick Lover”
8. “The Rush” Feat. Amaarae and Nia Long
9. “The French 75” Feat. Sister Nancy
10. “Water Slide”
11. “Know Better” Feat. CKay
12. “Paid In Pleasure”
13. “Only Have Eyes 42”
14. “A Dry Red”

The Age Of Pleasure is out 6/9 via Wondaland Arts Society/Atlantic Records. Find more information here.

Janelle Monáe is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Ckay Professes An Undying Love In His Sweet ‘Nwayi’ Video Ahead Of His ‘Sad Romance’ Deluxe

With Afro Nation set to take over Miami this weekend, rising Afrobeats star Ckay has released the video for his latest single “Nwayi” and announced the impending release of the deluxe edition of his Warner Music Africa debut, Sad Romance. Originally released in September 2022 to general acclaim, the Uproxx cover star‘s album featured appearances from Ayra Starr, Davido, Focalistic, Abidoza, Mayra Andrade, and Ronisia. Ckay executive produced himself.

In the video for “Nwayi,” Ckay expresses his infatuation for a beautiful woman, staging a carriage ride on a picturesque beach in Lagos. Their ride concludes in a secluded village, where a collective of artists creates works such as paintings and ceramic sculptures — although Ckay’s lady love proves to be less than adept at pottery. That’s okay, though; Ckay returns to comfort her despite her setback.

Prior to “Nwayi,” Ckay released the video for “Hallelujah,” a joyous single featuring Blaqbonez. With his appearance at Afrobeats and his upcoming deluxe album on the way later this month, Ckay’s star continues to rise.

Watch Ckay’s “Nwayi” video above.

Sad Romance (Deluxe) is due later this month via Warner Music Africa.

Ckay is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Here Are The Afro Nation Miami Set Times For 2023

Afrobeats’ footing in the United States is as strong as ever, as became apparent in January. Afro Nation will host its inaugural stateside festival at LoanDepot Park in Miami this weekend, May 27-28, with Burna Boy and Wizkid as its headliners. (The festival will hit Detroit in August.)

Afro Nation revealed the full schedule on Wednesday, May 24.

Burna Boy’s headlining set on Saturday, May 27, is scheduled from 10:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. on the Main Stage. He’ll be preceded by Asake (9:30-10 p.m.), also on the Main Stage, while Uncle Waffles is scheduled to perform on the Piano People Stage from 9-10:30 p.m. Other acts slated for Saturday include Mavado (8:30-9 p.m.), Dadju (7:45-8:15 p.m.), and CKay (7-7:30 p.m.).

On Sunday, May 28, Wizkid will take on the Main Stage from 10:30-11:30 p.m. after the likes of Rema (9:15-10 p.m.), Fireboy DML (8:15-8:45 p.m.), and Beenie Man (7:15-7:45 p.m.). The Piano People Stage will be occupied on Sunday by Major League Djz (9:30-10:30 p.m.), Kamo Mphela (9-9:30 p.m.), TXC (8-9 p.m.), DBN Gogo (7-8 p.m.), Kelvin Momo (6-7 p.m.), and DJ Walgee (5-6 p.m.).

See the full Afro Nation schedule and the site map below, and find more information about the festival here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

CKay Just ‘Wants To Make Love And Money’ In ‘Hallelujah,’ His Infectious Single With Blaqbonez

Ckay detailed the intense rise of his seminal track “Love Nwantiti” as Uproxx’s January 2022 cover star, and the Nigerian further explained his relatively new stature as a global artist for Uproxx’s How I Blew Up in August 2022.

Ckay ostensibly has the world at his fingertips, but his desires remain simple. Look no further than the first line of “Hallelujah” featuring Blaqbonez, his latest single: “I just wanna make love and money.”

Ckay released it alongside an official lyric video and another video that finds him completely unbothered in a bathtub full of cash:

“See me, I come from nothing / See me, I come from trenches,” Ckay sings in the first verse of “Hallelujah.” Later in the infectious Afrobeats song, he boasts, “I been hot for like 4 years, and they wonder if I’m done yet / People be like rice for my concert / Welcome, welcome the new converts.”

The arrival of “Hallelujah” was also marked with side-by-side photos juxtaposing the modest home Ckay had in 2014 and what his hard-earned wealth has afforded him in 2023:

As an Uproxx cover star, Ckay said, “I see music as art. I don’t really see it as a product. Art comes from where you are in your life and the timing of making the art. It comes from your essence and your experience as a human being.”

Listen to “Hallelujah” above.

CKay is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Ckay’s ‘How I Blew Up’ Story Takes Him From SoundCloud To International Stardom

Earlier this year, Uproxx featured rising Afrobeats star CKay as our January cover story subject, with Wongo Okon detailing CKay’s breakout with the 2019 single “Love Nwantiti.” Since then, “Love Nwantiti” has only increased in popularity, with a remix featuring Joeboy and Kuami Eugene accumulating nearly 300 million views on YouTube, an acoustic version racking up almost 200 million, and CKay’s Tonight Show debut exposing the song to millions more stateside.

Today, we’ve got CKay recalling his come-up in his own words to Uproxx’s Cherise Johnson in the latest episode of How I Blew Up. In his in-studio interview, he describes being an unsigned artist, uploading music to SoundCloud, becoming a trending topic on Twitter, how he adopted a persona as “Africa’s Boyfriend,” and the aftermath of his breakout single’s viral success.

“There were mixed emotions,” he admits. “It was like a mixture of people who were really gassed and people who were really pissed… To have my music having as much of an impact globally is an amazing feeling.” He also offers his thoughts on the importance of Billboard‘s new Afrobeats chart as the genre becomes a bigger international influence and says he was honored to be included in the discussion.

Watch the latest episode of How I Blew Up above.

Ckay Teaches Us ‘Pidgin English For Dummies’

One of the rising trends in pop music has been the explosion in the popularity of international music in America, especially Nigerian Afropop (also known by the confusing moniker “Afrobeats” or by Burna Boy‘s chosen appellative, “Afrofusion”). But as international music becomes more mainstream stateside, one barrier still remains in bridging the gap between America and the world — namely, the language barrier. Thanks to stars singing in their native languages of Spanish, Korean, and three or four Nigerian dialects, being a music fan is starting to mean becoming a polyglot.

Fortunately, Nigerian star Ckay is more than willing to help his growing US audience learn his favorite Igbo phrases. He recently stopped by the Uproxx Studios in LA to help give us a “Pidgin English for Dummies” lesson on TikTok with the help of Uproxx’s own Cherise Johnson. Check out the video below, where Ckay explains “nwantiti” — as in, his hit song “Love Nwantiti” — “mezebu,” and “wahala.” He even shows us how to use them in a sentence, mixing English and Igbo for some useful phrases that can help unlock the infectious grooves of Afropop with a little more context for those of us who didn’t grow up on jollof and moi moi.

Ckay is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.