Fresh Off Her ‘Glass Onion’ Success, Janelle Monae Returns To Music With The NSFW Teaser For ‘Float’

Despite getting rave reviews for her role in Glass Onion, Janelle Monae recently said she doesn’t consider herself a serious actor. That’s understandable, as the multi-hyphenate triple threat originally got her start as an inventive singer and songwriter, garnering warm receptions for high-concept projects like The ArchAndroid, The Electric Lady, and Dirty Computer.

Now, with the press run for Glass Onion behind her, Monae is apparently kicking off the rollout for her fourth studio album, teasing a new single apparently titled “Float” with a spicy video compilation of her recent post-birthday vacation. In the new video, collage-style cutouts of Monae and her friends appear over beautiful shots of the vacation venue. And like the photos posted from her birthday party, she’s topless in many of the shots, making the video pretty NSFW (depending on your workplace’s policies about gold pasties).

The song finds Monae feeling herself, boasting that where she once walked into rooms with her head down, “I don’t walk, now I float.” It’s another stylistic departure for her, incorporating triumphant brass like a mid-2000s trap anthem and some rumbling 808 backline that promises the single will be an exuberant, standing-on-the-couches-ass club banger.

Although the single hasn’t been given a release date just yet, it’s a promising sign that Monae is ready to enter a new, carefree era — and bring us all along with her.