Adventurous R&B star Janelle Monae — whose highly anticipated Dirty Computer is set for release on April 27 — released a new single today (April 10) titled “Pynk.” The track premiered via Zane Lowe’s World Record Playlist, and features the Canadian underground star Grimes. The song is a slippery, upbeat R&B track oozing with influences from ’60s jazz and funk.
“Pynk” is relatively restrained compared to her last single “Make Me Feel,” which received the visual treatment in February alongside “Django Jane.” Monae, over driving guitars, explicitly sings about the color pink: “Pink like the tongue that goes down, maybe.” Grimes comes in halfway through, harmonizing beautifully with Monae.
The track comes after Monae’s moving Grammy speech in January, where she offered the empowering message, “We have the power to undo the culture that does not serve us well.” Monae’s Dirty Computer will be the artist’s first full-length release since 2013’s The Electric Lady.
Check out the new track below, along with its new choreography-heavy (and appropriately hued) video. “PYNK is a brash celebration of creation. self love. sexuality. and pussy power!” Monae proclaims in the visual’s YouTube description. “PYNK is the color that unites us all, for pink is the color found in the deepest and darkest nooks and crannies of humans everywhere…”