Amaarae’s Fountain Baby follow-up is on the way. Black Star arrives August 8, via Interscope, and you can watch the video for Ghanaian highlife–inspired single “S.M.O.” below. The Ghanaian American singer shot the video in Ghana with director Omar Jones. Check out the new album’s cover artwork below, too.
In a press release, Amaarae said of the single:
For as long as I’ve made music, fusion has been my strength, and I think this comes to full fruition on “S.M.O.” The song takes inspiration from Ghanaian ’80s highlife trailblazer Ata Kak and blends it with a mean Detroit club bass, a drum roll akin to both Magic System’s “1er Gaou” and Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You,” and an infectious zouk melody that sounds like a steel pan lipsing an evil synth. I feel like the new Donna Summer mixed with Control-era Janet, and the song pretty much speaks for itself. Like “Pleasure Principle” or “Love to Love You Baby,” I don’t know how much clearer one can get when they ask you to “SLUT ME OUT.” The message can’t be mistaken, and the beat makes you move. That’s all I want to do this summer, make people dance and feel things!
After releasing Fountain Baby, in 2023, Amaarae put out an EP, Roses Are Red, Tears Are Blue — A Fountain Baby Extended Play. Read about Fountain Baby at No. 20 in Pitchfork’s rundown of “The 100 Best Albums of the 2020s So Far.”