This sequel to the fabulous and futuristic Dirty Computer album, which dates back more than five years, is dotted with refrains that we cannot forget. These same refrains breathe summer, joie de vivre and… sex. Janelle Monáe is completely uninhibited here, hammering from one song to another that she loves herself and that she wants to spread this love.

From the outset, with the piece Float, one of the two singles unveiled before the release of the album, Monáe asserts herself. She sings of having changed, no longer letting herself be walked on, being at peace. “I don’t walk, I don’t dance, I float,” she says on this track, one of the best on the record.

Throughout the disc, the multidisciplinary artist sings his own glory, on highly satisfying emancipatory anthems. Monáe celebrates her queer identity, her difference, her independence.

In an interview for Apple Music, Janelle Monáe revealed that she had her friends play her album at parties, with one rule in mind: if the song doesn’t work at a party, then it doesn’t end up on the album. Result: This disc gets you moving. From start to finish, it makes you want to dance. We go from rap to R

The Age of Pleasure is designed in an evolutionary way, letting the styles follow one another to move the party along to different rhythms over the 32 minutes of listening. In everything she offers on this record, the one who is also a superb actress demonstrates that she has boundless artistic intelligence. We can’t wait to see these songs live on stage. His visit to Montreal next September promises to be electrifying.