Calling All My Lipstick Lovers: Janelle Monae’s Sexy New Song is a Black Queer Bop

 By Mary W

I have listened to Lipstick Lover by Janelle Monae over 100 times. Currently, I am wearing my favourite lips combo (black liner with red liquid Chanel). If you didn’t know, I am a massive lipstick lover (in all ways), so you can trust me when I say that Janelle Monae’s latest song is the sexy summer anthem for femme queers everywhere – especially Black femme queers. If you haven’t heard it yet and watched the music video, you really ought to change that.

Let’s take a walk down a song analysis lane that will leave you just a little hot and bothered (but probably a lot). Whether you’re black, brown, white or blue (hehe), but especially Black and Brown, you’ll love the hell out of this song. Let’s break down why.

From the first beat, your hips will move

This is THE dance anthem of the summer. The minute the song starts playing, you cannot help but start whining (if you don’t know what this is, here’s some reference) or moving your hips and body. The hypnotic island-esque beats take you on a journey to a breezy summer spot where there are no cares – just dancing and pure happiness.

Lipstick Lover is genderless joy

Monae is nonbinary themself and made sure to build an incredible summer song that taps into femme energy, but without gender attached. They do not use any gendered terms in the song, only calling out to their ‘lipstick lover’ and addressing this mystery lover as ‘baby’ over the baseline and beat. You’ll find femmes everywhere in the video, but gender nowhere.

The lyrics are EXPLICIT (they want you to KNOW what’s coming next)

Monae holds back NOTHING with this song. Some especially juicy lyrics: Hands around my waist so ya know what's coming next. I like lipstick on my neck; leave a sticky hickey in a place I won't forget. I just wanna feel a little tongue. They want you to know what is happening and they are clear about it. They want their lover and will communicate exactly what they want that lover to do to their body. Monae reminds us, while captivating us with the beat, that communication is sexy and it’s even sexier to talk about fantasies with our lovers.

THE MUSIC VIDEO IS EXPLICIT

For the ones who are visual learners, the music video fills in anything you may have missed in the lyrics. From fully nude shots to swaying hips along the poolside and a sexy af shower scene, Monae did what they had to do in making sure you know what this song is about – sex. sex. sex. We see Monae lick cherries, ice cream, and see them get licked by other femmes in the video. Makeout sessions. Sex toys (did you see those red cherry lips?). Tits. This video has everything to get you in the mood. There is no other option but to yearn for a lipstick lover yourself.

The song is short, which means POP IS BACK BABY

The song taps out at only 2:49 seconds of utter bliss. The lyrics are limited to a chorus and hook (I’m not a real song analyst, so bear with me on terminology), so you will find yourself singing along after only a few listens. Monae gives us pop music in a way we haven’t had in a while. You know how you can’t get that Idol song out of your head (I’m just a freak, yeaaah)? Well, you’ll be mentally singing ‘I like lipstick on my neck’ all summer long.

And the BEST part? The music video is all Brown and Black

This song is 100% a bop for everyone who loves lipstick and lipstick lovers, but we cannot ignore the cultural significance of Monae, a Black person, filling this video with Black and Brown people to the brim. They’re young, old, light, dark – and all incredibly sexy. In a world where people of colour’s sexiness has been used against us, Monae makes a firm statement in Lipstick Lover: we are sexy and beautiful on our own. Whiteness is not the standard of beauty and we do not need it to be sexy in our own skin. It’s a statement that touches me to my core (alongside a song that touches other places…) and makes me feel beautiful every time I hear it.

And with that, it’s getting a little hot in here, so I leave you with one last request. Now that you’re an expert on the latest and sexiest song of the summer, embrace the importance of Lipstick Lover and its powerful, sexy statement over and over and over again.