Erykah Badu Teases First New Album in 15 Years, the Alchemist Producing │ Exclaim!

Erykah Badu is working on a new album.

In a new profile for the annual Billboard Women in Music issue, Badu shared that she is prepping her first album in 15 years and “can’t wait for it to be done.” The record will be solely produced by the Alchemist.

A snippet of a new track, seemingly called “Valentine,” was uploaded to Instagram by HipHopDX last month. Badu and the Alchemist are seen in the studio, and the video even features a cameo from Earl Sweatshirt.

Badu recently appeared on the Jamie xx track “F.U.,” where she ad-libbed a set in Barcelona that became the basis of the track. 

Speaking about her love of live performance, Badu shared in the profile, “I tour eight months out of the year for the past 25 years. That’s what I do. I am a performance artist. I am not a recording artist. I come from the theatre. It’s the immediate reaction between you and the audience and the immediate feeling.” She continued, “The point where you become one living, breathing organism with people. That’s what I live for. It’s my therapy. And theirs, too. We’re in it together. And like the idea that it happens only once.”

Aside from 2015’s mixtape But You Caint Use My Phone, the artist’s last full-length record is 2010’s New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ank).

Listen to the teaser for “Valentine” below.