Erykah Badu confirms work on first album in 15 years, produced by The Alchemist

Erykah Badu has confirmed her first album in 15 years is underway. She also revealed that The Alchemist will be producing the project.

At the time of writing, no release date, title or specifics have been shared about the record. Once it lands, it will be the first long player from Badu since 2015’s mixtape, ‘But You Can’t Use My Phone’. Her last LP, ‘New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)’, landed in 2010. 

Badu has appeared in various films and television shows, and guested on music including Teyana Taylor’s self-titeld 2020 LP, the Jamie XX track, ‘F U’, and ‘3AM’, which recently won her and Rapsody Best Melodic Rap Performance at this year’s Grammy Awards. 

To date, Badu has released five studio albums, one live record and the aforementioned mixtape during a career spanning more than three decades. In a recent interview with Billboard, she claimed to have “toured eight months out of the year for the past 25 years”, revealing her preference for live concerts over studio work.

“That’s what I do. I am a performance artist,” she said. “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,” Badu explained. “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 I like the idea that it happens only once.”

In 2023, Badu performed across a 25-stop US tour with Yasiin Bey.