Ari Lennox has kept fans waiting for some time since her 2019 debut album Shea Butter Baby. After months of teasing new music, showing off a whiteboard with hundreds of song titles, and officially announcing her follow-up album Age/Sex/Location for September 9, the Dreamville artist has shared an EP to tide fans over until album release day comes.
Off the internet until September 9 so here’s my away message to you all
. New EP to hold you over until the album, love ya
https://t.co/qDfMCjeAxN pic.twitter.com/6zj39RRfsJ
— Ari Lennox (@AriLennox) September 1, 2022
The 5-song EP Away Message is led by “Queen Space” featuring Summer Walker, which was released early on Wednesday. Later that evening, the 31-year-old announced she would be taking a hiatus from the Internet until September 9, and this EP was her “away message.” Walker, who Lennox previously collaborated with on her November 2021 album Still Over It (“Unloyal”), is the sole feature on the EP.
J Cole asked Ari Lennox what her new album means and this is what she said, pic.twitter.com/LhTgdbH7oJ
— New Branches (@new_branches) August 31, 2022
Other Away Message song titles include “Tatted,” “Gummy,” “No Settling,” and “Bitter.” Her labelmate and Dreamville co-founder J. Cole posted a lengthy screenshot from a text conversation early Wednesday in which Lennox described what this album meant to her. “Transitional space. Very vulnerable and codependent validation seeking part of my life,” the “New Apartment” artist said. “I remember the countless times I was kicked out of dating apps because they didn’t think I was really myself.”
Lennox never shies away from her feelings, so if Away Message is any indication, Age/Sex/Location might let listeners into her world in a deeper way than she ever has before.
Listen to Away Message here.
Age/Sex/Location is out 9/9 via Dreamville and Interscope. Pre-order it here.