Amaarae will release new album Black Star on August 8th via Interscope Records. The LP, is her first new music since her 2023 LP Fountain Baby, “S.M.O.” arrives the day after Juneteenth, accompanied by a video where sculpted physiques and pride in Ghanaian heritage take center stage. Filmed in Ghana, the celebration of the beauty and power of the Black body.

Amaarae shares about the new single, “For as long as I’ve made music, fusion has been my strength and I think this comes to full fruition on S.M.O. The song takes inspiration from Ghanaian 80’s highlife trailblazer Ata Kak and blends it with a mean Detroit club bass, a drum roll akin to both Magic System’s “1er Gaou” & Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You” and an infectious zouk melody that sounds like a steel pan lipsing an evil synth. I feel like the new Donna Summer mixed with Control era Janet and the song pretty much speaks for itself. Like Pleasure Principle or Love To Love You Baby, I don’t know how much clearer one can get when they ask you to “SLUT ME OUT”. The message can’t be mistaken and the beat makes you move. That’s all I want to do this summer, make people dance & feel things!”

In April, Amaarae made history at Coachella where she debuted as the first Ghanaian artist to grace the Indio stage. Her headline-making set saw the iconoclast playing energetic songs from fellow Ghanaian artists and exciting fans with unreleased previews of new music from BLACK STAR, in between her shaving her head on stage as a representation of “the new kind of freedom” the incoming era represents. She followed suit this month at Governor’s Ball, rocking the stage while Ghanaian fans waved their flags high. This summer, she’ll appear at festivals around the globe this summer and fall, including Glastonbury, AfroNation, Lollapalooza, Osheaga, Lowlands, and more.

Amaarae 2025 Tour Dates

28 June – Glastonbury, Somerset, UK
10 July – Afro Nation, Portimao, Portugal
31 July – Thalia Hall, Chicago, IL
1 Aug – Lollapalooza, Chicago,IL
3 Aug – Osheaga Festival, Montreal QC
7 Aug – Way out West, Gothenburg
9 Aug – Maiden Voyage Festival, London, UK
10 Aug – Flow Festival, Helsinki, Finland
15 Aug – Lowlands Festival, Biddinghuizen, NL
16 Aug – Pukkelpop, Hasselt, Belgium
13-14 Sept – Best Day Ever, Troutdale, OR

Pre-order Black Star HERE