Earlier this week, Janelle Monáe threatened to withhold her new single “Float” after a fan’s tweet comparing her to the Monopoly man (aka Mr. Monopoly) went viral. Fortunately for all of us, she was just joking around and showing off her sense of humor, and it looks like the release is proceeding as planned.
Monáe finally shared the release date for the single after first teasing it in early January. Since then, she’s shared an extended, NSFW teaser and captioned all of her social media posts with the song’s title, but only today did she finally share when it’s actually dropping, including a cheeky reference to her earlier threat.
“Y’all won,” she wrote. “FLOAT. 2/16.” She even included an emoji of a little person in a suit, a reference to her early career’s monochromatic menswear looks (which inspired the Mr. Monopoly joke). A video clip of the song sees Janelle rocking a cozy look with a checkered, fuzzy bucket hat singing into a home studio mic (I’m pretty sure I have the same one!).
Y’all won. FLOAT. 2/16.
pic.twitter.com/phavjbhPWf
— Janelle Monáe
(@JanelleMonae) February 8, 2023
“Float” figures to be the triple threat’s first new standalone work since 2018’s Dirty Computer. While she’s released non-album singles for soundtracks and the like over the past three years, including “Turntables,” “Stronger,” and “Say Her Name (Hell You Talmbout),” “Float” is the first new song that suggests a pivot back to music after spending the last few years building that impressive acting resume.