Janelle Monáe’s Racy ‘Lipstick Lover’ Music Video Puts A Giant “No Boys Allowed” Sign on Hot Girl Summer

Janelle Monáe’s (who uses she/they pronouns) “Lipstick Lover” music video takes everything we know about Hot Girl Summer and turns it upside down, plastering a “No Boys Allowed!” sign on the front. That’s right. The video is an unashamed display of femininity and queerness, and represents the season as the sex-positive pool party orgy it should’ve always been. Monáe is saying that there’s never been a better time to be ridiculously sexy and naked and fun, and we don’t need to ask for permission. 

“Lipstick Lover” is the lead single from Monáe’s upcoming album, The Age of Pleasure, her follow-up to Dirty Computer and return to music after five years. The album is set to premiere June 9 from Monáe’s Wondaland Arts Society and Atlantic Records. She co-wrote the song alongside her music team and co-directed the music video with longtime collaborator Alan Ferguson, who has also worked with Beyoncé, Fall Out Boy and Lizzo. 

First, let’s dive into what the NSFW music video is about. The video opens with Monáe being awoken from slumber after a woman kisses her. Did she drown? Was she just napping? Who knows? The singer is then dragged to a pool party-slash orgy filled with women in various states of undress, an abundance of sex toys and fetishy activities involving food and feet. Through it all, Monáe and the crew appear to be having the time of their lives; and while their heavy nudity is blurred – for YouTube’s standards – little is left to the imagination as they leave lipstick marks on various parts of each other’s bodies and the camera pans away after repeated allusions to oral sex. 

As the video plays on, Monáe sings sweet nothings to their “lipstick lover,” saying things like, “leave a sticky hickey in a place I won’t forget” and “you talkin’ nasty and I like it.”

In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, she explained what a lipstick lover is, saying, “There have been so many instances where I’ve made out with somebody at a party and it’s dark. Nobody notices it. But when the lights come on, whoever I’ve made out with, lipstick all over their face. And then I’ve also been on the receiving end of a human, who’s so attractive. Or I’ll get home and I’m like, ‘Oh my God. I have lipstick all over my face.’ And I’ve also been the Lipstick Lover where you know exactly who I kissed.” 

But what could the video possibly mean? Well, regarding the themes of the music video, Monáe appears to be redefining Hot Girl Summer in a way that focuses on female and queer pleasure, over the heteronormative lens that social media platforms have always presented it as. When looking up the definition of Hot Girl Summer on Urban Dictionary, there are various explanations ranging from “being a hoe” and a “bad bitch” to “just having fun” (which is what Megan Thee Stallion, who coined the term, has always insisted). “Lipstick Lover” feels like Monáe is pointing a finger in our faces and telling us “stop it,” because the people in the video are happy, sexy and free in their own skin, and that’s all we need to live our best Hot Girl Summer lives.

Following the release of the video, some wondered: How did Monáe go from high necklines and boxy suits (à la Mr. Peanut) to being a naked and queer sex goddess? Easy. That’s who they’ve always been.

Monáe is an intelligent and intentional artist. Since the beginning, her music challenges social class dynamics and interpretations of race and sexuality. Their early works, Metropolis and The Electric Lady, transported listeners to a dystopian world and depicted a cyborg’s fight for liberation in a civilization that restricts love. Her songs and concepts are weird and meaningful, and designed to be taken as more than what meets the eye. Monáe has also released music videos that leave less for interpretation such as “Pynk” and “Make Me Feel” which feature obvious displays of feminine sexuality. In one, Monáe flirts with actor Tessa Thompson at a nightclub and in the other, they wears a pair of trousers that are designed to look like a pink vulva. 

That said, I like to think that we’ve developed enough as a society to accept that everybody can wear pants…? Monáe can wear pants, dresses, and also, nothing at all, and it’s all fine and dandy. The “Lipstick Lover” music video tells us this year’s summer is about pleasure, femininity and loving the female form – and most importantly, taking pride in who we are as individuals and together.

Also, Monáe, if you’re reading this: I’d like an invite to the next party, PLEASE!