After seven lengthy years, three kids, one historic Grammy win, and numerous headlines, Cardi B is formally stepping again into the highlight. The Bronx-born rapper has introduced her long-awaited sophomore album, Am I the Drama?, set to launch on September 19 by way of Atlantic Information.
The follow-up to her 2018 blockbuster debut Invasion of Privateness—which went quadruple platinum and made her the primary solo feminine rapper to win the Grammy for Greatest Rap Album—has been eagerly anticipated for years. Cardi B has regularly teased the brand new challenge, hinting at delays, near-completions, and shifting timelines. However this time, it’s official: the album cowl, launch date, and preorder hyperlink are all stay.
Cardi B revealed the album with a theatrical teaser video posted to her social media on June 23. Within the brief clip, she seems in a flowing black robe, surrounded by swirling (pretend) ravens, as she delivers a robust voiceover asserting the arrival of her subsequent period. The monologue, delivered with attribute depth, units the tone for transformation and retribution, and hints on the themes that may seemingly form the upcoming file:
“Seven years and the time has come. Seven years of affection, life and loss. Seven years I gave them grace, however now, I give them hell. I realized energy isn’t given, it’s taken. I’m shedding feathers and no extra tears. I’m not again, I’m past. I’m not your villain, I’m your tyrant. The time is right here. The time is now.”
Whereas the teaser laid the groundwork, the duvet artwork confirmed the imaginative and prescient with putting readability. The official album paintings options Cardi B draped in a putting blood-red bodysuit and towering platform heels, with a raven perched on her foot as extra swirl above. The recurring motifs of black feathers and crows anchor the album’s visible id, evoking themes of vengeance, reinvention, uncooked energy and ascension. Collectively, the visuals counsel an artist not merely returning — however re-emerging, unapologetic and elevated, stepping right into a darker, extra commanding chapter of her profession.
Am I the Drama? will function 23 tracks, together with fan favorites like “Up,” the viral smash “WAP” that includes Megan Thee Stallion, and her latest single “Exterior,” which Cardi premiered on the Cannes Lions Pageant final week. The fiery monitor, produced by Charlie Warmth and DJ SwanQo, has already sparked headlines for its sharp lyrics referencing her ex-husband Offset and name-dropping her present associate, NFL huge receiver Stefon Diggs.
Whereas Cardi B has remained musically energetic lately, collaborating with artists like Lizzo, Bruno Mars, Rosalía, and Kanye West—followers have lengthy awaited a full-length follow-up as hype round a second album started as early as 2020’s “WAP,” however a full challenge by no means materialized—till now.
In a 2024 Rolling Stone cowl story, Cardi B revealed she was aiming for a launch that 12 months, nonetheless finalizing the intro, a number of extra songs, and the rollout technique. “I’m a special individual each single day,” she admitted on the time. “I need to make membership information, pop information, songs to cry to, songs to yell to.” That emotional spectrum—formed by motherhood, heartbreak, fame, and the stress of surpassing her profitable debut file, clearly informs her new physique of labor.
Now 32, Cardi B enters this subsequent period not simply as a chart-topping artist, however as a mom of three, a cultural lightning rod, and a girl who, by her personal declaration, is finished taking part in good. As she concludes in her teaser: “I’m not your villain, I’m your karma. I’m not again—I’m past.”
Am I the Drama? is now accessible for preorder and formally drops on September 19. If Cardi’s message is any indication, this isn’t only a comeback—it’s a reckoning.
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