Back in the end of April, the dance music scene in the UK was blessed with “Body Pump”, the breakout solo single by the lady of electronic duo AlunaGeorge, Aluna Francis. The song is Francis’s initial introduction to her initial body of work after the duo has decided to take hiatus.

After dropping second cut “Warrior”, the singer has now unveiled that the promised solo record is called ‘Renaissance’ with a new song to build up more excitement, “Get Paid”.

According to Pitchfork, “Get Paid” is “an aspirational celebration about Black women and women of colour getting paid, in opposition of the reality that we are consistently undervalued for our work.”

Francis also added, “On the other hand, this is a song about believing we deserve to get paid because as society keeps telling us we are worthless, we internalize that notion, which is almost more damaging because it stops us from advocating for ourselves.”

And like she said, the track is filled with celebratory lyrics of black womanhood like “One more round for the ladies / Then we gon’ get loud, little crazy / ‘Cause we run this town, self made it.” When you think “Get Paid” could not get better, fierce lines from Princess Nokia and Jada Kingdom add the fun and zest to it even more.

In addition to the new song, the 30-year-old also revealed the release date, which is on August 28, and a 14-song tracklist that features musical cameos with the likes of SG Lewis, KAYTRANADA, and Rema. Accompanying the LP announcement, she wrote a note about ‘Renaissance’ on an Instagram post:

“I wrote this album as a fix for any type of dancing deficiencies you may have in your life – if you haven’t been twerking enough lately – I GOT you, if you haven’t been dutty winin’ on the bathroom floor or raving in your hallway I GOT you, if you haven’t been slinky slinking in front of the mirror or nodding your head like it’s heavy I GOOOT you, if you haven’t hit the gwara gwara in the kitchen or….ok you get it…I GOT you.”

ดูโพสต์นี้บน Instagram

I wrote this album as a fix for any type of dancing deficiencies you may have in your life – if you haven’t been twerking enough lately – I GOT you, if you haven’t been dutty winin’ on the bathroom floor or raving in your hallway I GOT you, if you haven’t been slinky slinking in front of the mirror or nodding your head like it’s heavy I GOOOT you, if you haven’t hit the gwara gwara in the kitchen or….ok you get it…I GOT you. ‘RENAISSANCE’ out August 28 LINK IN BIO TO PRE-SAVE THE ALBUM

โพสต์ที่แชร์โดย Aluna (@alunaaa) เมื่อ ก.ค. 15, 2020 เวลา 2:01pm PDT

‘Renaissance’ is available for pre-order now, and it also offers a physical version as a gold double vinyl, which can be pre-ordered on Mad Decent’s official site here.

‘Renaissance’ tracklist
1. “I’ve Been Starting to Love All The Things I Hate”
2.“Warrior” (feat. SG Lewis)
3. “Sneak”
4. “Envious”
5. “Don’t Hit My Line”
6. “Get Paid” (with Princes Nokia & Jada Kingdom)
7. “The Recipe” (with KAYTRANADA) [feat. Rema]
8. “Body Pump”
9. “Ain’t My Business”
10. “Off Guard”
11. “Back Up”
12. “Pressure”
13. “Surrender”
14. “Whistle”

After over eight years of shaking the electronic and dance music scene under the name AlunaGeorge, Aluna Francis (who goes by a simple stage name Aluna) has finally dropped a song of her very own titled “Body Pump“. The track is Francis’ homage to house music initially originated by the Black and LGBTQ+ communities.

According to Dork, the singer said, “Having enjoyed being the main ingredient to many successful dance records, I started wanting to create the whole dish. In the past when performing on the stages of my white male peers, I always felt like a visitor being one of the few Black women I could see, so it never fully occurred to me to claim dance music as my music, as an artist, even though it was at the heart of my connection to music.”

She continued, “Then I looked at the history of dance music and saw how, for example, Chicago House, known as the invention of house music, was pioneered in the Black and Latino LGTBQ+ communities which gave me inspiration to stake my flag in the ground as a Black woman in dance music by taking control of production and songwriting with my own vibe.”

“Body Pump” is a club track that still reminds us of the music that AlunaGeorge makes us fall in love with them. Besides, Aluna has not failed us in serving a sensual dance-y tune, as she sings, “Hold on, my body’s pumping all night long / I’ve been waiting for something like this / Body’s pumping, I just can’t resist.” Get ready to pump up your body and listen to the track below.

Aluna also talked with Paper Magazine about her decision to go solo. When asked why she wanted to make music on her own, the 30-year-old singer answered that “the need for challenge” was what drove her.

“I kind of realized that whenever we need to create new music, the last thing that anyone worries about is productivity,” said Aluna. “I was like, hold on let me look closer at that area because I think that I might have been hiding from a huge challenge and disguising it as a really great skill and that skill being collaboration. And I am proud of how me and George have created this kind of symbiotic relationship and we can make music in any setting and in it with any kind of criteria, which is amazing. But at the same time, I’ve never been one for fitting in, in comfort.”

Elsewhere, label founder Diplo spoke of having Aluna in his home: “I’ve been a fan of Aluna for years – her voice, her style and her way of putting records together. Having her sign to Mad Decent feels like a family reunion – can’t wait to get these records out to everyone. Huge project for Mad Decent.“