BLACK STAR

The Ghanaian singer-songwriter’s third full-length is almost overwhelming at first approach, even when taking into account the big melodic strokes of her instant-classic 2023 record *Fountain Baby*. Unlike that record’s New Wave streaks and effervescent pop cadences, *BLACK STAR* is wall-to-wall dance music that treats the last 40 years of pop like an endless palette. There are sly interpolations of Gucci Mane’s “I Might Be” and, in the case of the slinky “She Is My Drug,” Cher’s deathless anthem “Believe.” Fellow modern pop vanguard PinkPantheress throws in for the satisfying techno pulser “Kiss Me Thru the Phone Pt. 2,” a seeming reference to Soulja Boy’s ringtone-ready 2008 hit, while Naomi Campbell (yes, *the* Naomi Campbell) closes out “ms60” with a solid-gold monologue extoling the virtues of embodying the album’s title.

The Ghanaian American singer’s latest album is a celebration of Black diasporic dance music—and a hedonistic, pleasure-soaked victory lap for a star at the peak of her powers.

On her third album, 'Black Star', Amaarae dives into love, lust and digital excess – and it’s a wild, hypnotic ride.

Amaarae’s third album has moments of truly sublime pop magic, but only once you get past its early bloodlessness.

In her 2023 cover conversation with CLASH, Amaarae spoke of her last effort ‘Fountain Baby’ as an exercise in radical abandon. That sense of freedom was

With a sleek dancefloor-facing sound, the Ghanaian American singer is deliriously in thrall to wealth and celebrity – but most of all love