Billy Porter embraces dance music with transformative album "Black Mona Lisa"
Billy Porter has embraced dance music for his fifth album.
“I’m a new artist. There’s a transformation that has happened,” porter said, while adding: “I’ve been offered a real second chance.”
The album titled “Black Mona Lisa”, will see the Tony-, Emmy- and Grammy-winner pivot to club, house and old-school disco over 12 tracks. This musical journey aims to create a warm and inviting space, emphasizing the artist's voice and redemption story.
“It’s been fun.
It’s been a healing. It’s been beyond anything that I could have dreamed,” Porter said. “I’m trying to bring some positivity into the world.
I’m trying to heal people.”
The album covers a diverse range of musical styles, from the dance anthem «Broke a Sweat» to the soulful tones of «Stranger Things,» the four-on-the-floor rhythm of «Baby Was a Dancer,» and the pop vibes of «New Shoes.»
“I had a lot of different genres in this album and we manage to stay coherent because the cohesive energy comes from me,” the singer said. “It’s taken me 30 years to figure out how to do that.”
The lyrics of the album exude a playful and confident vibe, reflecting the newfound assurance that Porter expresses. In the song «Funk Is on the One,» he sings with a swagger: «They give me Emmy from the TV like a showgirl / Gotta Grammy so big I gotta park it on the curb / Rubbing elbows with the superstars like Big Bird.»
“It’s the first time that I am singing music that feels a little bit like a flex, a little bit like a brag,” he said.
“I would never, ever in my life have sung anything like that before now. I embrace it, but sometimes I go, ‘OK, calm down, girl. Calm down.’”
The vibrant tones of the new album stand in sharp contrast to his 1997 debut, a self-titled R&B collection.
