Erykah Badu and The Alchemist share details on joint album Before The World Blows

Erykah Badu and The Alchemist have shared full details of their joint album, Before The World Blows, subtitled The Abi And Alan Experiment, due out this Friday via Young/Control FREAQ Records. The project marks Badu's first full-length release in 11 years and her first studio album since 2010, while The Alchemist has spent the years since producing for hip-hop names including Earl Sweatshirt, Freddie Gibbs and Roc Marciano.

The 16-track record was recorded over 18 months between Dallas and Los Angeles, with The Alchemist sending Badu instrumental beats that she then deconstructed and rebuilt with her own instrumentation, from kalimba notes to layered chords and drums. Material from the sessions was road-tested at a series of intimate, phone-free shows through 2024 and 2025 before the album was finished.

Across its four movements, the album moves between soul, blues, funk, rock, jazz and underground hip-hop, with Badu contemplating which parts of herself, from love to memory to womanhood, are worth protecting before the world "breaks and fragments." The tracklist features Steve Lacy, Thundercat, Earl Sweatshirt, Kamasi Washington, Westside Gunn and DRAM, among others.

The rollout has leaned into mystery: cryptic posters bearing the phrase "One More Song..." appeared in Sydney, Melbourne, London, Paris and New York ahead of the announcement, alongside a code pointing fans to a website that eventually revealed the album's title. Badu has since launched a "Badu Burner Phone" experience, letting fans unlock a phone number through a series of challenges for a chance at a live FaceTime call with her.

The album follows lead single "Witch Doctor" and lands as one of the more anticipated additions to the release calendar this year, pairing Erykah Badu's first album in over a decade with one of hip-hop's most in-demand producers.