Are your knees ready? Hot Girl Productions is hatching new music. After three snake-themed singles, Megan Thee Stallion is preparing to drop Megan, her first album under her independent label and her follow-up to 2022’s Traumazine. But don’t be fooled by the eggshell in the cover artwork — this isn’t necessarily a reptilian rebrand. “We don’t just stop at the snake. This is just what everybody sees right now,” Megan told L’officiel in late May. “Renewal, rebirth: that is the whole concept.” Perhaps that’s why fans can expect to hear some exploration on the 18-track project. “I don’t want to say I’m tapping into other genres. I’m just tapping into other sounds. But it’s still very much Megan Thee Stallion,” she reflected. “It won’t feel like I went so left. It’ll feel true to me. You’ll almost be like, I wouldn’t have thought she would’ve rapped over that, but this sounds great.” Below, here’s what we know about Megan, including who she’s collabing with, what the different album covers look like, and when it’s dropping during this Hot Girl Summer.
What’s on the track list?
Megan has invited Kyle Richh, Yuki Chiba, GloRilla, UGK, and Victoria Monét to feature on this 18-track album. “Rattle” and “Mamushi” join the snake-themed ranks of previously released singles “Hiss,” “Boa,” and “Cobra.” But judging from the project’s other titles, including “Miami Blue” and “Otaku Hot Girl,” we’re also gonna get plenty of songs that aren’t as obviously connected to reptilesss. Which track do we think is the one with the anime sample that she hinted about on Instagram?
What’s the deal with the cover art?
Much like the way a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, it has evolved. Sometimes we all get the impetus to participate in one of Tyra Banks’s deranged challenges for America’s Next Top Model. Megan thee Stallion simply has the resources to carry out that dream. The first artwork she shared for Megan shows her upside down and emerging from a cocoon. The album cycle up till then had been largely snake-focused (singles include “Boa,” “Hiss,” and “Cobra”), but we can’t blame a girl for buggin’ out.
This cover art, it must be said, really does look like an ANTM shoot — Megan is playing an animal, the shot is overly busy, just her top half is seen naked, and, most important, she’s posing upside down à la the time Banks made the girls hang upside down, covered in fish, as mermaids in Thailand or maybe the time she made them hang upside down like bats. And honestly? Megan’s neck is extended, her face looks calm, she’s definitely smizing — Tyra would be proud.
But this doesn’t mean Meg’s ready to completely shed her snakeskin just yet. She later shared two alternate covers that show herself emerging from what seems to be a snake’s eggshell. Fans who purchase physical CDs will be able to choose whichever of the three versions they prefer. However, pre-save links suggest that the official album cover on streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music will be a photo of her poking her head out of a shell, not a cocoon. Still, some fans have theorized that the pieces of the broken egg and their reflections are meant to call to mind butterfly wings, so maybe it’s all connected.
When does Megan come out?
As she told the crowd during her Atlanta concert on June 2, Megan will release on June 28.
This post has been updated.
