Zendaya fans, you can finally stop tirelessly replaying “Replay” now (even though that track’s still a jam). Almost three years after the release of her self-titled debut album, Zendaya has finally given us a promising new taste of LP no. 2.
The 19-year-old premiered her new song “Something New” last night and, as the title suggests, it signals a new direction for Z. Channeling a less poppy, more R&B sound, Z connects with Chris Brown over a slinky beat while craving a no-strings love in the club. “Don’t know your name, but I guess I really don’t care/ I probably should wait, but I want to let you go there/ I wanna try something new all night,” she sings, before Brown hops on with a verse that samples TLC’s 1994 hit “Creep.”
Though she recently released a new song and video for the Broadway musical “Finding Neverland,” “Something New” is the first taste we’ve gotten of Z’s forthcoming sophomore album. Last year, however, she previewed two different tracks with superstar producer Timbaland, saying, “Z x Timb This second album… it’s lit.”
Zendaya further teased the new material in an interview with MTV News last summer, saying, “I would say it’s the new wave of R&B. It’s where I think it should be going, or it should be headed; it’s very old-school vibe, but it’s a new age version.”