Empress Of Joins Darkstar On ‘Reformer,’ Streams ‘Woman Is A Word,’ Remixes Chairlift [LISTEN]

Empress Of, the synthpop solo project of Lorely Rodriguez, is back mere months after dropping her 2015 debut studio album, Me. In just the past few weeks the singer-songwriter and producer joined Darkstar on "Reformer," remixed Chairlift's recent Moth single "Romeo," and shared a stream of a new song of her own, "Woman Is A Word."

"Reformer" is Darkstar's first single from the UK electronic production duo consisting of James Young and Aiden Whalley's yet-to-be-titled collaborative EP. It will feature several not-yet-announced "special vocalists" and is due out sometime this spring via Warp Records, Mixmag reports.

The haunting new track follows Foam Island, the duo's 2015 LP. Much like Foam Island, "Reformer" is a bass-heavy ambient electro-pop song, but thanks to Empress Of's melancholic R&B-inspired vocals it's as moody as '90s trip hop. Listen to "Reformer" below.

Originally recorded as a B-side for Me, it's unclear if "Woman Is A Word" is to be part of any forthcoming projects from Empress Of. Listen to the effervescent, empowering new song below.

The synthpop tune balances a fun beat with highly personal-feeling politically-charged lyrics that call out gender constructs. The artist shared some handwritten verses on her Instagram earlier this week.

About the the song, Rodriguez said: "Sometimes as a songwriter and a human, I feel very restricted by words. One word can have so much social implication, standard, limitation, qualification that it doesn't give a person their own opportunity to really choose their identity," Jezebel reports.

The artist continued: "I wrote 'Woman Is A Word' at a time when I felt like the word 'woman' put me in a box of things I was capable to do, things that defined me that didn't necessarily define me."

Additionally, Chairlift recently shared an Empress Of remix of "Romeo," a single off the Brooklyn synthpop duo's recent album titled Moth. Listen to that below.