The Black Eyed Peas took over Billboard‘s Instagram on Friday (May 8) to dish about life in quarantine and their long-awaited new album.
“I’m really excited about this Black Eyed Peas album,” Will.i.am teases exclusively in Billboard‘s latest IGTV video. “RITMO’s a smash. ‘Mamacita’? Smash. Last time I was excited about a project like this was [2009’s] The E.N.D., when we did ‘Boom Boom Pow’ and ‘I Got a Feeling,’ ‘Meet Me Halfway,’ ‘Imma Be,’ ‘Rock That Body’ — I feel the same way. Lordy, lordy, lordy! It’s on some next level-ness.”
Meanwhile, newest member J. Rey Soul, who’s replaced longtime member Fergie as the lone female singer of the group, opened up about what it was like to be selected for a feature on the band’s latest single, “Mamacita.”
“Working on the video for ‘Mamacita’ was such an amazing experience,” she tells Billboard. “I remember being told that I was going to be featured on the song with Ozuna, and that Gucci was gonna send their whole runway collection for the video and I was, like, so shocked and so happy. I was so excited about that…I’m so proud of this video and proud of this song, and I’m glad that people are loving it too.”
For their part of the social media takeover, Taboo showed off his impressive of sneakers and collectible toys — from G. I. Joes and Voltron to LJN wrestling figures from the 1980s — while Apl.de.ap ran fans through an at-home workout perfect for quarantine and shared a recipe for a cleanse involving green tea, ginger, turmeric and mint leaves.
The band’s forthcoming eighth album, which is set to be released sometime in 2020, will serve as a follow-up to 2018’s Masters of the Sun Vol. 1 — their first LP since Fergie’s in 2016 to focus on her long-delayed sophomore solo album, 2017’s Double Dutchess.
Check out the Black Eyed Peas’ full IGTV video below.