Cardi B’s sophomore album is finally on the way.
After years of delays and false starts for the follow-up to her 2018 debut, Invasion of Privacy, the rapper finally gave her fans what they’ve been wanting for so long with the announcement of her new album, Am I the Drama?
Here’s everything we know about the album so far.
When is ‘Am I the Drama?’ releasing?
The new album will be released on Friday, September 19, 2025.
How long has it been since Cardi B’s Grammy-winning Invasion of Privacy album?
When Am I the Drama? finally drops, it will have been seven years, five months, and 13 days after Cardi released her blockbuster debut album, Invasion of Privacy. The album, which featured her breakthrough hit “Bodak Yellow” and the summer smash “I Like It” with Bad Bunny and J Balvin, won the Best Rap Album at the 2019 Grammys, making Cardi the first solo female artist in history to do so.
Since then, Cardi has welcomed two more children, son Wave in 2021 and daughter Blossom three years later. Her public separation from husband Offset also made headlines numerous times as well.
What is the meaning behind the album title?
Despite rumors that the album would be called Defamation of Character or Intrusive Thoughts based on trademarks filed last year, Cardi seems to be going in a completely different direction.
While the title itself appears to be a nod to a viral quote from RuPaul’s Drag Race star Scarlet Envy, a spokesperson from Atlantic Music Group told Entertainment Weekly that this is not the case.
“While Cardi’s album inspiration comes from her real life drama, she loves Scarlet Envy and they’re in talks to work together soon,” Kalmanowitz told EW via email.
What does the cover art look like?
The cover art for Cardi B’s Am I the Drama sees her dressed in a crimson-red bodysuit, fishnet stockings, and matching high-heeled shoes while reclining on a surface. She is posing against a stormy sky with a flock of ravens scattering behind her in the distance.
Cardi has yet to clarify the meaning behind the avian motif, as seen on the cover art and the album’s announcement teaser. Surely it will be explained in more detail closer to the album’s release date.
What songs will be featured on ‘Am I the Drama?’
A complete tracklist for Cardi B’s new album has not been released yet. What we do know is that it will include the previously released “Outside,” plus “WAP” with Megan Thee Stallion and “Up.”
She addressed the critics who spoke out against her choice to include the two top-charting songs in a post shared to her X account, “WAP and Up are two of my biggest songs, my fans have been asking me to put them on an album, and people search for them on lOP all the time… they deserve a home.. I let haters make me not submit WAP for the Grammy’s and at this point I’m giving my fans what they want! These two songs don’t even count for first week sales so what are yall even crying about???”
What can fans expect from Am I the Drama?
Based on the teaser, it’s safe to say Cardi might have some scores to settle with her new album.
“Seven years of love, life and loss. Seven years I gave them grace, but now I give them hell,” Cardi warns in above video. “I learned power is not given, it’s taken. I’m shedding feathers and no more tears. I’m not back, I’m beyond. I’m not your villain, I’m your karma. The time is here. The time is now.”
However, the rapper told Complex’s Speedy Morman last March that she aims to check off certain boxes with her tracklist.
“What I want is to have every type of record. I want, like, my emotional records, I want my ‘good feel’ records, I want my popping pussy records, all my talking shit records. Like, I just want all the check marks,” she said on 360 With Speedy.
She also told Billboard in April that Am I the Drama? will be “a messy queen.”
“I feel like it’s unexpected and I feel like it’s something that’s not really out right now,” Cardi told Billboard in April. “It’s gonna be things that people do expect from me, and a lot of things people don’t expect from me.”
