NYC-based queer artist Blood Orange, aka Dev Hynes, has just dropped two new visuals for singles Charcoal Baby (dir. Crack Stevens) and Jewelry, featuring transgender rights activist Janet Mock, off forthcoming album Negro Swan (August 24). Hynes says that this collection of tracks is about his experiences as a black, gay boy growing up in Ilford, East London…an examining of what it’s like to be the one who always stands out in a crowd, expected to perform one’s negroisms… and how one navigates that attention for better or worse. Check both videos out below, and pre-order Negro Swan on iTunes. (screengrabs via video)

Dev Hynes:

“My newest album is an exploration into my own and many types of black depression, an honest look at the corners of black existence, and the ongoing anxieties of queer/people of color. A reach back into childhood and modern traumas, and the things we do to get through it all. The underlying thread through each piece on the album is the idea of hope, and the lights we can try to turn on within ourselves with a hopefully positive outcome of helping others out of their darkness.”