Steve Lacy wrote the words first on his third album

“Oh Yeah?” is Steve Lacy’s third album. He leaves the title unexplained, saying only that the question matters. RCA Records released the ten-song, roughly forty-minute record on July 17; Lacy wrote, performed and produced it himself.

He began work immediately after the previous album. Part of “Oh Yeah?” was recorded in Paris, where he was drawn to the beige palette, the light and the age of the interiors. It is not the record’s concept so much as an environment he wanted to remain inside.

With the Internet, the process usually ran from beat to hook, with lyrics arriving last. This time Lacy began with what he wanted to say and built the sound around it. Guitars merge with synthesisers, and he calls the result his most personal record.

Three other voices step in. SZA appears on “Is It Cool?” — the two had already mentioned, back in the spring, that they’d “made a random little project together.” Erykah Badu, an artist Lacy has named as an influence since 2016, finally gets a song with him: “Pure Colour.” Cecile Believe, known for her work with the late producer SOPHIE, joins “Lovesexdrugbomb” — their first recording together.

After “Bad Habit” reached No. 1, Lacy chose not to repeat its formula. Before recording he stopped using coffee and cannabis edibles because he wanted to work with a clear head; he describes this as the first album on which he felt fully present in his body.