Michaela Jaé on How Being a 'Techno Girl' and 'Huge Anime Fan' Inspired Her Futuristic 'Green Lights' Video (Exclusive)

The Emmy-nominated actress and singer spoke to PEOPLE about her newest single and music video, plus her forthcoming debut album, '33,' due out in September

Allow us to introduce you to Michaela Jaé 33F7.

Many first met her as the dynamic and fearless Blanca in FX’s groundbreaking series Pose and later as no-nonsense, do-gooder Sofia in the Apple TV+ comedy Loot. However, today, the Golden Globe-winning and Emmy-nominated actress, 33, re-emerges under a new identity: model 33F7 — a hybrid “humanoid woman” from the future seeking reconciliation with her past as she launches right into her present destiny.

“Crazy enough, I've always felt like there was a strong kind of spiritual energy that was saying there's this other form of you trying to connect with you from the future and tell you that the world is not what it seems,” Jaé explains to PEOPLE the inspiration behind her android persona.

“People can take that as what they take it as. But for how I was receiving it, I was like, OK, present-day Michaela Jaé is going to constantly make sure I try to convey this message,” she continues. “Whether it be to give glimpses of who model 33F7 is and what she's trying to say or how she does have this very similar image of me and how I would [present that] today as the actual physical and human form of Michaela Jaé. That's where it all derived from.”

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The origin story behind Jaé’s new persona is explored in the music video for her latest single, “Green Lights,” premiering exclusively on PEOPLE. In it, we see her awaken on a futuristic alien planet, decked out in a silver chrome cutout skeletal costume, as she comes to grips with her new high-tech surroundings.

According to the singer, the visual components of her Dano Cerny-directed video were inspired by her love for both technology and anime.

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“There's technology that is bubbling in the world that we're always kind of glued to. I'm a techno girl myself, so I love all technology,” Jaé says. “[With the video], I wanted to make sure people know that in the future, that's going to be something that continues. I also feel like it aligns with the message of us being so in tune with technology that it's almost melded with us. That's why I had those [costume] pieces on me.”

“Also, I'm a huge, huge anime fan, too,” she adds. “So I love incorporating those kinds of storylines where hybrid, humanoid androids are mixed with human pieces but still have almost like cyberpunk [aspects]. I feel like that aligns with where we are and where we could possibly go.”

In a way, that message is also a loose metaphor for Jaé’s life and how she sees herself today. “It was a story actually before I had written the song ‘Green Lights,’” the star shares of the track, which was written for “the girls out there who felt like they kept stopping at a green light.” “It just so happens that it fell right in the pocket of the meaning of what it was for [33F7] to feel like there are alarms setting off that are actual green lights.”

She continues, “She's not running, she's just staying in the red and not moving and stopping. And her point of break was ... Well, there's much more to the story that I don't want to give away, but she's in a different place, a different world now than what she was before. She's trying to really reconcile her past to be able to inform the present so that certain things either won’t happen or won't continue to happen in the future where she's at.”

Parts of Jaé’s new video are reminiscent of the out-of-this-world features that Michael and Janet Jackson displayed in 1995 in their black-and-white “Scream” video. According to the American Horror Story: Delicate star, that was an intentional reference she wanted to “give honor” to with “Green Lights.”

“Those were my main references,” Jaé confirms, adding that it was “fun” using the iconic artists as “pillars” for her visual. “I'm a huge Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson fan, as well as with Beyoncé. They were so outstanding with performance aspects, especially when it came to music. I just wanted to give honor to that creativity, and I hope I executed it well… They were key components to how I wanted to convey this story of ‘Green Lights.’”

The arrival of “Green Lights” segues nicely into Jaé’s forthcoming debut album, 33, which will be released on Sept. 26. It comes three years after the singer’s debut single, “Something to Say,” and she says it “feels fantastic” to finally announce it to the world.

“I've never felt better," Jaé emphasizes, "and only for myself because, me and my team, we finally have decided to just put the project out there and see how people really enjoy it. I've learned that once I release something into the world, it's not mine anymore; it's ours. So whatever comes will come. But I have strong feelings that there will be a good reception of it simply because I really put my heart into it.”

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In the time between releasing her first single and upcoming album, the Newark, New Jersey native notes she’s grown a new appreciation for music and the evolution of it. Hence, the deep meaning behind her album’s title — a nod to her current age as well as the impact that Jesus made before his death around the same age.

“I still think that was a pinnacle moment in history because it changed a lot. And I was like, huh, I want to change the world like that,” Jaé says. “God forbid my life is taken from me. I wouldn't want that, but I would want to change the world in a way where, through peace, obviously, it's just that impactful.”

With the release of “Green Lights” and her soon-to-be-unleashed album 33, Jaé hopes fans are willing to “dive into the story of this future version of me we know as Michaela Jaé 33F7” and how her narrative progresses.

"I hope that this music moves people to change habits, to not stay complacent, to continue to be themselves,” the singer/actress declares. “I hope I did that with [my single] ‘I Am.’ When I wrote that, it was simply to uplift the [LGBTQ] community specifically and just people in general, to never let any kind of evil or horrible industry tell you who you're supposed to be. I hope ‘Green Lights’ does the same exact thing.”

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