Missy Elliott has surprised fans with a new single.

Missy Elliott

Missy Elliott

The 45-year-old rapper - who hasn't released a studio album since 'The Cookbook' in 2005 - released 'I'm Better', which features Lamb, and an accompanying colourful music video which she co-directed with frequent collaborator Dave Meyers, and also announced the release of a new documentary on Thursday (26.01.17) evening.

Missy also shared a teaser for the upcoming, as-yet untitled film.

In the documentary clip, she said: "It's never just a record for me. It's never just making a hot record. I can do that in my sleep. But visually I have to see what I'm going to do with that record when I perform it."

Since the release of her last album, Missy has released just a few of her own singles and made occasional guest appearances on other artists' tracks, largely just writing and producing for other musicians.

However, she briefly stepped back into the spotlight in 2015, when she joined Katy Perry for her Super Bowl halftime show, and later that year, she released her first music video in seven years with 'WTF (Where They From)', a collaboration with Pharrell Williams.

The 'Work It' hitmaker previously admitted she was incredibly grateful to Katy for inviting her to join her for the prestigious sporting show, but admitted she didn't feel confident enough in her new material to perform any of the songs.

She recalled: "[My manager] said, 'Katy Perry wants to speak to you, she wants to perform with you'.

"I immediately thought that she would want me to perform 'Last Friday' the record that we did together. So when me and Katy got on the phone, she said she was a fan of my work and that she wanted me to perform, but to perform three of my records.

"First of all, I can't thank her enough. A thousand thank yous wouldn't be enough. She allowed me to perform my records, on her set and she said, 'If you have a new record, you should perform it, this is the time to perform it'.

"At the time I had some records but I didn't feel as strong about them. I said I'd rather go out there and give them the classics."

And Missy - who was mistaken for a newcomer by some of Katy's younger fans - also revealed how Pharrell encouraged her to make a comeback.

She said: "I was in the house vacuuming, walking my dogs - after the Super Bowl, I'm just acting normal. He said, 'I'm not trying to push you, but people miss you. Do you see what happened out there? Have you seen the charts?'

"I think I was still in shock. It still hadn't registered. He was like, 'I want to get in the studio with you.' Who turns down Pharrell?"

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