It has been 35 years since the living legend Lenny Kravitz started rocking our socks off, stretching beyond the limits of musical genres like rock, folk, soul, and funk. That’s over three decades of being sexy and having abs that defy the odds of human capability. (Do yourself a favor and watch his “TK421” music video.)

In an exclusive sit-down with BET.com, Kravitz shared, “It's interesting where I am in life, mentally, spiritually and physically. I'm in the best shape and place I've ever been.” Somehow, Kravitz looks younger than he did ten years ago. He credits his discipline.

“I take care of myself. I'm serious about what I put in my body and what I don't put in my body and my mind–that's another big part of it,” Kravitz admitted. It’s not just about what he eats; it’s about what he reads, hears and experiences. Kravitz is selective.

That’s why it’s been six years since his last studio album, Raise Vibration. Since 2018, Kravitz has consistently made and held on to music. “I made about four albums worth of music. And then it took time to figure it out,” he recalled of his “down time.”

Kravitz was two years into a tour when the pandemic hit the world, and everything came to a screeching halt. Kravitz kept working. “I was in the Bahamas and I was just recording and recording. And then I had to decide what music I wanted to put out,” Kravitz shared.

The self-proclaimed child of God and artist believes his purpose is mainly tied to “amplify love through music.” With the latest release of his lead single, “Human,” off his upcoming album Blue Electric Light, Kravitz is allowing the room and the grace to explore himself as a human. When asked what connects him to his humanity, even after all this time of living life like a rock star, he says, “God.” 

Kravitz continued, “I know where I stand, and I know where life and blessings come from. Family and friends, chosen family that all keeps me grounded, keeps me connected. I strive for that, it's very important to me.” 

Kravitz's bloodline is star-studded. His parents, Sy Kravitz and Roxie Roker, an NBC TV producer and actress, respectfully raised Kravitz to follow his passions and pursue them, but also kept him grounded. 

Roker was also West Indian, passing down her island upbringing to her son. Kravitz laughed, “That old school West Indian upbringing is very, very serious. It's all about respect, and honor and your word, so you couldn't mess around.” He joyfully recalled the serious nature of his upbringing, “You couldn't mess around at all.”

Hollywood didn’t phase the Kravitz family; even when little Lenny would tell his TV star mom that she should be with all the movers and the shakers, he said she would say, “It's my job. And I love what I do. But this does not define me as a human being doesn't define my character, I have to look in the mirror, and I have to be able to deal with that person I see in the mirror.”

Kravitz is grateful for his mother’s life lessons, which have informed the beautiful 59-year-old musician’s life. He’s grateful for it all; this is Lenny Kravitz’s grateful era.

“I'm extremely grateful everyday, just to wake up, to have life, health,” he mused. “It's a very beautiful and interesting game that we play on this earth, but I am just grateful to wake up and I'm glad that I'm able to have that because when you are grateful, you enjoy this ride so much more. It's so much more fun to actually be full of gratitude.” Kravitz has the major keys and has unlocked the mystery of being a human on this earth. It’s gratitude.

Kravitz is most free when he’s making music. It’s flowed in his veins since he was a boy. “[When] we moved to LA, I ended up in this boys choir, the California Boys Choir.” Following his time as a choir boy, Kravitz took on classical music. Kravitz said, “I had this classical career for a few years where I was singing with the LA Philharmonic and recording with Zubin Mehta, and singing with the Metropolitan Opera in New York.” He didn’t see himself continuing to pursue classical music, but he still uses his formal training to this day in arranging and his keen sense of harmony. 

Kravitz's first album, “Let Love Rule,” is a culmination of all the musical prowess he has collected over the years, and 35 years later, so is his latest, Electric Blue Light. Even though there is no slowing down for Kravitz, who is excited to get back on the road once the new album drops on May 24, there is a necessary speed bump called gratitude that allows him to take a moment and appreciate where he is.

“I am taking the time to smell the flowers where I never really did,” Kravitz said, pleased with his ability to do this. “I told God years ago, when things start coming around again the way it used to be, in having these triumphs and these blessings, I am going to stop and acknowledge it and smell the flowers. Any little thing, I stop, I take it in and I digest it.” It wasn’t that Kravitz wasn’t grateful before he started smelling the flowers; it was that the hustle was real. He just wanted to keep going. 

In the spirit of digesting every little thing, the genre-bending artist has had time to think about his impact and how he hopes people see that music has no color.

“Look at what she's [Beyonce] done!” Kravitz passionately started. “A Black woman to be number one on the country charts, look at that! We know where all this music comes from. The music is for everyone. The music doesn't have a color, but we know where it came from. And it came from us, for us, and the world, every color, every background to enjoy.”

Listen, folks, that’s all Kravitz was trying to say when his comments on Black people and music labels were misconstrued to give the impression that he doesn’t make “Black music.”

Kravitz shared, “It was distressing to me when young Black kids would say, ‘Why do you play white music?’ Only because I want them to understand what was invented by whom. Don't throw it away, understand where it came from. Know who these folks were. Know who Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley and Sister Rosetta Tharpe are. Know who these folks are, what they did, where it came from.”

Black music is all music. And it’s beautiful to have a Black artist like Lenny Kravitz remind the world that rock and roll was created by Black people.

Listen to “Human” on all streaming platforms on March 22 and get Blue Electric Light, Lenny Kravitz’s 12th studio album, on May 24.