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Music Style: Genre Bending Art Pop and Progressive Soul incorporating Funk, Jazz, Psychedelic Soul, Neo Soul, Rock, and Hip-Hop with an Afrofuturistic blend.

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Janelle Monáe is someone who artistry cannot be put in a box. Her music encompasses a multitude of genres. She’s used orchestral music (March of the Wolfmasters, Sincerely Jane), Funk (Lettin Go, Q.U.E.E.N., Make Me Feel), Disco (Locked Inside, Take a Byte), Art Pop (Cold War, Faster, Look into my Eyes, Violet Stars Happy Hunting), Baroque Pop (Say You’ll Go, Sir Greenwood), Rock (Come Alive (War of the Roses), Mushroom & Roses, Givin’ Em What they Want), Folk (57821, Oh Maker), and Jazz (BabopbyeYa, Tightrope). However, most of her songs blends various elements of all sorts of genres. Janelle has also shown that she can go full-on hip-hop like in Django Jane; full on pop like in Screwed, Americans, or Make the Bus; or full R&B like in Victory, Primetime, or I Got the Juice.

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One of best parts of Janelle’s artistry are her concept albums, her project’s Metropolis Suite I “The Chase”, The ArchAndroid, and The Electric Lady are all a part of her Metropolis series, which is based on Fritz Lang’s 1927 sci-fi film, Metropolis. In the EP, Metropolis Suite I “The Chase”, we are given an insight to what Metropolis is. Metropolis appears to be a futuristic city where androids a built to serve humans. The story takes place in the year 2719 and follows an android named Cindi Mayweather. Throughout Metropolis Suite I “The Chase” we learn a few things about this world and Cindi. We learn that it is illegal for an android to fall in love with a human being. Unfortunately, Cindi ends up falling in love with a human named Anthony Greenwood. As a result, she must be terminated. The rest of the project depicts Cindi running from the Metropolis police while detailing her final decisions in the world of Metropolis. The music video for Many Moons gives us a nice visualization of Cindi’s thoughts throughout the EP.

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The next iteration of Janelle’s Metropolis series is her debut album, The ArchAndroid. The ArchAndroid take more of a focus on Cindi’s and Anthony’s relationship while still exploring the life of an android in the Metropolis city. In Dance or Die, the lyrics narrative the harsh life of androids and Cindi hoping that other will wake up and realize the reality that they live in. However, it also depicts her worries that Metropolis’ citizen would be too brainwashed to see the truth. Cold War depicts a call-to-action while also showing how being made to feel inferior in society can be used a drive for change. It also states that one must be aware that what they’re fighting for aligns with their own interests or they risk being a pawn in someone’s game of chess. The lyrics in Tightrope also align with the empowerment theme present in Cold War. These lyrics also resonate with Janelle personally because society tries to put down black women to make them feel inferior or unworthy. In Come Alive (War of the Roses), we learn that Cindi has always been more aware about her position in society and has often tired to get others to see the big picture. However, many have dismissed her and her ideas for a revolution as crazy. The hard psychedelic rock n roll instrumentation highlights Cindi’s frustrations towards others who are unaware or choose not to be aware of the truth in society. This is often common when people try to fight for change or speak the truth. People often dismiss them as crazy. Even though there are real crazies in this world, truth tends to be stranger than fiction. The more romantic songs on the album like Oh Maker, Neon Valley Street, and Say You’ll Go show that Cindi’s love for Anthony is her motivation to keep going. Just the idea of being able to freely stay with him, is a big enough drive for her to fight for change. Also, the song 57821 shows that Anthony might feel the same way as well.

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Janelle Monáe’s 2nd album, The Electric Lady is the 3rd iteration of her Metropolis series. At this point, Cindi is seen as face of the rebellion. Songs like Q.U.E.E.N. and Electric Lady follow the themes of self-empowerment present in The ArchAndroid. One thing the albums shows is what lead to Cindi becoming more aware of how society treats androids. In the ArchAndroid, it is hinted that Cindi was often more aware than the average android. In the song, Givin’ Em What they Want, it shows that Cindi has always had this rebellious spirit to her. This rebellious spirit is shown again in Cindi’s past. The songs, Primetime and We Were Rock & Roll both give us a glimpse into Cindi’s past. The music video for Primetime tells the story of Cindi’s first love when she worked as a ‘cyber server’. Due to the constant disrespect, Cindi ended up quitting her job as a cyber server and met Joey Vice. After quitting her job, Joey took Cindi to this club where androids can dance freely and be themselves. This club and music shocked Cindi, seeing all these androids being free ignited something in her. It ignited her drive to be in a world where androids are free to be themselves. The Electric Lady has three interludes that all show the effect of Cindi’s fight against droid control. The interlude that I want to highlight is Our Favorite Fugitive. The interlude has people call into a radio show to give their opinions about the android rebellion, however, only misinformed people called. This interlude also highlights the different forms of racism. The first caller represents both open racism and how many tend to “misunderstand” black empowerment. A good example of this how it’s important for events like “Black Girls Rock” to exists and why there is no event like “White Girls Rock”. The second caller shows a modern example of closet racism. The second caller states that he’s an ally, however he comes off as the type of people that would use “aave” to sound cool to friendly to black people. He also mentions that he follows droid culture however, his understanding is limited to android stereotypes. He represents the type of people whose idea of black culture comes off as shallow and is limited to the black stereotypes shown by the mass media. The third caller represents homophobia when they mention how android love is not normal and it’s impossible for android love to exist.

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Monáe’s 3rd album, Dirty Computer, is her only project that isn’t based around her Metropolis series so far. It is also accompanied by a 46-minute film project that I highly recommend that you see. What make Dirty Computer different from Janelle’s other projects is that Dirty Computer is more about Janelle Monáe herself as opposed to Cindi Mayweather. The film has Janelle’s character, Jane 57821, getting her memories forcibly deleted by a totalitarian society. The society deletes her memories because to them, Jane 57821 is a “dirty mind” that needs to be cleaned. This is where the title “Dirty Computer” comes from. The song of the same title shows that a Dirty Computer is someone who doesn’t fit into typical societal norms regarding sexuality. Basically, it is someone who is LGBTQ+. Monáe, who identifies with both bisexuality and pansexuality, would be a Dirty Computer. In the film, we see that each of the songs on the album represent a memory being deleted or “cleansed” as the society puts it. In Crazy Classic Life, it shows Jane 57821 and a friend sneaking out some people to a secret party. This party is shown to a refuge for people to freely express their individuality without being pushed by the police. Unfortunately, by the end of the song, the police discover the party’s location and arrest many of the party goers. A few major themes within Dirty Computer are individuality, womanhood, and sexual freedom. Songs like Make Me Feel, Take a Byte, and I Got the Juice speak about sexual freedom. Django Jane and Pynk are both about the power of womanhood. With Django Jane being about black female empowerment and Pynk celebrating female sexuality. The songs So Afraid and Don’t Judge Me are the most vulnerable songs on the album. Both songs are about Janelle fears regarding being open about her sexuality. Being a public figure, Janelle being open about her sexuality helps normalize LGBTQ+ and aids in representation, but at the same time it also opens her to ridicule from our homophobic society. This sense of fear is present in those songs. In the film, we see each memory being erased and as each one is erased, Jane 57812’s individuality is slowly being taken away. There is a character named Maryapple 53 whose job is to turn Jane, who now lost all her memories, into another clone of society or in their words “escort her from the darkness to the light”. Throughout the film we see that Maryapple 53 was Zen, one of Jane’s old friends. This revelation puzzles Maryapple 53, however someone else just dismisses Jane as crazy. Overall, the film shows Jane trying to prevent her memories/individuality from being erased.

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Make Sure to check out her projects Metropolis Suite I “The Chase”, The ArchAndroid, The Electric Lady, and Dirty Computer.

Some of my favorite Janelle Monáe songs: Lettin’ Go, Many Moons, Sincerely Jane, Mr. President, Dance or Die, Faster, Locked Inside, Cold War, Tightrope, Oh Maker, Come Alive (The War of the Roses), Mushrooms & Roses, Neon Valley Street, 57821, BabopbyeYa, Givin’ Em What They Love, Electric Lady, Primetime, Look into My Eyes, Victory, Sally Ride, Dorothy Dandridge Eyes, What an Experience, Crazy Classic Life, Screwed, Django Jane, Pynk, Make Me Feel, I Like That, Don’t Judge Me, So Afraid, Americans

Here’s a Spotify and Apple Music playlist for Janelle Monáe.

Here are some good performances: Tigtrope Live on David Letterman, 2018 BET Awards Performance, 2019 Grammy Awards Performance, Come Alive (Live at 2020 Oscars)

Next R&B Artist Spotlight: Bruno Major

If You use discord, make sure to check out the R&B Discord Server. If you want to be in a place to discuss R&B music. Here’s a link if you’re interested https://discord.gg/YvqWFVrs