photos by Andrew Zaeh (left) and Kirstie Shanley
Janelle Monáe: Almost Human
Issue #45
Janelle Monáe relates to robots, won’t be caught in public without a pompadour, and has P. Diddy and Prince Singing Her Praises.One of the most talented musicians of the year—maybe even the decade—is clearly from another dimension.
By Genevieve Diesing
Published: November 15th, 2010 | 12:00am
When music critics across the country started to compile their lists of the top albums of the year in mid-2010, their choices weren’t necessarily surprising. Joanna Newsom, the Roots, LCD Soundsystem—most were musicians that had already seen some time in the sun. That is, until they got to—and they inevitably did—Janelle Monáe.
Some claim the 25-year-old singer—whose hit single “Tightrope” makes a case for the resurgence of funk—is the 21st-century incarnation of James Brown. But where did this 5-foot-tall, tuxedo-wearing and bouffant-sporting force of nature come from? And, what took her so long?
With one studio album (and one Grammy-nominated EP), Monáe has injected the pop and hip-hop worlds with some much-needed imagination. Not the type of imagination, mind you, that relies on the manufactured shock value or pandering sex appeal so many current young female performers turn to in an attempt to seize the spotlight. Instead, Monáe’s style is funk and sci-fi and cinematic rock ‘n’ roll all at once, and her first full-length album, The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III) (Wondaland/Bad Boy/Atlantic), raises the bar for modern music.
Much like Lauryn Hill once did, Monáe has captivated the industry with a kind of prophetic soulfulness, displayed in her album’s pointed message of unity and acceptance. This level of depth and finesse has been so sorely lacking in mainstream music you would swear it was a formula Monáe had on lease.
Turns out, it’s authentic. Unlike the Lady Gagas and Miley Cyruses of the world, Monáe did not grow up with the kind of connections or wealth that could easily facilitate her commercial success. Born Janelle Monáe Robinson, the Kansas City, Kansas native comes from a struggling, blue-collar family who used the young singer’s winnings from local talent shows to help pay the bills.
Life at home was tough for Monáe. Growing up, she was exposed to heavy drug use, and her family members were the victims of repeated theft. So, to stay focused, she turned to performing. “I liked being on the stage. It was my outlet, my way of getting away from home,” she says.
Although addiction challenged the family, Monáe says her parents encouraged her artistic endeavors and supported her move to New York City as a teenager, where she began classes at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.
“[My parents] never second guessed what it was that I was meant to do,” Monáe says, fondly remembering the times when her mother would drive her to singing competitions in their little blue Dodge. “I knew what I wanted to do from a very early age, and they supported me.”
Those strong family ties have stuck with Monáe, so much that they’ve become a core part of her image. The androgynous tuxedo look that she rocks so well—one that’s drawn everything from lesbian comparisons to the fawning of Vogue—is meant to pay homage to her janitor mother, garbageman father, and postal worker stepfather. A sort of glorified uniform, she says.
Working Class to Outkast
Monáe herself is no stranger to drab employee dress codes. In 2004, she had made a new home in Atlanta and was working as a cashier at Office Depot while moonlighting as a musician.
“When I first moved to Atlanta, I released The Audition, which was an independent project,” she says. “I was living in a boarding house with, like, five other girls and selling the CD out of my home.” But, just as soon her music started to gain a steady underground following, she was fired from her day job. The experience prompted her to write the song “Lettin’ Go,” with lyrics that quote her former boss (“We don’t need you J / You daydream too much”) and also celebrate the possibility of new chances (“I feel so alive / Stress just faded away / It’s time to live my own life”).
It was almost as if Monáe could see the future as she wrote the song. Just a short while later, she performed the number at an open mic in none other than Justin’s, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs’ Atlanta-based restaurant, on the same night when rapper Big Boi happened to be in attendance. He was moved by her performance, calling it nothing short of amazing, and approached her immediately after she got offstage about a possible collaboration. That song was later featured on 2005’s Big Boi Presents...Got Purp? Vol. 2 (Virgin) compilation, and a sort of apprenticeship with Big Boi’s group OutKast followed. Monáe’s voice even popped up several times on Outkast’s 2006 album Idlewild (LaFace).
“I’m very thankful to Big Boi for being one of the very first [individuals] to help me,” the pint-sized singer says. “Both he and André 3000 had listened to my music before it was even released. Big Boi in particular was one of the first artists who took a chance in showcasing what I could do.”
One of the Bad Boys
The list of famous musicians who were early believers in Monáe’s potential doesn’t end there. Combs gave the singer a distribution deal with his label Bad Boy Records in 2007 and has since called her “one of the most important signings of [my] career.” After her performance on Letterman this past May, Combs rushed on stage and bowed to her.
Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes describes Monáe as “one of the most gifted and most powerful artists of our time.” And then of course, there’s Prince, who orchestrated a breakout moment in Monáe’s career by having her perform the song “Let’s Go Crazy” during his tribute segment at the BET Awards this past June.
“It was a very electrifying moment for me,” Monáe says of the performance that became an instant YouTube hit. Indeed, she owned the stage that night, when, still a relative newbie to the entertainment world, she moonwalked and practically shrieked the song’s lyrics while remaining on key. Even though it may have been one of the most pivotal moments in her career thus far, she remains humble. “I’m just honored that I got a chance to [pay tribute to] one of my heroes,” she says.
Although, the image of Prince looking on fondly as Monáe brought a new fervor to his song may have been more personal than it looked. Monáe says she met the artist through a mutual friend years ago and he was immediately supportive of her goals with the Wondaland Arts Society, an artist collective she formed shortly after moving to Atlanta.
“[Prince] had come to a couple of my shows prior to the BET experience,” she says. “It actually made me a little more relaxed when I performed for him there. It was just like a friend, you know? And I was very, very excited to perform that song. It is one of my favorites. [The album] Purple Rain is just so up my alley.”
That’s not exactly a surprise. Each track on Purple Rain may be just as perfect and kooky as those on The ArchAndroid, where the songs veer from one radically different direction to the next. There’s the funky feistiness of the hit single “Tightrope,” which sounds retro and modern all at once with its fast-paced raps and sassy choruses. And then there’s “Cold War,” which channels Cee-Lo Green’s inimitable vocal style so well that it gives Gnarls Barkley a run for its money, as well as “Mushrooms and Roses,” which throws a dizzy, psychedelic curveball into the mix. Later in the album, fast-paced, tribal-fueled raps that rival M.I.A. and Santigold’s style stir up the pot, while another track, ”Sir Greendown” is reminiscent of “Moon River.” Basically, it seems there’s nothing this girl can’t do.
A Modern Metropolis
Even so, there’s so much more to The ArchAndroid than just great music. Set in the year 2719, the concept album is the second in a series of four (the other two are due out in 2012 and 2013, respectively) revolving around a robot named Cindi Mayweather, a messianic android who was sent back in time to unite working and upper-class citizens of a fictional city called Metropolis. The concept was inspired by Fritz Lang’s 1927 German Expressionist silent film of the same name, which poses commentary on the capitalist class struggles.
The album’s plot focuses around the female robot, Mayweather, who Monáe sees as a symbol for “The Other,” or someone who is oppressed by society. Furthermore, the battle between the humans and the Androids in The ArchAndroid (what she calls “The Great Divide”) represents the struggle between “the haves and the have-nots” in modern day.
“[Being The Other] could refer to a person’s sexuality, or their nationality, or the color of their skin or whatever,” Monáe explains of the The ArchAndroid’s storyline, one that parallels the oppression that racial minorities, gays, and the impoverished have faced throughout history. “If you got rid of all these divides, I think we could have a much more loving society. There are lots of things that must change, but ultimately people need to start coming together. I want to create that state where individuals align and create something imaginative and love each other.”
With the theme of oppression at the forefront of her album, it begs the question: Has Monáe ever experienced it herself?
“I have friends and family in my life who have experienced [discrimination] firsthand,” Monáe answers firmly. “There are people who died for me to be free. I don’t forget them, and I don’t take them for granted. I feel very in touch with how hard they worked to allow individuals like myself to have the freedom and the voice I have today.”
Much like Marvin Gaye, the Clash, and the lot of politically impassioned musicians that came before her, Monáe sees her role as an opportunity to foster solidarity, a responsibility she does not take lightly. “Music can change lives,” she says. “It can bring religions together, people of different ethnicities, women and men, androids and humans. That’s a powerful thing.”
It’s true, Monáe doesn’t hesitate to refer to androids and humans in all seriousness. The androids are big with her—she has mentioned that she believes some sort of automatons will live alongside humans one day, and sooner rather than later. When asked what church she belongs to, she says, “The Android Methodist Church in Metropolis.” The institution doesn’t exactly bring up a lot of hits on Google; nor has Monáe offered further insight into her religious affiliation. However, it’s yet to be determined whether Monáe thinks really, really outside the box or if she’s just putting on a show.
Barnes, who collaborated with Monáe on The ArchAndroid and toured with her when she opened for Of Montreal this fall, says she’s someone who can’t be summed up easily.
“I know [Janelle] enjoys maintaining an air of mystery,” he explains. “One thing I can say is, she is a fierce competitor and a tireless self improver. She’s not content to allow her demons to run wild; she treats her life like a sacred gift that deserves respect. I think she could become a prophet one day. I think future generations will worship her as a deity.”
Monáe may beat them to the punch. She compares her alter-ego Mayweather to Neo in The Matrix, naming her the “the Chosen One.” In the same token, Monáe says she sees her own life as a path that’s already been laid out for her—“predestined,” if you will. Just like her foreshadowing lyrics in the working woman’s diatribe “Lettin’ Go”, this isn’t the first time Monáe has felt in-touch with her future.
“I am a spiritual person and I think things have always been written for us,” she says. “It’s just up to you to listen and trust and have faith. The spirit will guide you as long as you’re doing what’s right with the gifts that you’ve been given. It’s not something I try to understand.”
Moment of Wonda
Monáe just might be on to something. Serendipity appeared to have played a role in the way she met Chuck Lightning and Nate “Rocket” Wonder, with whom she founded Wondaland Arts Society in 2007.
“It was a very eureka moment when I met them,” Monáe says of her affectionately dubbed “dream team” who now act as writers and producers at Wondaland. “There was something in their eyes that I felt very connected to, like we were really meant to create together. I knew it was music-related, but I didn’t know it would take us this far. That was the first time I got that feeling … and ever since we’ve been collaborating.”
Monáe, Lightning, and Wonder formed the Society initially to release Monáe’s album, Metropolis: the Chase Suite independently. “We had been through a showcase with major labels, and we got concerned that they were out of touch with what the people needed and wanted to hear,” Monáe explains. So they chose to put their minds together to start their own label that would speak directly to the people. “We’re very hands-on,” she says. “We want to create a different blueprint to define art as a higher principle. We’re letting people know that you don’t have to take the same coordinates to get to the same destination.”
In addition to the record label, Wondaland is also comprised of creative individuals who are committed to “celebrating individuality” through projects like music, books, and film. “We have actors, screenwriters, graphic novelists, musicians, and performance artists who are running Wondaland and contributing their gifts,” Monae says.
Although Monáe’s albums are distributed through Bad Boy and Atlantic, she notes that she and her Wondaland colleagues maintain full creative control.
“We leave our egos at the door,” she says of their working relationship, also admitting she’s not afraid to mess up in front of them. “We encourage each other to fail to get to the good stuff.”
Wonder, Lightning, and Monáe collaborated on almost all of the songs on The ArchAndroid and are currently creating short films, or “e-Motion pictures” for every track on the album. The team also brought in its own orchestra for the record—from Wondaland, in fact—for the string compositions, which she claims to have dreamed up, literally.
“Luckily, I had my iPhone voice recorder by my bed,” she says of her late-night prophecies. “I would hear string arrangements and images would come to me along with lyrics and bass lines—entire song arrangements already done.”
With all the seriousness behind Monáe’s dedication, one can forget how much fun she’s actually having as an entertainer. She’s been known to break loose onstage and, although she wasn’t formally trained, her moonwalking and robotic moves have fans referring to her as a dancer—a title that makes Monáe chuckle.
“It’s, very much a reflection of how the music makes me feel, and I guess knowing everyone’s watching me,” she laughs while explaining her physical performance, something she admits isn’t choreographed.
Indeed, all eyes and ears are on Monáe. As the number one artist on Venus Zine’s 2010 Hot List and one of the most critically acclaimed musicians of the year—if not even the decade—Monáe has usurped expectations, defied genres, and blown away a broad spectrum of listeners.
Artistic integrity is a principle she keeps high on her list, admitting that she has turned down opportunities to work with artists whose core values don’t align with her own. “Sometimes I just have to say no, even if it hurts me politically or pisses off peers in the industry,” Monáe explains. “You have to do what’s best for your brand and the thing that you believe in—the greater cause.”
For Monáe, that includes creating art at every chance she gets, through her music and through helping the other artists at Wondaland. Between the albums and the attention and Wondaland’s projects, one would think it’s just a matter of time before Monáe runs out of steam. She says it hasn’t even crossed her mind.
“There’s so much I haven’t done that I know I can do,” she insists. “There are so many ideas out there that are waiting for me to embrace, and there are so many lives to be changed.” Sounds like a reasonable goal if you’re Janelle Monáe.
Monáe brings a soulfulness to her performances unlike any other young singer of her time, leading many to call her the reincarnation of James Brown.
Janelle Monáe official site
Janelle Monáe MySpace page
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