And now for some good news


Here’s what I’ve been listening to today. I think Janelle Monae is what you’d get if Prince were resurrected as a woman.

I like this one even better. I want to visit that club, even though I fear I would not survive the experience.

Genius. But I have to wait until 27 April for the whole album to drop, which is cruel.

Comments

  1. mailliw says

    I hadn’t really heard of her until this week and having heard some of her music I am greatly impressed.

    And a talented actor too, Hidden Figures was one of the best films of the last few years.

  2. Tethys says

    The first song is sampling and remixing a very popular Prince song, including the brass. It’s his cover of Tom Jones “Kiss”. The visual and costumes of both videos are stunning! Reminds me of Ziggy Stardust.

  3. toddhays says

    She’s a far better actor than Prince was. To be honest, that is a low bar. She’s a very talented person.

  4. Artor says

    I have no idea who she is, but I can definitely hear the Prince influence in her music. I like the first one better.

  5. billyjoe says

    Talk about the video complementing the music, my vote goes to the third video (above).

    Though not as bizarre, the facial costumes remind me of Bjork in “Vulnicura”, though the music is completely different, being a long lament over a failed relationship.

    If you are interested, the following example from that album is “Notget”. It starts off black and white and transitions to colour half way through. I don’t think you will be disappointed. The music is hauntingly beautiful.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aWrV8NQnbqE

  6. Roj Blake says

    hadn’t heard of her until now. Will die happy if I never have to hear it again. Musical taste is in the ear of the belistener, but that ain’t music.

  7. FossilFishy (NOBODY, and proud of it!) says

    Musical taste is in the ear of the belistener[sic]…

    Yes…

    …but that ain’t music.

    Sigh. Did you even read the first part of that sentence, you know, the one that you wrote?

    Go on then, give us your definition of “music”. I’ll save us some time by pointing out that there is no valid definition that includes “Roj Blake likes it.”

  8. says

    hadn’t heard of her until now. Will die happy if I never have to hear it again. Musical taste is in the ear of the belistener, but that ain’t music.

    Well, glad we finally got a definition of music from someone with their finger on the pulse.

  9. bryanfeir says

    @jrkideau:
    My first introduction to Janelle Monae was from Philip Sandifer’s essay on the whole Hugo Awards Sad Puppy/Rabid Puppy mess back in 2015: Guided by the Beauty of their Weapons.

    Sandifer suggests that Janelle Monae’s video for her song ‘Electric Lady’ should have been nominated for the award, discusses Monae’s SF and Afrofuturism leanings, and talks about how folks like Vox Day would consider her work to be everything that they despise all wrapped up in one place, not the least because she obviously doesn’t even care what the self-appointed guardians of ‘true culture’ think.

  10. bryanfeir says

    And I missed an ‘r’ in ‘jrkrideau’, sorry. I used to live in Ottawa, you’d think I would know ‘rideau’.

  11. Raucous Indignation says

    Hey, you know that Prince presented as gender fluid when he was a young person, right?

  12. Porivil Sorrens says

    I love Monae’s music, and I’m never going to complain anout a video with open bisexual themes in it.

    I’m more confused by the upthread assertion that vagely electronic funk music is somehow experimental enough to be called “not really music.”

    Given how frequently that label is applied to black arists and forms of music – jazz, rap, and rock were all declared “not real music” in their in their inceptions – I’m not going to dismiss some degree of racial bias out of hand.