July 5, 2011

By all means, the 25-year-old pop sensation will entertain you - as she twirls and shakes across the stage, part jazz bebop, part Jackson; as she delivers pitch-perfect renditions of her hits Tightrope and Cold War in an indefinable style that spans Shirley Bassey Bond themes, James Brown, Prince, Andre 3000 and Stevie Wonder. But Janelle Monáe is actually here because we need her.

"The Janelle Monáe here is the person who is working to make sure that Janelle Monáe is heard," she says, perched on the edge of a sofa in a hideaway inside the press area at the Wireless festival on Saturday in Hyde Park. She's referring to the other side of her personality - the side that has just performed a set with all the overwhelming energy and spectacular antics that her fans - or "supporters" as she likes to call them - have come to expect.

She donned her capes, cyborg shades and shirt and tie; she moonwalked; she convinced the audience to crouch and then pop back up in a frenetic fever of dancing; she stage-dived, and, of course, her trademark Afro pompadour came undone in the hullabaloo.

"It's important that she's out there doing what she's doing. I think that music needs it and I think that Janelle Monáe is absolutely necessary."

The woman speaking now (about herself in the third person) is, by contrast, totally serene - her voice soft and calm, her words considered and delivered without gesticulation. She looks almost puritan in an all-black get-up of tailored trousers and shirt, cape and felt wide-brimmed hat.

"I'm not like that offstage. What happens on stage is kind of an out-of-body experience."

It's a combination of worker and queen bee that's proving effective for Monáe. Despite two Grammy nominations - one for the track Many Moons from her EP Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase) and another for the widely praised follow-up concept album, The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III) - until now she has been written about in the UK as a rising star.

But following a dazzling Glastonbury performance (just like the weekend's Wireless set) sales of her album increased by 5,000 per cent. As Monáe herself would put it, she has gone from the "wonderground to the mainland".

"I don't allow myself to get lazy, believing that I've made it. I always work hard," she says, shrugging off the suggestion that she's reached super-stardom and highlighting a strong work ethic that she puts down to genetics. "It's in my DNA. Both my parents were janitors. I'm a big believer in turning nothing into something."

This is one of her mantras. Along with others such as "music is life-changing" and "you don't need to take the same co-ordinates to get to the same destination", she repeats it often - and has made it come true.

Monáe grew up in Kansas City, her father a bin man and mother a cleaner. Her younger sister, who she says is "totally opposite from me", still lives in her home state, has two children and is about to get married.

In the past, her father struggled with a drug addiction and as a result she explains: "I used to judge people who were using drugs, but now I'm trying to steer people in the right direction through music - saying, 'Let music be your drug'.

"When you become dependent on something your family goes through a lot ... I dealt with that in my life so I call myself as Dalícalls himself. I am the drug, I am the hallucinogen, take me."

Monáe is acutely aware of her beginnings and as a result much of what she presents to the masses isn't just pop, it's politics. She is brimming with messages that she wants to convey.

"Statistics would say that I'm not supposed to be where I am today ... Neither one of my parents had college degrees, but they really pushed and designed me to be better than them ... I think about that Janelle [her Kansas self] and how blessed she is. She can't let herself or her community down."

So, after high school she won a place at a New York drama school and later moved toAtlanta, Georgia. There she formed her label, the Wondaland Arts Society, and met Big Boi, one half of the hip-hop duo Outkast. He introduced Monáe to Sean "P Diddy" Combs, who signed her to his label, Bad Boy records, and pushed her out to the masses.

Yet unlike so many female pop stars (and some of Diddy's other protégées), who are completely unembarrassed to stand in front of the world in nothing but their knickers, Monáe is breaking the mould.

Her "uniform" that she wears "to pay homage to the working man and woman" is a tuxedo. There is no flesh on show. She dresses like a female Karl Lagerfeld. (They were recently photographed together for US fashion magazine W and Lagerfeld declared: "We liked each other from the first second on. Not just because of our style, but also the name: Janelle rhymes with Chanel, no?")

It's her loyalty to a shirt and trousers that led many to assume that she is a lesbian. She responded: "I only date androids" (referring to her EP and album, which together tell the story of her android alter-ego Cindy Mayweather, liberator of the android race).

"That's great, they can claim me as well as the straight community, as well as androids," she says. "I speak about androids because I think the android represents the new 'other'. You can compare it to being a lesbian or being a gay man or being a black woman ... What I want is for people who feel oppressed or feel like the 'other' to connect with the music and to feel like, 'She represents who I am'."

It's for this reason that she won't make any definitive declaration just now about her sexuality or her relationships.

"In due time, when I'm ready to have a family and be out in the public with my family," she promises. "As for now, my music, my performance, my voice, my message and what I'm representing as a young African-American woman is what's most important." Part of that, of course, is demonstrated through her choice of clothes.

"I think there's a lack of diversity," she says.

"People think that we're all monolithic and it's hard for young aspiring girls, who don't necessarily want to sell sex and strictly sing crappy R&B songs. They need to understand there's a different blueprint that you can create.

"I think it's absolutely necessary for the balance of the universe that there are other representations and a different perspective of the woman."

Despite this, she only considers herself to be "part feminist".

"Never will I go into a situation thinking that the world's against me because I'm a woman," she says. "I don't like over-emotional girls sometimes - like some of my friends when they're about to start their periods. But I have both those sides of me - the 'Get it together' side and the 'Ah, I just want to be hugged' part."

And, despite all her messages, she maintains: "I'm not into politics actually, I'm really not."

Instead her campaigns are just part and parcel of being a musician.

"That's the great thing about being an artist. Your job is to comfort, your job is to be the voice, your job is to bring awareness, your job is to be a rebel, your job is to start a revolution."

http://www.thisislondon.c...eed-her.do

Identity said:

July 5, 2011

By all means, the 25-year-old pop sensation will entertain you - as she twirls and shakes across the stage, part jazz bebop, part Jackson; as she delivers pitch-perfect renditions of her hits Tightrope and Cold War in an indefinable style that spans Shirley Bassey Bond themes, James Brown, Prince, Andre 3000 and Stevie Wonder. But Janelle Monáe is actually here because we need her.

"The Janelle Monáe here is the person who is working to make sure that Janelle Monáe is heard," she says, perched on the edge of a sofa in a hideaway inside the press area at the Wireless festival on Saturday in Hyde Park. She's referring to the other side of her personality - the side that has just performed a set with all the overwhelming energy and spectacular antics that her fans - or "supporters" as she likes to call them - have come to expect.

She donned her capes, cyborg shades and shirt and tie; she moonwalked; she convinced the audience to crouch and then pop back up in a frenetic fever of dancing; she stage-dived, and, of course, her trademark Afro pompadour came undone in the hullabaloo.

"It's important that she's out there doing what she's doing. I think that music needs it and I think that Janelle Monáe is absolutely necessary."

The woman speaking now (about herself in the third person) is, by contrast, totally serene - her voice soft and calm, her words considered and delivered without gesticulation. She looks almost puritan in an all-black get-up of tailored trousers and shirt, cape and felt wide-brimmed hat.

"I'm not like that offstage. What happens on stage is kind of an out-of-body experience."

It's a combination of worker and queen bee that's proving effective for Monáe. Despite two Grammy nominations - one for the track Many Moons from her EP Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase) and another for the widely praised follow-up concept album, The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III) - until now she has been written about in the UK as a rising star.

But following a dazzling Glastonbury performance (just like the weekend's Wireless set) sales of her album increased by 5,000 per cent. As Monáe herself would put it, she has gone from the "wonderground to the mainland".

"I don't allow myself to get lazy, believing that I've made it. I always work hard," she says, shrugging off the suggestion that she's reached super-stardom and highlighting a strong work ethic that she puts down to genetics. "It's in my DNA. Both my parents were janitors. I'm a big believer in turning nothing into something."

This is one of her mantras. Along with others such as "music is life-changing" and "you don't need to take the same co-ordinates to get to the same destination", she repeats it often - and has made it come true.

Monáe grew up in Kansas City, her father a bin man and mother a cleaner. Her younger sister, who she says is "totally opposite from me", still lives in her home state, has two children and is about to get married.

In the past, her father struggled with a drug addiction and as a result she explains: "I used to judge people who were using drugs, but now I'm trying to steer people in the right direction through music - saying, 'Let music be your drug'.

"When you become dependent on something your family goes through a lot ... I dealt with that in my life so I call myself as Dalícalls himself. I am the drug, I am the hallucinogen, take me."

Monáe is acutely aware of her beginnings and as a result much of what she presents to the masses isn't just pop, it's politics. She is brimming with messages that she wants to convey.

"Statistics would say that I'm not supposed to be where I am today ... Neither one of my parents had college degrees, but they really pushed and designed me to be better than them ... I think about that Janelle [her Kansas self] and how blessed she is. She can't let herself or her community down."

So, after high school she won a place at a New York drama school and later moved toAtlanta, Georgia. There she formed her label, the Wondaland Arts Society, and met Big Boi, one half of the hip-hop duo Outkast. He introduced Monáe to Sean "P Diddy" Combs, who signed her to his label, Bad Boy records, and pushed her out to the masses.

Yet unlike so many female pop stars (and some of Diddy's other protégées), who are completely unembarrassed to stand in front of the world in nothing but their knickers, Monáe is breaking the mould.

Her "uniform" that she wears "to pay homage to the working man and woman" is a tuxedo. There is no flesh on show. She dresses like a female Karl Lagerfeld. (They were recently photographed together for US fashion magazine W and Lagerfeld declared: "We liked each other from the first second on. Not just because of our style, but also the name: Janelle rhymes with Chanel, no?")

It's her loyalty to a shirt and trousers that led many to assume that she is a lesbian. She responded: "I only date androids" (referring to her EP and album, which together tell the story of her android alter-ego Cindy Mayweather, liberator of the android race).

"That's great, they can claim me as well as the straight community, as well as androids," she says. "I speak about androids because I think the android represents the new 'other'. You can compare it to being a lesbian or being a gay man or being a black woman ... What I want is for people who feel oppressed or feel like the 'other' to connect with the music and to feel like, 'She represents who I am'."

It's for this reason that she won't make any definitive declaration just now about her sexuality or her relationships.

"In due time, when I'm ready to have a family and be out in the public with my family," she promises. "As for now, my music, my performance, my voice, my message and what I'm representing as a young African-American woman is what's most important." Part of that, of course, is demonstrated through her choice of clothes.

"I think there's a lack of diversity," she says.

"People think that we're all monolithic and it's hard for young aspiring girls, who don't necessarily want to sell sex and strictly sing crappy R&B songs. They need to understand there's a different blueprint that you can create.

"I think it's absolutely necessary for the balance of the universe that there are other representations and a different perspective of the woman."

Despite this, she only considers herself to be "part feminist".

"Never will I go into a situation thinking that the world's against me because I'm a woman," she says. "I don't like over-emotional girls sometimes - like some of my friends when they're about to start their periods. But I have both those sides of me - the 'Get it together' side and the 'Ah, I just want to be hugged' part."

And, despite all her messages, she maintains: "I'm not into politics actually, I'm really not."

Instead her campaigns are just part and parcel of being a musician.

"That's the great thing about being an artist. Your job is to comfort, your job is to be the voice, your job is to bring awareness, your job is to be a rebel, your job is to start a revolution."

http://www.thisislondon.c...eed-her.do

Nice Points HOWEVER, you were signed by a guy who does nothing but sell sex, whether its a girl group DANITY KANE or a guy group like DAY 26, etc....and lets not forget the big booty women in his videos and also Big Boi's he had no complaints being on covers of magazines like Smooth with some sexed up Video model.

She has a great ass and tits. Just saying.

lastdecember said:

Big Boi's he had no complaints being on covers of magazines like Smooth with some sexed up Video model.

Are you talking about KiToy Johnson? That's Big Boi's sister-in-law.

lastdecember said:

Nice Points HOWEVER, you were signed by a guy who does nothing but sell sex, whether its a girl group DANITY KANE or a guy group like DAY 26, etc....and lets not forget the big booty women in his videos and also Big Boi's he had no complaints being on covers of magazines like Smooth with some sexed up Video model.

An interesting argument by itself, however, those scantily clad young lasses weren't in any of her videos and she's not cultivating a sexualized image.

MickyDolenz said:

lastdecember said:

Big Boi's he had no complaints being on covers of magazines like Smooth with some sexed up Video model.

Are you talking about KiToy Johnson? That's Big Boi's sister-in-law.

Ok but all the girls in outkast's videos too, im just saying its like Prince complaining now about selling sex, its a cool thing to say and i understand that the talent meter has fallen off since his days, but, you were the pioneer of selling the images.

trueiopian said:

Consider yourself lucky I didn't post a Beyonce thread.

Identity said:

By all means, the 25-year-old pop sensation will entertain you - as she twirls and shakes across the stage, part jazz bebop, part Jackson; as she delivers pitch-perfect renditions of her hits

LIES.

I fucking LOVE her sooooooooooooooooooooooooo much.

Now I looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove her even more.

New. Album. Now.

"People think that we're all monolithic and it's hard for young aspiring girls, who don't

necessarily want to sell sex and strictly sing crappy R&B songs. They need to understand there's a different blueprint that you can create.

"I think it's absolutely necessary for the balance of the universe that there are other representations and a different perspective of the woman."

Glad to hear this; if I ever get into the entertainment industry, that will not be an option.

smoothcriminal12 said:

New. Album. Now.

+1

I need some new Janelle Monae...I'm fiending right now. I have worn out all her songs...It's all I've been listening to for the past 2 weeks.

New.Album.Please!

Identity said:

trueiopian said:

Consider yourself lucky I didn't post a Beyonce thread.

I don't really like her albums, her singles are always top notch. I saw her open for Of Montreal and I just wished her music lived up to her talent as a live performer.

Alej said:

Oh come one as if GaGa hasn't said absolutely stupid stuff lol

[Edited 7/6/11 0:09am]

I don't care what some here think about her, I LOVE HER!

"I only date androids" (referring to her EP and album, which together tell the story of her android alter-ego Cindy Mayweather, liberator of the android race)."

Oh come on, for real? I understand the majority of music is aimed at kids...

I do want to like her so much.

Timmy84 said:

I don't care what some here think about her, I LOVE HER!

Aye, me too.

leonche64 said:

"I only date androids" (referring to her EP and album, which together tell the story of her android alter-ego Cindy Mayweather, liberator of the android race)."

Oh come on, for real? I understand the majority of music is aimed at kids...

I do want to like her so much.

Yeah, I hear you on the whole character talk, "I only date androids." That stuff is annoying to me too after awhile. I understand its in character and all but I can do without it personally.

Musically, I love her!

Timmy84 said:

I don't care what some here think about her, I LOVE HER!

Right on, brotha man. She's shining like the proverbial beacon on a hill from the rest of the pop and R & B dreck dominating the landscape.

Mushrooms & Roses Forever

I love her!! She's the best new artist on the scene!

and she's starting to blow up!

This is amazing!

[Edited 7/6/11 12:18pm]

Alej said:

leonche64 said:

"I only date androids" (referring to her EP and album, which together tell the story of her android alter-ego Cindy Mayweather, liberator of the android race)."

Oh come on, for real? I understand the majority of music is aimed at kids...

I do want to like her so much.

Am I Black or White, am I straight or android? Go ahead and like her. She is a bad ass chick. Her live performing is not nearly as great as her recorded voice, but she is out there putting it down - without a lip synch track. Love love love love her.

I mean Oh come on, for real? She could be calling herself some Sasha Fierce bullshit! But no, she is doing some forward thinking. I mean this chick is down a well she is so deep. Which is not to say that we aren't all down a well, but she is exposing herself to the world while doing the backstroke in a circular motion, all the while providing the rope to pull the bucket up with.

smoothcriminal12 said:

Alej said:

Bitch, please.

Alej said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

Bitch, please.

Janelle is the real deal someone like her who has a great voice, great backing band and doesn't have to show her vagina leaking pee out every show.

And yet people still hate on her oh well idc i love this woman