Watched the video, ordered the record, just realized I couldn’t tell you anything about the song.
Well played, Janelle.
― Cow_Art, Saturday, 13 May 2023 23:10 (eleven months ago) link
Dirty Computer is probably my favourite Janelle album, but these two singles have done absolutely nothing for me. The songwriting just feels so weak this time round. Hopefully there's better to come.
― kitchen person, Saturday, 13 May 2023 23:33 (eleven months ago) link
i think it's a good song. i mean it's not groundbreaking or anything but it's well-constructed w/ plenty of hooks & her singing is .. gorgeous i think? and the bassline is very much there and good? lol. has a little bit of a throwback feel, maybe not as cutting edge or as saturated as wizkid or koffee or sza.
― ꙮ (map), Sunday, 14 May 2023 00:03 (eleven months ago) link
I think the Float song isn’t too bad, and the other song isn’t too good…
― Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Wayne Manor (morrisp), Sunday, 14 May 2023 01:22 (eleven months ago) link
Not sold on the song, tbh. Have loved all her LPs so far but… this ain’t up to much. Video is great in so many ways but I’m hoping for better content musically. Dirty Computer took a while to grow on me but became my #1 jam of 2018, so maybe this will do the same.
― The land of dreams and endless remorse (hardcore dilettante), Sunday, 14 May 2023 02:56 (eleven months ago) link
Video was fun, almost a relief to see good old explicit sensuality and communal feelings rather than the usual "oh, is this what you want ? you think you can have it ? probably not, but let me put it in your face"Song is a bit non-descript reggae pop, but I like it when it's Lila Iké or Sevana, so if the rest of the album is 70s licks and jams, I'm down with a "modest" single.
― Nabozo, Sunday, 14 May 2023 13:10 (eleven months ago) link
found out she was an author earlier. blooming renaissance woman innit.
― Stevo, Sunday, 14 May 2023 14:55 (eleven months ago) link
video is great, songs are... ehh, OK.
― Nhex, Monday, 15 May 2023 04:29 (eleven months ago) link
i like the sound she's going for but this is pretty slight overall? feels like wasted potential
― ufo, Friday, 9 June 2023 22:41 (eleven months ago) link
Listened to it a couple of times at work and the whole thing passed me by.
― kitchen person, Saturday, 10 June 2023 01:38 (eleven months ago) link
janelle monae is a tremendously talented performer but isn't a particularly strong songwriter. i appreciate that she wants to write her own weird shit but the songs are almost never as good as her performances!
i find this record's vibe deeply cringe tbh
― sean gramophone, Saturday, 10 June 2023 03:00 (eleven months ago) link
I feel like at this point, aside from a few songs, she has more fun making her music than I do listening to it
― Murgatroid, Saturday, 10 June 2023 05:28 (eleven months ago) link
For a fun summertime record it's weirdly devoid of hooks. It's cool that all the tracks flow together but that doesn't work when none of them are particularly good. I'll echo that it's kind of cringey, idk what it is exactly but she's just so universally liked and obviously she's super attractive and talented to boot, so the fact that it's so confrontational just feels a little odd. also the fact that this whole thing seemed to be handled a lot better on Dirty Computer, idk. but it's still an okay record. I like the horns a lot.
― frogbs, Monday, 12 June 2023 21:25 (ten months ago) link
I think my favorite song of hers is still “Oh Maker.”
― Cow_Art, Monday, 12 June 2023 23:21 (ten months ago) link
Yeah sorry to say but this feels super bland.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 12 June 2023 23:34 (ten months ago) link
She's...not a good songwriter.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 12 June 2023 23:38 (ten months ago) link
This was true a decade ago. She's a triumph of image, and I love that image; I'll always extend her goodwill. In many ways she was ahead of the curve in 2010.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 12 June 2023 23:39 (ten months ago) link
When that first album came out, I saw a couple of shows of hers that just completely blew my mind. But then I saw her several years later with Prince, and something had changed, and it was all just a bit too much, and at the same time not enough.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 12 June 2023 23:57 (ten months ago) link
Yeah, this is pretty thin. Vibes, but uh, not much else. And I say this as a huge Janelle fan (I’ve seen her twice - once opening for Badu way back when and again touring for the last album, which was an absolutely amazing show) who was really looking forward to new material.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 12 June 2023 23:58 (ten months ago) link
hey, "Oh Maker" my fave too. the kind of song a great songwriter writes, even.
― soup of magpies (geoffreyess), Tuesday, 13 June 2023 00:00 (ten months ago) link
feel like the new one's all hooks, or maybe I don't know what a hook is
I feel like she was still producing awesome music through "electric lady" though it started to go downhill around that pointWell, this kind of album is what streaming services are for
― Nhex, Tuesday, 13 June 2023 03:18 (ten months ago) link
well I've listened 3 times and don't remember much outside of the general vibe and some lyrics, compared to her other stuff which sometimes was just bursting with melody
tbh I don't really know what her creative process is, she doesn't talk much about it and the one article I've read about it makes it sound like a bunch of people are involved. indeed all her songs have like 5-7 writers credited on them. maybe it's like a Taylor Swift situation but who knows could just be a different songwriting team
― frogbs, Tuesday, 13 June 2023 03:36 (ten months ago) link
I listened to this back to back with the Amaarae and boy does this suffer by comparison. It's fine, but a lot of it to me feels like outlines more than songs — like, "this is the banger," and "this is the sex jam." Nothing jumped out like the best 3-4 tracks on the last one.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 13 June 2023 04:08 (ten months ago) link
nate wonder is still her main collaborator on this but chuck lightning is less involved than previous albums, and nana kwabena and sensei bueno are newer collaborators (kwabena only previously contributed to a few tracks on dirty computer)
― ufo, Tuesday, 13 June 2023 05:40 (ten months ago) link
I'm enjoying it enough, but I agree that it suffers from having been released on the same day as the Amaarae album which I'm much more inclined to reach for at present.
― monotony, Tuesday, 13 June 2023 06:44 (ten months ago) link
i like the reggae and afrobeats stuff better than the disney-fied trap (why even try this sound in 2023?), but it still feels like a xeroxed version of music made by contemporary artists who live and breathe those genres. "lipstick lover" sounds somehow worse in album context.
― ludicrously capacious bag (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 13 June 2023 15:20 (ten months ago) link
One of those not-uncommon artists whose records get worse each time. The first two kind of stand up, but I never go back to them.
― paulhw, Tuesday, 13 June 2023 15:28 (ten months ago) link
Strong disagree, I think Dirty Computer was great and filled with bangers. I grow to appreciate it more with each passing year.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 13 June 2023 15:30 (ten months ago) link
^^ this
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 13 June 2023 15:33 (ten months ago) link
I miss the droid shit tbh
― your original display name is still visible (Left), Tuesday, 13 June 2023 15:37 (ten months ago) link
maybe it represents the closet or whatever but it was fun
― your original display name is still visible (Left), Tuesday, 13 June 2023 15:38 (ten months ago) link
if I was having a better time like I hope she is now I'd probably be more into this one
― your original display name is still visible (Left), Tuesday, 13 June 2023 15:39 (ten months ago) link
The record's a party! The next pool party I attend I'm going to ask to stream it.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 13 June 2023 15:41 (ten months ago) link
i'm with you, miss the Android stuff but she was bound to change styles/gimmicks at some point
― Nhex, Tuesday, 13 June 2023 18:36 (ten months ago) link
I like this more than the earlier stuff myself. The Android thing was never very convincing to me and actively detracted from my enjoyment of those albums. Maybe I am boring.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Tuesday, 13 June 2023 18:43 (ten months ago) link
I like this album, its low stakes-ness seems like part of the point? It is like a (more) poolside ready version of Meshell Ndgeocello’s Comfort Woman.
― Tim F, Friday, 16 June 2023 12:51 (ten months ago) link
yeah I've come around to it too. No great songs, but she masters a groove where make believing is the real thing.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 16 June 2023 12:56 (ten months ago) link
I dug it ok, can't remember how any songs go though. but sounded good.monae just has theater kid vibes she can't ever completely shake is the thing.
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 16 June 2023 13:02 (ten months ago) link
low stakes albums are cool and all but it's kind of a weird choice at this point in her career. her last one was 5 years ago and it got a lot of hype, she's landed a starring role in a fairly big movie since and is starting to become sort of a household name, so now would be the time to drop a big magnum opus with a dozen guest spots and a bunch of singles. I mean I get it she probably just didn't have time for it but idk it feels like right now could have been her moment
― frogbs, Friday, 16 June 2023 14:29 (ten months ago) link
so now would be the time to drop a big magnum opus with a dozen guest spots and a bunch of singles
would this be preferable though?
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 16 June 2023 14:36 (ten months ago) link
the guest spots on here are largely wasted imo
― ludicrously capacious bag (voodoo chili), Friday, 16 June 2023 14:38 (ten months ago) link
amaarae sounds great, ckay okay, but grace and sister nancy seem to be here because monae admires them, not because she had any great ideas about how to collaborate with them
― ludicrously capacious bag (voodoo chili), Friday, 16 June 2023 14:39 (ten months ago) link
I think so. idk maybe that Off the Wall thread is making me think of how MJ absolutely seized the moment, because that's what superstars do. and I think Monae wants to be a superstar. so yeah putting out an album that's been mostly received as "it's nice but I don't remember any of the songs" seems kinda bad
― frogbs, Friday, 16 June 2023 20:28 (ten months ago) link