Janelle Monae

songs I think of as "singles":

Tightrope (duh)
Cold War
Wonderland
Dance or Die
Locked Inside
Oh, Maker
Neon Valley Street

Tightrope feels like it belongs on another album, yes; but it's still far and away my fave track on the album. Maybe it should've been on Big Boi's album instead?

I think it works fine on the ArchAndroid, I just don't think it's representative of the sound and feel of the album overall.

its not even close to my fav track on this album

'say youll go' has really grown on me. i enjoy how straight she sings the body of it. i wouldn't say its restrained, but it could have been ruined by a heavier interpretation.

production could def have been liver or just a bit tougher in general i think. sounds quite pro tooled in places.

usually i hate when titchy gets voodoo--technical--aspie w/ his criticisms but he might be kinda right here

I've listened to this twice. Always starts very exciting but everything starts to blur after a while? I think it's maybe Janelle's technically well-done but emotionally blank vocals that makes this a "challenging" listen for me (at this stage at any rate), much more than the arrangements which mostly seem pretty gregarious and outgoing and fun.

"emotionally blank vocals"

yes. although, what a voice.

Yeah the voice is amazing, but there's no real sense of an actual person behind it (and this has zero to do with the whole android thing). I had the same stumbling block with her earlier material. It reminds me somewhat of Kelis's "Little Suzie", a tune which I always felt I should love more than I did.

"sense of an actual person behind it"

oh, that's usually a lie anyway.

I know, but it's a pretty important lie in R&B!

I don't mean "who is Janelle Monae really", but rather that her vocals usually don't make me care about the singer, the character-of-the-song.

i was gonna say, i get a really strong sense of a person, but more in the "who is janelle monáe really" sense than the emotional-character-of-the-song. god i'm going to have to listen to this again, i have to write a review but as much as i listen to it nothing is sticking AT ALL and it feels more and more like a slog each time

Actually that's a good point, I do come away with a strong sense of "Janelle Monae" herself - something about the whole effect sharply delineates the meta-auteur-behind-the-curtain while leaving any specific characterisation kinda vague... I don't know if this is a bad thing necessarily! It's just a thing perhaps.

It sounds like people would be better off not listening to this so much as an R&B album.

it sounds more like people would be better off listening to everything as an r&b album.

?

x-post

Not that I'm conceding on the "emotionally cold vocals," I need to think about that. I think I know what is being talked about (there is a fair amount of distance built into the feel of this album), but I find some of the singing here quite moving.

I don't think Janelle is emotionally blank on any of the ballads or "Come Alive"; at a bare minimum

(Sorry, "emotionally blank" not "emotionally cold.")

Lex I'm surprised you're so down on this while in favour of the Cibelle album, which feels like as much of a look-at-me! slog to me. Is it just that Janelle is carrying the baggage of being ostensibly an rnb singer?

um the whole appeal is totally about her being a performer -- its theater kid stuff of course you dont get an idea of THE REAL JANELLE MONAE thats not always the pt & this is rtc&bROCKISM

Performers can't project Monae's blankness though; at her worst she's like one of the Sparkle Motion kids.

u are wayyyy overstating her supposed lack of personality with 'blankness'

um the whole appeal is totally about her being a performer -- its theater kid stuff of course you dont get an idea of THE REAL JANELLE MONAE thats not always the pt & this is rtc&bROCKISM

My argument would be the opposite of this actually deej. I totally get an idea of the Real Janelle Monae but her vocal style is simply not one which (for want of a better term) "manufactures emotion" very much. She's the opposite of a Fantasia or a Jazmine Sullivan in this regard.

I don't think she's Sparkle Motion-like at all.

On "Come Alive" and "Tightrope" she sounds to my ears like someone grimly determined to give you a good time, rictus grin, dance contortions and all; and just when you think she's exhausted you she introduces special guests Of Montreal. The thing is structured like a variety show: moments of fun and virtuosity, but wearying.

Pffffffffffffffffffffffft.

(I thought I would elevate the level of discourse a little.)

Here's a cookie:

http://img.pcdn.vresp.com/media/5/3/1/5316e5746f/0de32eb47b/ac309fbf62/library/kid%20eating%20peanut%20butter.jpg

On "Come Alive" and "Tightrope" she sounds to my ears like someone grimly determined to give you a good time, rictus grin, dance contortions and all; and just when you think she's exhausted you she introduces special guests Of Montreal. The thing is structured like a variety show: moments of fun and virtuosity, but wearying.

I think this is more true on a meta/structural level (Here's another stylistic shift! Here's Of Montreal!) than on a performative level. With some obvious exceptions, for the most part her singing plays it very "straight" I think.

I understand the distinction, Tim, but in my mind I conflate the "structural" and the performative because her voice is so blank. Nature abhors a vacuum, etc.

The only reason you're saying her voice sounds blank is because she sounds like someone who has had voice lessons.

waht

Donna Summer and Dusty Springfield, to name two wildly disparate characters who had voice lessons, were not blank.

thats a jam sandwich tho, isnt it?

I'm going to bed, serenaded by the untutored pipes of Alex Kapranos.

You promised a cookie! (Alfred, my elevating the discourse post was actually a dig at me. I tried several different posts in reply to your recent posts and then I realized all I really wanted to say was pfffffft.)

ya that's really not a cookie.

& this is rtc&bROCKISM

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f14/snouts/6ns6tx.gif

is that ryan phillippe in cruel intentions? <3

it is!

a hero indeed

lol@the jazmine sullivan etc comparisons. the constant comparisons of monae to contemp/mainstream R&B women artists is wrong.

I said she was the opposite of jazmine duh.

shes coming to london next month apparently. but its sold out, some BS industry-only schmoozer. no matter, this album is actually great (listening now). better than ciara, jazmine, the preposterously overrated teedra moses and even erykah id say, judging by that lazy last effort she turned in. all the stuff i wasnt sure about wrt her emotional conviction etc is kinda right in terms of it being quite stagey at times - it is a PERFORMANCE - but its also kinda bullshit cos some of the melodies are actually gorgeous and the contours and purity of the grain of her voice is just wondrous. janelle>>>>>>

its not industry only, it just sold out really fast. tiny venue too, but annoyingly i'm out of the country.

even erykah id say, judging by that lazy last effort she turned in

You need to relisten to this. It's much more relaxed, laid back, comfortable in its own skin... not lazy. Very nuanced, subtle.

also: unfinished/padded out songs/generally below par songwriting.

Obv titchy's failure to get teedra pretty much undermines his credibility w/r/t passing judgement on R&B albums.

It sounds like people would be better off not listening to this so much as an R&B album.

I wanted to listen to the album again before I put my vehement disagreement with this on record, but... this is totally an R&B album. In fact once you remove the interludes it's no more boundary-blurring than Solange's last album (this is not a criticism btw!). Guess what: most R&B albums already are pretty diverse! It's not like the territory Janelle covers here (in the actual songs) is obviously broader than the space between, say, "Disappear" and "Radio" on Beyonce's last album.

I love "Faster" by the way. "Tightrope" bugs me though, and I reckon it's because there seems to be no relationship between the music and the vocals in the chorus, they almost feel out of tune with one another. The verses are fine. Actually it's pretty consistent for me to like Janelle's verses more than her choruses.

I'm not saying I think it's not a R&B album, but based on many of the complaints I've seen on this thread some people seem to not be enjoying what she's doing partly because she is failing to do things they expect of R&B performers. Seriously, I remember a bunch of comments like that upthread. (At least that's one of the reasons they are giving.) Bunch of comments deleted (nothing incendiary), because I need to be careful what I say about R&B (because I don't listen to a whole lot of it, even the older stuff I tend to like more--although I expect to come around to that at some point).

"Obv titchy's failure to get teedra pretty much undermines his credibility w/r/t passing judgement on R&B albums."

teedra has like, ONE great song, and a load of filler elsewhere, despite being in possession of a great voice. teedra is def *not* an albums artist.