Janelle Monae

TLC one is kinda bland tbh.

I debated about adding that one

Figure now is as good a time/place as any to repost this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgwfsi9yzww

that version of 'let's go crazy' is pretty slammin' imo, good fit for her

man, that was a terrible rendition of Let's Go Crazy; every over-the-top gesture and HAVING A GOOD TIME EVERYBODY!!!!!1!!! move felt really manufactured.

i knew instantly that the cover would be "let's go crazy"

man, that was a terrible rendition of Let's Go Crazy; every over-the-top gesture and HAVING A GOOD TIME EVERYBODY!!!!!1!!! move felt really manufactured.

Totally. Because Prince is in no way "over-the-top" in his own live short.

live show.*

UGH

or studied

last time I saw prince live, he climbed on top of his piano while playing a medley, back flipped off a piano, landed in the splits and stood up to continue playing the song. he also made it look natural.

last time I saw monae live, she leapt off the stage and ran through the crowd looking for people to mosh with and everybody kind of shied back and waited for her to climb back on the stage with the help of a hype man.

so in summation: u old

well done, you came up with a mammoth TWO good prince covers. my point was totally off base!

monae is a fab live performer, just not doing that song. i think she should have picked something like under the cherry moon or do you lie, something less obvious that would give her a chance to show off her more theatrical side. lets go crazy is too 'big' a song for her.

Your point was totally off base; most absolute proclamations are.

name some other good prince covers then. of course theres a few good ones (sinead and chaka being the most obvious) but most of them dont work imo cos of how vital princes personality is to them.

I have a sneaking suspicion you don't know what the word "never" means

*cough* TWILIGHT SINGERS... *coughcough*

ive relaxed my position from 'never' to mostly. and no twilight singers doesnt really change that.

Prince covers

Two great ones off the top of my head:

Cyndi Lauper - When You Were Mine
Elvis Costello - Pop Life

Just got this in a mailout:

Janelle Monae proved that she is undoubtedly a star on the rise in a live session KCRW (89.9FM and KCRW.com) taped in front of a small studio audience at legendary producer Bob Clearmountain’s Berkeley Street Studio in Santa Monica, and now it will hit the airwaves just in time for the holiday weekend.

The forward thinking R&B diva’s performance, as well as an interview with KCRW Music Director Jason Bentley, will be available online in the archives here and air live on Morning Becomes Eclectic at 11:15am on July 2: http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb/mb100702janelle_monae

Janelle’s ambitious sophomore album “The ArchAndroid” is currently the most played album on KCRW and the station supported the Atlanta-based musician very early on in her career.

The interview touched on a wide variety of topics, from her desire to “preserve art,” her musical theater background and comparisons to David Bowie to working with Sean Combs, her own artist collective -- the Wondaland Arts Society – and, best of all, her hairstyle.

“I'm the type of person that I experiment in my room when I'm alone and I just come up with all these crazy things, and whatever works, you know, works. It works for me and it's a “Monae.” People call it a "Whompador," and a "Pompador,"- it's called a Monae.”

Janelle referenced her single “Tightrope” in talking about how she is handling the praise she is getting for her work, saying she’s not getting to high off of any accolades or too low off critiques but sticking to her core values.

“My community and the people are my main focus and I want to always stay connected to them and creating the music that uplifts them,” said Monae.

“I have parents, my mother was a janitor growing up and my father drove trash trucks and my stepfather, who is just like my father, works at the Post Office. So, I wear uniforms, black and white, paying homage to them. It just keeps me connected. This is my job, this is my responsibility to create music to uplift them and free them from any oppression, or people holding them back, or depression. I want my music to be their choice of drug, you know? So that's what I'm focused on.”

Hear the full performance and interview, and view a transcript, online here: http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb/mb100702janelle_monae

Okay, one small complaint. In the spoken word bit in the last track: "This time we will relax." After all this dramatic musical and verbal ("and violence will not move me") build-up we get "this time we will relax"?! That sounds like my mother making plans for another Friday evening at home watching TV and eating to many Doritos. (Thank goodness Janelle Monae comes back singing before it ends.)

(I somehow have trouble referring to her simply as either "Monae" or "Janelle." Not sure why.)

late pass but this record is fun as hell. 2010 is the best for music. is this thread worth reading?

there's a decent amount of hate iirc

People get quite involved. Some of it's interesting, probably worth a skim.

its weird how almost every interview i read with JM is near identical. someones been press groomed very well.

well ive only read about 4, but still.

or.... everyone is asking her the exact same things

Just bought a couple tix for the Janelle Monae + Of Montreal tour, which is gonna be monstrous.

xpost -- exactly what I was thinking.

i'm always surprised when people are, er, surprised that artists give the same answers to every interviewer. if i had to spend all day being asked the same or similar questions i'd go on autopilot after a while too.

well yeah it could be that. but i also thought it might just be old fashioned artist grooming. plus it would also tie into jm's love of 50s/60s pop.

I interviewed her recently and found that the first 20 minutes was boilerplate blah while she was talking about the album but she opened up and became more interesting and warmer as we moved on. It supports my theory that most interviewees can only keep up the boilerplate for half an hour, which is why I always try to get an hour if I can, and why publicists like to keep things short.

so basically, always ask for the last slot in the day? ;)

or first!

# BookishBohem
Anyone who DOESN'T like Janelle Monae is probably just a CLONE of whatever's popular and is terrified that they might have to change now.

# Sky Pie La Blondie iSpySky
You can be indifferent toward the music if it's not your cup of tea, but Janelle Monae is one of most well-intentioned artists around today.

# SMarie GiirlFriday
RT Seriously if u dislike Janelle Monae...u generally suck as a human being. #thereitis/ this is where i wud side eye @mskayess; not Nemore!

"Seriously if u dislike Janelle Monae...u generally suck as a human being."

^^correct.

It's not exactly news, but I have not stopped loving this album.

my vinyl copy is still in mail limbo :(

Anyone else see her on SYTYCD?

She's supporting Vampire Weekend in London in December!

Supporting? What's wrong with you people over there.

What's wrong with you people over there.

new board description

VW are more popular in the US, too, Ned

christ, archandroid is only getting better. just ignore the egregious spelling mistakes on the vinyl packaging. i want to smack the person responsible for failing on such a monumental record.

xpost -- no need to remind me of that! I'll pretend otherwise!

how's about that "cold war" video, eh? i loved the shit out of it. i hear it as someone emerging from a spine-crushing relationship, so i don't care if that crying was real or her theater or whatever background

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqmORiHNtN4

man the tightrope remix is fucking fucking fucking HORRIBLE

So so good.

ultimately this ended up being one of those things that i thought was really cool then never ended up wanting to listen to