Janelle Monae is a girl from another planet, and she's invading your world. Open your minds, earthlings, and prepare to be launched into an alternate universe. "I'm an alien from outer space," declares Janelle Monáe on the first song of her debut album, Metropolis: The Chase Suite (Special Edition). Toto, we are no longer in Kansas anymore.
Be prepared for a sci-fi soundtrack with elements of musical theater, funk and the dirty south. Her alter ego, Cindi Mayweather, the heroine of The Chase, is an "Alpha Platinum 9000 android." She is on the run because she's fallen in love with a human being, a situation that is forbidden in the future landscape of Metropolis. Monae insists that her real identity is Cindi Mayweather, an android traveling through space and time to escape destruction ordered because she fell in love with a human, a fatal infraction of robots' rules.
Along the way, she's making music that moves into the future while drawing from decades past.
Monáe has carved out her own path by following her instincts. "I want to be looked at as a leader and a businesswoman…My goal is to help bring as many people as I possibly can together with my music." She may be living in a fantasy world of her own creation, but Janelle Monáe is confident you won’t want to leave once you’ve visited.
When her song "Many Moons" was nominated for a Grammy in December, it was in the urban/alternative category. At a Los Angeles show this month, she mixed 20th-century classics with her own futuristic songs. Monae delivered a sweet version of Nat King Cole's "Smile" while standing atop a barstool. Senior citizens danced the "Twist" when her band broke out into the Beatles' 1964 hit "I Saw Her Standing There."
Janelle Monae: The next big thing? Poised to (possibly) break out in a major way, Monáe certainly has the pedigree to justify the buzz. Once a protege of fellow Atlantan Big Boi, Monae signed to Bad Boy Records last year, thereby making Diddy one of her biggest cheerleaders. She plays herself in two episodes of the Sci Fi Channel's "Stargate Universe" this fall. Sightings of the singer-songwriter will include this week's "American Idol" finale, the Hollywood Bowl and concert stages across America this summer. Janelle Monáe is a Grammy Award-nominated American urban/alternative singer, and performer.
Monae clearly has her own sound and style. Usually garbed in a dapper suit-and-tie -- and sporting some sort of combination of a mohawk and Afro -- the lady stands out in a crowd. So, what's the problem? Well, her music is, shall we say, odd. Her dense, other-worldly songs manage to sound both futuristic and throwback to Motown. While interesting, her mass-appeal is questionable. Monae seems like a love-her-or-hate-her artist who isn't going to change for the sake of commercial success. In other words, the next Rihanna or Beyonce she’s not. We have no idea who her closest contemporaries might be without hearing a full album. Is she just another example of an artist whose buzz has been artificially created by the internet? Only time will tell.
Some of Janelle Monáe's musical influences include Judy Garland, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Jackie Wilson, Grace Brown, Karen O, Lauryn Hill, Mick Jagger, Stevie Wonder, Outkast, Nona Hendryx, Bach, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Fiona Apple, Björk, Anita Baker, and The Hives.
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