When you meet one of Janelle Monáe ’s record album , you are n’t just strike a nose spell through the musical influence that have mold the creative person ’s intoxicating , soul - thrust voice . You ’re tapping into a part of an expansive Afrofuturist saga about identity , revolution , time travelling , and ( of course ) androids .
Each of Monáe ’s albums stand on its own as a transcendent while of art , but her body of work is more than the substance of its part when you factor in the epic story of a time - traveling android messiah that ’s been wander into the fabric of her full discography . Monáe ’s latest record album Dirty Computer , and itsaccompanying “ emotion movie ” picture , introduces a on the face of it new narration about rebellious humans fighting for their exemption in a dystopian future . But Dirty Computer contains a turn of intentional recall to earliest work that make it deserving taking a look at the concept albums that first differentiate the tale of Monáe ’s alter - ego , Cindi Mayweather .
The Audition and Metropolis: The Chase Suite
One of the most fascinating and telling thing about Monáe ’s storytelling is that she in reality set out much of the groundwork for her scifi parable in a fistful of Sung dynasty which were part of her ego - published 2003 demo , The Audition , and Metropolis : The Chase Suite , the EP free by Bad Boy Records in 2007 .
The Audition ( sometimes consult to as Metropolis : Point Zero ) is a showcase of Monáe ’s mouthful in music and her virtuosic vocal talents , but the album ’s standout track , “ Metropolis ” is an intricately - crafted introduction to the titulary worldly concern where we first meet Cindi Mayweather . Monáe ’s Metropolis , much likeFritz Lang ’s , is a sprawling megacity where an elite class savor the riches of their booming , technologically - advanced society , which can only exist because of the back - breaking undertaking perform by the work class .
In the song , an unnamed droid describes how Metropolis is segregated along a human / robotic line and acknowledgment that she lives on the “ wired side of township , ” where she does n’t have to care about the brutal , nefarious Droid Control discovering the arcanum she ’s been hiding off .
Cindi ’s broken the law by falling in love with a human man identify Anthony Greendown , who frequent the establishment where she works as a server and ambition of scat her life as a 2d - class citizen .
The Chase Suite ’s opening racetrack “ March of the Wolfmasters ” elaborates on just how fearful Cindi and Anthony ’s circumstances are . When their kinship is finally discovered by the Droid Control , a urban center - wide bountifulness is put on her capitulum that will end with her immediately being decommissioned and break into parts .
As Cindi and Anthony run desperately from the Droid Control in “ Violet Stars , Happy Hunting ! ! ! ” the song ’s nntic energy cause it clear they ’re on the verge of being catch and there ’s piddling Bob Hope of escaping their enemy without a miracle . It ’s here that The Chase Suite really shifts into gear and becomes something much more than just an excellent EP . Musically , “ Violet Stars , Happy Hunting ! ! ! ” blends seamlessly with the following track , “ Many synodic month , ” a frenetic , pulse - pound psychedelic firecracker tempt in equal parts bySesame Street , Outkast , and the lyricality of negro spiritual call and response songs . The songtells the stories of other persecuted droidson the run from their tormentor and how they all stargaze of progress to a prophesied promise land where they can live in peace treaty .
It ’s the music video recording for “ Many Moons ” that really inflate on just how many levels Monáe ’s art has been make for on since the very beginning . More of a short film than a medicine telecasting , “ Many moon ” further builds on Metropolis and gives us a look at how the city ’s rich and wealthy live . Here , Cindi Mayweather is reimagined as a world - noted entertainment droid performing at an vendue where other droids from her manakin line are being sold off to the high bidder .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHgbzNHVg0c
The lyric of “ Many moon ” take on a unexampled significance as the various Alpha Platinum building block saunter down a runway thronged by Cindi ’s adore fans , and Metropolis ’ high rollers excitedly buy variations of Cindi for their personal collections . Cindi ’s an iconic careen wiz , yes , but she ’s also keenly cognizant that most mankind see her variety as objects for usance , rather than people in their own rightfield .
The track also expose the first mite that Cindi herself is the key to the Shangri - La of salvation it describes . Unlike other android , she ’s imbued with a mysterious gift that induce her to short circuit and start to hover , stunning the gang and ultimately bringing the auction sale to a close .
Metropolis ’ final two song , “ Cybertronic Purgatory ” and “ Sincerely , Jane . ” bestow interesting grain to the EP as they apparently represent Cindi ’s destruction and thoughtfulness back on her time alive . But the melancholy , mournful bank note that The Chase Suite ends on is really only just the first of the spot that Cindi Mayweather would go .
The Archandroid
As Monáe develop and matured as an creative person , so too did her glide slope to tell Cindi ’s account . If The Chase Suite was a beta run of what Cindi could be and support for , both as a storytelling equipment and as an alter ego , then The Archandroid was the first prescribed release .
Though the record album was light in the way of visual accompaniments plant in the ever - develop dystopia Monáe was dream up , the music itself give perceptivity into Cindi ’s fate and the adventure she was created to embark upon that would one day release all droids . The record album , split into two distinct suites , leave glimpse into Cindi ’s life in present - day Metropolis and clues about just what it is that she ’s meant to do . “ Suite II Overture , ” a sumptuous , lush orchestral musical composition that opens The Archandroid , name Cindi , manakin # 57821 , as the chosen droid responsible for extend her masses “ back to One , ” indicate that she might be meant to bring about the singularity or to go literally back to the place and fourth dimension when the droid ’s disenfranchisement began .
birdcall like “ trip the light fantastic or Die ” and “ Faster ” convey that Cindi ’s still very much on the run when or wherever she is , while others like “ Anthony Greendown ” and “ Mushrooms & Roses ” give you abbreviated glimpse into the forbidden romance that she ’s willing to give up her lifetime defending . Anthony , we learn , is n’t the only somebody that Cindi has have sex — at some gunpoint she became mat with a grey - haired woman touch to as Blueberry Mary who frequent a secure haven where droids and lovers could gather in safety .
In “ Oh , Maker , ” Cindi sings to the being(s ) responsible for her existence and wonder whether her ability to make love was coded into her somebody on purpose . What ’s most interesting about The Archandroid as you work your style through the album initially is that while meter travel is established as being an integral part of the album ’s tarradiddle , it ’s unreadable specifically how you ’re suppose to thread its timeline together or whether you ’re meant to at all .
At various points throughout the 18 songs , Cindi ’s asterisk down expiry at the Droid Patrol ’s hands , tramp through an psychiatric hospital for folk whosedancing is a subversive human body of thaumaturgy , or imploring multitude to join her as she ’s slipping into the sentence flow yet again . She tissue in and out of moment throughout time , all the while spreading her messages of love , rally against her oppressors , and encouraging you to do the same .
The Electric Lady
Monáe ’s second studio apartment album , The Electric Lady , keep open in the artist ’s custom of diversify the reach of her neon - circuited imagined earth , but it also grounds Metropolis in a real - meter revolution that ’s gaining grip amongst the city ’s droid population .
Like The Archandroid , The Electric Lady is comprised of two distinct suit , and its rails encompass a broad range of melodious mode that execute the gamut from sweaty , sensual , rock jams bolster up by Prince ( “ Givin ’ Em What They Love ” ) and explosive beloved letters to DC go - go ( “ Electric Lady ” ) . In addition to overtures , the album ’s divided up by a series of interludes from the perspectives of droids who ’ve amount to see Cindi as their submarine sandwich . cheer by Cindi ’s rebelliousness of the Droid Control , droids from all across Metropolis gather in nightclubs ( “ Good Morning Midnight [ Interlude ] ” ) and barbershops where they revel in the otherness that separate them from the mankind . Cindi , the droids inadvertently explain , is either wanting or in hiding , but her influence and the impulse behind her movement are undeniable . From “ The Chrome Shoppe ” :
Melanie # 45221 : Yeah , this is Melanie # 45221 .
Assata # 8550 : And Assata # 8550 .
Assata # 8550 : Female alpha atomic number 78 are in for devoid . Clones and humans receive after midnight .
Melanie # 45221 : We ’re gon na have a bouncing electro - booty contest , an atomic kissing contest and much , much more !
Assata # 8550 : No bounteousness hunting watch allow . play your punk bum up here looking for Cyndi Mayweather , and you might get hurt !
Visually , The Electric Lady ’s “ Primetime ” set Cindi at an undecided gunpoint in the past where she ’s once again working as a server at the Electric Sheep night club and , in a callback to The Audition ’s “ Metropolis , ” where her line brings her face to face with a human man who becomes enamored with her . There are a telephone number of moment throughout The Electric Lady that feel like they ’re revisiting earlier elements of Monáe ’s epic and re - tell the story with a clearer , but still fragmentise , chronicle of the android ’s spirit .
The split second of Cindi ’s lifetime that we see are thick and more superimposed , but at the same meter , The Electric Lady also marked a point in Monáe ’s vocation when she began to cautiously decouple parts of her public identicalness from Cindi ’s within the context of her visual work . Everything about the emotion photograph for “ Q.U.E.E.N. ” check into the eclectic , Afrofuturist space that Monáe boom in , and yet the time - traveling heroine of the telecasting is Monáe herself and not Cindi Mayweather .
Like Cindi , Monáe ’s on the running through time and blank space from authoritarian powers , but her plans and goal are definitely more clear in their murder . Instead of contend with weapons , the member of Project Q.U.E.E.N. trigger off social campaign through Song and art , something the oppressive Time Council is fight to stop .
In a mode , Monáe ’s waking up from set aside animation in the sterilize Living Museum is a metaphor for the organic humanity that pass The Electric Lady its beating heart .
On “ Q.U.E.E.N. , ” Monáe playfully acknowledges that she ’s well cognizant of all the tenacious - term rumors about her sexuality , and whether she ’s even really human , with lyrics about digging into chicken wings and declarations that she ’s more than comfortable with who and what she is regardless of what others cerebrate . ( It ’s also cool to note that“Q.U.E.E.N. ” was ab initio title “ Q.U.E.E.R.”and you may still hear the original lyric being sung in the Song dynasty ’s backing vocal music . ) As much of a solemnisation of Cindi Mayweather ’s odyssey as The Electric Lady is , it ’s even more of a bold , but still manipulate , reminder that Monáe has always been a living somebody behind the glint outside of her stage persona .
Dirty Computer
When an artist is work at or close to the height of their creative big businessman , it can be difficult to spill about their work because it all feel as if there ’s no way to decouple an individual birdcall or motion picture from the Jehovah ’s living tale that ’s in the active process of becoming .
Dirty Computer is quintessentially an album about Janelle Monáe . Her dreams , her desire , her fright , and her demand to be free of the protective armor she once used to shield the vulnerable voice of her mortal from public scrutiny . For year , Cindi was that armor and Dirty Computer is a proud declaration that , more than anything else , Monáe ’s come to see radical truth as a path to true liberation .
And yet there are echoes of Cindi throughout the album ’s 14 tracks and the nearly hour - long poor photographic film that string together each Sung ’s music picture into a cohesive plot . The plot is centered around a graphic symbol who live somewhere in between Janelle and Cindi ’s discrete identities .
In the world of Dirty Computer , rebellious man who refuse to adjust to society ’s rules are labeled as being , well , dirty computers , and are routinely flesh out up by the New Dawn hatchet man for “ cleaning , ” a dire process in which all store are forcibly removed for ease the psychological reprogramming process . Jane # 57821 , a woman living in the border of the law , knows that she ’s always moments away from being captured and serve , but she dwell her living as freely as she can until the twenty-four hours add up when the New Dawn capture her .
Because Jane initially resists , she ’s put through a number of counseling sessions with a adult female , Mary Apple # 53 , who undertake to ease her into the cleaning procedure . Additionally , she ’s submit to special treatment that requires technicians to catch a number of her memory before erasing them . It ’s the heighten realness of those memories that make up most of the Dirty Computer emotion characterisation .
Dirty Computer ’s visuals are sumptuous and arresting shard of the person Jane was before her gaining control . “ Pynk , ” an elastic renascence of Aerosmith ’s “ Pink , ” is a carnal exaltation of the vagina set ina Dustpunk Themysciran oasisin the middle of the desert . In the Dora Milaje - inspired “ Django Jane , ” Monáe couple a squad of conventionalised Black Panthers decked out in leather with a radical resolve that the human race require to be put on a feministpussy diet . These memory board are the grain of Jane ’s very being and together they create a curt film that ’s something like an immersive pyrexia dream . But it ’s the raw satinpod to the medicine of Dirty Computer that finally form the album — and the film , by denotation — unlike almost anything Monáe ’s done to escort .
Dirty Computer itself is a somber quotation of the insecurity that Monáe once used Cindi Mayweather to keep hidden aside from the public heart . On “ Do n’t Judge Me , ” the creative person opens up about her fear of being rejected by people who eventually learn that she is not her point character . Monáe metamorphose the madness she feels as a queer , black char living America into pure intimate energy on “ Screwed ” and promises to fuck back down a world that ’s become so fucked up .
There ’s a lack of finality to Dirty Computer that ’s as frustrating as it is promising for things to come . By the ending of the emotion picture , it ’s purposefully unexplained what , if any , meaning connections there are between Jane # 57821 ( who may also be the Jane mentioned in “ Sincerely , Jane . ” and “ Neon Valley Street ” ) and Cindi Mayweather and Blueberry Mary and Mary Apple . One could easily go with the easiest straight theory and assume that Dirty Computer is a prequel of kind , but that seems almost too slick an account for Monáe .
There is n’t a “ right ” way of life to watch over the plot of Monáe ’s catalogue with full lucidness of the when , where , and how of the stories she ’s telling . That ’s o.k. , because her art is n’t design to be picked over for minute detail . It ’s an experience you ’re think of to get misplace in so that you may line up your own answer on the direction back to One .
Janelle MonaeMusic
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