Black Django's IN-DEPTH review of Janelle Monáe's "The Electric Lady"

As always retweets are appreciated

There are very few artists I've praised as much as I have Janelle Monáe. Her debut, "The ArchAndroid" has gone on to be my favourite album of all time, due to the emotional potency, the cinematic quality front to back, and the incomparable passion carrying every moment.

Easily one of the most inventive R&B albums ever. With that project alone, she's proven herself to be capable of melting within next to any genre you could name. Her range and versatility is unreal. We had Hip-Hop joints, orchestral epics, psychedelic rock blended into the mix...

Soul, R&B... all of this culminates into an other-worldly experience that is unlike most. Still an underappreciated concept album... even 10 years into its existence.

And within only 3 years, Janelle would concoct a sequel that would not only extend her discography but retain her already brilliant songwriting ideas and explosive passion dripping into every song.

Although this time around, instead of hopping to one mind-melting song each with its own classification and identity, a majority of the tracklist keeps its foot firmly in the ground of R&B and pop, with the occasional flashes of rock and funk poured in between.

It took me a while to enjoy this album on its own without constantly comparing it with The ArchAndroid and diminishing it doing so... but I soon saw it as its own thing, and seeing its own merits... it grew on me, it became one of my favourite pop records of the last decade.

We begin with the opening "Suite IV Electric Overture", it's tradition for these acts to be as grand and as alluring as possible, sometimes they can be nostalgic and sentimental but in this case the opener serves to be nothing short of "BADASS". And an excellent tone setter.

10 / 10

We then transition into arguably one of the most electrifying moments in the Monáe discography, "Givin Em What They Love", featuring one of her biggest influences, the legendary Prince. As soon as he enters, he shuts shit down.

Then Monáe returns with a second verse, this time carrying this cute faux-agressive delivery and it might be one of her most animated performances yet.

Another MASTAPEECE.

Then there's the song with Badu... Christ "The Electric Lady" strikes me as the album of hers that utilizes features the best. Badu, Prince, Solange, Miguel and Esperanza all collide with Monáe in such an intoxicating way.

We stan btw

Monáe's rap verse at the tail end of the song is not only one of her best but it encapsulates the social intrigue that's always been in her music. It's not her most clever sets of bars but the way the instrumentation backs her up elivates the performance.

Electric Lady, Primetime and We Were Rock and Roll are infectious songs with astoundingly high replay value, all solid cuts respectively.

We continue down the tracklist and we find even more gems. Like this funky jam anthem, "Ghetto Woman", which is an ode to Monáe's mother and serves as well as a voice for black women in America... it's also still one of the best songs to her name

The back end of the album is stacked with some of the most dazzling and contagious songs in her catalog. FUCK.

"What an Experience" leaves everything in a neat bowtie and the album concludes, and we have another forward-thinking conceptual body of work that still carries an aura of passion. Excellent world-building, chorus ideas, tight and catchy grooves... sublime genre blending & more.

Overall it still concerns itself with the identity of Monáe, and it's from this point in her career where she continues to write songs that would mostly provide for herself. The ArchAndroid felt like it spoke for the people, Dirty Computer catered for herself and her undergoings,

but this album is the perfect hybrid between the two

TOP 5 • Dorothy Dandridge Eyes
• Ghetto Woman
• Electric Lady
• Q.U.E.E.N
• Given Em What They Love

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Wonderful album. I'm feeling a Light 9 on this thing... tran-

Sition! Have you heard this album already? If not I highly recommend it! Would you like to see me do another one of these reviews for a different artist? If so, lemme know!

Stan the

#janellemonae #famdroid #theelectriclady