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GRAMMYs

Janelle Monáe

Photo: Jolie Loren Photography

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Janelle Monáe On Choosing "Freedom Over Fear" janelle-mon%C3%A1e-choosing-freedom-over-fear-creating-dirty-computer

Janelle Monáe On Choosing "Freedom Over Fear" & Creating 'Dirty Computer'

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The GRAMMY-nominated trailblazer discusses her Atlanta roots, taking risks and finding creative community through creative solitude of 'Dirty Computer'
Jewel Wicker
GRAMMYs
Oct 8, 2018 - 2:30 pm

It’s been nearly a decade since most fans got their first glimpse of Janelle Monáe in the back of a pink Cadillac in OutKast’s “Morris Brown” video. The appearance was a fitting nod to the singer’s start at the Atlanta University Center, which houses Spelman College, Morehouse and Clark Atlanta University, and Morris Brown College, the first Historic Black College or University founded by black people in Georgia.  

Today, Monáe is front and center, but her dedication to Atlanta remains as clear as ever. I sat down with the singer in front of an intimate audience of Recording Academy members for an Up Close and Personal program at the Marquee Club inside The Fox Theatre on Oct. 2. The conversation spanned about thirty minutes and delved into Monáe’s artistry, as well as the Wondaland collective she helms.

Early in the discussion, Monáe told attendees she would often get escorted to the children’s church as a kid because she’d break out singing Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” during the Baptist church service. She said she was always inspired by her musically inclined family, including her father and grandmother, but there was one moment in particular that still stands out to her today.

“I remember the first time I got goosebumps when one of my aunts was singing in the church. She was just recovering from drugs and she had an amazing voice,” Monáe said. “When she got out of rehab, she came to church and my grandmother played the organ and I just remember getting chills. I remember her having this testimony and her speaking her truth and that feeling just stayed with me. It felt very magical. It felt transformative.” Throughout her career, this is a feeling she’s strived to give fans with her art.

Citing the quote “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” Monáe said she’s always focused on walking in her truth and contributing something unique to the ever-changing music industry. One of the first times she remembered feeling like she’d achieved this was the day she simultaneously released “Cold War” and “Tightrope” back in 2010.

“I felt in my zone and no matter if it was on the radio and no matter if it got the number of downloads from a business perspective that everyone was hoping for, I felt like I was being very honest and true to where I was,” she said of the two singles from The ArchAndroid.

This authenticity has long flowed through Monáe’s work, from the time she was a child writing sci-fi-based short stories at the Coterie Theatre in Kansas City to when she was performing at the Atlanta University Center (AUC).

“I started my career right here in Atlanta performing on the library steps of Club Woody, shout out to the AUC,” Monáe said. “I probably had like three fans. I loved them and it was a connection. They helped me feel like, ‘Man, I can really do this. People are listening.’”

It’s at the AUC that Monáe also teamed up with several Wondaland leaders, including her creative partners Chuck Lightning and Nate Wonder.

“We challenge each other. They’re amazing at what they do,” she said. “Obviously it starts with me but once we all get into the room I think that’s when the innovation happens. That’s when the magic starts.”

Monáe said she doesn’t have a go-to songwriting or production method, although she says she loves collaborating and getting feedback from Wondaland artists such as Jidenna and St. Beauty, who sat in the front row during the Up Close & Personal program. Monáe says she recorded much of her latest album, Dirty Computer, by herself in Atlanta, however.

Janelle Monáe_gallery_1
Janelle Monáe Up Close & Personal | Atlanta

“With this particular album, I actually recorded a lot of it by myself because I knew that it was going to take me going to some different dimensions of who I am as an artist and I just felt more safe doing it first and then letting everyone hear it,” she said, nodding to songs such as “Dirty Computer” and “So Afraid.”

“It’s all about growth and trying new things and being unafraid to fail in front of people, too,” she added. “I force myself to let people watch me sometimes.”

The collaborative spirit Monáe enjoys is also one of her favorite things about Atlanta’s music scene. When asked why it was important for her to set a company like Wondaland in the city, she responded “Atlanta is the s***” to cheers.

“I love that Atlanta is a collaborative place,” Monáe said. “As an artist who is on the rise has one hand up, they’re taking the other hand and they’re reaching back and pulling up the next artist. That’s what I love and respect about Atlanta.”

Monáe said Atlanta-based LaFace Records, which launched the careers of major artists including OutKast, TLC, Toni Braxton and Usher, was a huge inspiration for her. But, she’s also inspired by the college students in the city who are graduating and building companies in Atlanta. Monáe hopes Wondaland can contribute to the creative atmosphere that’s already thriving in Atlanta. Her goal is to work with artists who have something to say and aren’t afraid of being open and honest. “The real juice is through your vulnerability,” she said.  

The recording process for Dirty Computer may have been mostly isolated, but Monáe said her latest album was created with “community” in mind. When I said her recent Atlanta concert reminded me of a “rally,” the singer said that’s exactly what she was striving for.

“It’s funny that you mentioned [the word] ‘rally’ because that was one of the words I wrote [down]. If you go to Wondaland now it’s on the whiteboard,” she said. “We wanted it to feel like a rally. We wanted it to be fun. We wanted it to feel like a party. We wanted [concert goers] to walk away feeling better about life.”

In order to do achieve this goal, Monáe said she knew she had to be clear about who she wanted to celebrate with this project (“Those of us who want this country to work for all of us and not just some”) and who she wasn’t afraid to “piss off, with love.”

Monáe wants to pass the clarity she has as an artist on to other people in the industry, especially women. She started the organization Femme the Future to create more opportunities for women in entertainment.

“[Creatives] have the power to create the culture and shape it to what we want it to be,” she said. “And we also have the power to undo the culture if it does not serve us well.”

Monáe said she learned early on in her career that, “We don’t all have to take the same coordinates to reach the same destination,” but she also hopes to pass along the importance of self-assuredness to anyone hoping to follow in her footsteps.

“Know what you want to say because if you don’t know what you want to say, somebody else is going to put words in your mouth,” she said. “You’re going to be living someone else’s story until you figure it out.”

“In those moments of fear, choose freedom over fear,” she said. “That’s something else I try to tell myself. I don’t always listen, to be quite honest.”

Getting it right isn’t the point, though. For Monáe, being unafraid to take the risk is what ultimately yields the best results.

Jewel Wicker is an Atlanta-based entertainment and culture reporter who has written for Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, The Fader, Atlanta Magazine, and more.

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Beyoncé in 'Black Is King'

Beyoncé in Black Is King

 

Photo: Robin Harper

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Inside The Visual World Of Beyoncé & Black Is King beyonce-black-is-king-2021-grammys

Inside The Visual World Of Beyoncé And 'Black Is King,' Her "Love Letter" To Black Men

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GRAMMY.com spoke with the directors and producers behind Beyoncé's 2020 GRAMMY-nominated visual album, 'Black Is King,' about how the project came together and Bey's impact as a visual artist
Jewel Wicker
GRAMMYs
Mar 9, 2021 - 9:56 am

For Women's History Month 2021, GRAMMY.com is celebrating some of the women artists nominated at the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show. Today, we honor Beyoncé, who's currently nominated for nine GRAMMYs.

In a 2011 interview, Beyoncé revealed the things she wanted to accomplish before her 40th birthday. "I would love to direct—continue to learn videos and maybe by then [make] a film, a short film," she told Access Online. "[Or film] a documentary, I love documentaries." The singer will turn 40 in September having accomplished that goal.

Since that interview, the global pop star has continued to steadily hone her craft to become one of today's most influential visual storytellers in pop music. She began experimenting with visuals on her 2006 sophomore solo album, B'Day, but it wasn't until years later, when she released her surprise 2013 self-titled record that she delivered a true "visual album" that pushed the envelope—every song had a music video and all visuals were released together without any promotion.

The 2016 critically acclaimed Lemonade added a narrative between each music video—something Beyoncé hadn't done before—to create a cohesive look at Black generational trauma. In 2019, she released the GRAMMY-winning documentary Homecoming, giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at her preparation for her historic Coachella performance in between concert footage.

With the critically-acclaimed visual albums and documentary under her belt, she turned her sights to another visual goal. Last year, Beyoncé released Black Is King, the feature-length film inspired by her work with Disney on the 2019 remake of The Lion King. The nearly 90-minute film that premiered on Disney+ started as a quick test shoot in Beyoncé's backyard in The Hamptons but ultimately took more than a year to make and spanned several countries.

At the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show, Black Is King is nominated for Best Music Film, following Beyoncé's win for Homecoming in the category in 2020. (She's also nominated for Best Music Video for "Brown Skin Girl," a single off the 2019 accompanying soundtrack album, The Lion King: The Gift.)

Ahead of this year's GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com spoke with Black Is King directors Kwasi Fordjour, Emmanuel Adjei and Jenn Nkiru, as well as producers Lauren Baker and Erinn Williams about how the project came together, why they envisioned it as a "love letter" to Black men amid a global pandemic and racial uprising, and Beyoncé's impact as a visual artist.

"Already" Was The First And, Originally, The Only Video Planned For Beyoncé's The Lion King: The Gift Album

Lauren Baker (Parkwood Entertainment producer): The entire idea came from just one music video. We were just going to shoot "Already" and that escalated into a short mini-film. 15 minutes tops. That escalated into the film that you see today.

Kwasi Fordjour (Parkwood Entertainment Associate Creative Director; co-director of Black Is King): She mentioned doing a test shoot [for "Already"] and she's the type of creator where it's just like, let's get the most out of this moment. If it's good, we're going to use it. We were testing the body paint and seeing if the body paint was going to work. We were like, "how can we use her time wisely?" We're at her house in the Hamptons. We noticed a tree. It's an elevated plane. [It] could be anywhere. Let's try this. I had to get in the tree first, that was the deal. I showed her the shot and that's how that happened. We were able to use that shot. That's kind of how we roll.

We started shooting a few videos and we were kind of expecting it [to turn into a larger project] because that's just what she does. She is the queen of visual albums. Once [we knew it'd be a visual album], we just switched gears. We had no time to really think about it or be too nervous. It was like "OK, what directors are we calling?"

Lauren Baker (Parkwood Entertainment producer): [There were] a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of early mornings. A lot of traveling. One minute we're supposed to be in New York for a week and now I'm there for three months. It was just a lot of managing, being sensitive to these creative minds and making sure that their vision is being heard, respected and shown. But, at the same time, being practical.

The Visual Album Was Inspired By The Lion King But Not Restricted By The Movie's Storyline

Lauren Baker (Parkwood Entertainment producer): Lion King obviously was a spark of it, but it kind of elevated once we got into it more. We still use the base storyline but it's a whole different world now.

Kwasi Fordjour (Parkwood Entertainment creative director; Black Is King director): Coming off the album and trying to approach this in a way that could appeal to adults and also children, [we wanted to] humanize these characters. How can people watching this see themselves?

Emmanuel Adjei (Black Is King director): What was really a gift from heaven is that the world was ready to digest a film like this. It's really a visual masterpiece. I feel like when [there was a] release date, we knew it was definitely going to do something. What we didn't know is that it would resonate with not only Black people but with a lot of people in the world. I guess that's where Disney also comes in. Suddenly, it becomes this modern tale. In that sense, [it] became a manifesto for minorities in general.

Beyoncé Wanted Black Is King To Represent The Global Diaspora

Jenn Nkiru (Black Is King director): Something we were constantly all thinking about is diaspora. The beauty is for people to understand that we are everywhere. We are all unified under a shared experience of Blackness. But culturally, depending on where you're at in the world, it's different. It was such a beautiful honor to be able to see such diversity within our culture. Oftentimes we're regarded as minorities, but I like to regard us as people of a global majority.

Emmanuel Adjei (Black Is King director): [A passion for Ghaniana and Nigerian cinema] is something I was brought up with so naturally that was kind of my reference frame. The thing that really inspired me the most about African cinema was the way they use their narrative strategies. It was, you could say, very non Western, but very Western influenced. It was a mixture of Western sci-fi mixed with African folklore stories and spirituality. That was such a unique library for me to tap into when making my own films. Black Is King is definitely a modern tale where that all collides.

Kwasi Fordjour (Parkwood Entertainment creative director; Black Is King director):

Beyoncé had very specific things that she wanted to do. Whether [incorporating] West African or South African culture, there were nuances that we liked that we wanted to spotlight. But there were also other things that directors brought to the table. Collectively, we picked and chose what we wanted to use and what was relevant to the different parts of the songs. There were conversations after conversations and text messages after text messages. It was a long process.

The Visual Album Was Completed Amid A Pandemic And Social Unrest

Erinn Williams (Parkwood Entertainment Head of Production): Every project is a little bit different because you have different collaborators and objectives. But I will say this one got to be just about the hardest ever because we had to finish it in a pandemic. We were still doing some small pickup shoots when we went into lockdown. In addition to the pandemic, we had the social [uprising] and the death of George Floyd. It's quite a lot to be creating a film for young men to value themselves at the same time young Black men are being killed by police. It was a very, very difficult thing for the team to process that while working on a film that really speaks to that. We knew that the timing was right, but you're talking about people who are triggered and raw at a time when they're trying to finish this film. It was challenging on many levels, emotionally and physically.

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Kwasi Fordjour (Parkwood Entertainment creative director; Black Is King director): We had already started this idea. We were developing this self-identity piece and this love letter and next thing you know everything started happening. It was like if this is not what we need right now, I don't know what is. It was like this divine intervention. To be working on a piece like this and then going into this culturally and socially, I never really experienced anything like that in my life, as far as the creative process. Being able to do something that was a love letter to fellow women and men, and our culture, in a time when we need a pick-me-up, that is something that I will never forget.

Lauren Baker (Parkwood Entertainment Senior Creative Producer): We're in the process of editing, I'm going to color bays every day, in the middle of VFX. Having to work remotely with multiple post houses was crazy. The Internet's not good so I can't stream correctly. That part technically was tricky.

Dialogue In The Film Came From Behind The Scenes Footage Featuring Men In The Cast

Erinn Williams (Parkwood Entertainment executive producer): On one of our shoots, we were shooting some behind the scenes of some of the men that were in our cast. They had such beautiful statements about how they perceive themselves, how they would like to be seen [and] who they want to be.

Kwasi Fordjour (Parkwood Entertainment creative director; Black Is King director): We weren't expecting to use it and right before COVID-19, we were planning on doing some reshoots because we felt like there were some missing pieces in the story. After COVID happened, and we weren't able to travel, one of our team members came to us and showed us what she'd been working on. Erin was like "I think we can use these."' We presented the idea to Beyoncé and [she] was like go for it. I worked with [writer and editor] Andrew Morrow to start sculpting the story around these monologues.

The Project Is Also An Ode To Black Women, As Well As Other Women Of Color

Jenn Nkiru (Black Is King director): I had the idea to do a debutante ball [for "Brown Skin Girl"]. I was keen to do that based on it being a rite of passage, and thinking about what kind of what space could we create that allows for us to have an intergenerational conversation where you see women of all ages together celebrating young girls. Alongside our incredible A-list women that we had on screen, there were a lot of women who are community worker [and] activists. It's a spectrum of womanhood, from seeing presentations of Black and brown womanhood that's highly feminine to more masculine of center. I was really proud that we were able to achieve that.

Anywhere you have people of color, there is some form of a caste system or understanding that colorism is at play, you know, and so I really wanted to expand that conversation. We have women in the piece who are of southeast Asian heritage, I have an indigenous Brazilian woman in the piece. We wanted to have as expansive [of a] conversation as possible. That was really critical to me.

Beyoncé in 'Black Is King'

Beyoncé in Black Is King | Photo: Travis Matthews

Beyoncé Empowered Black Is King Collaborators Behind The Scenes

Erinn Williams (Parkwood Entertainment executive producer): She tends to surround her projects with a spectrum of people. With her being the lead director on this, the final creative decisions come from her, but she absolutely encourages collaboration, and bringing together disciplines that may not always function together.

Emmanuel Adjei (Black Is King director): She really made sure that [I] could feel comfortable in my position.

Jenn Nkiru (Black Is King director): What was extremely exciting about this was being able to do it on the scale we did it at. I very much brought myself and that's also to Beyoncé's credit because she instilled so much confidence in me to work the way I typically work within the scale we were working. A lot of the team that I typically work with in the smaller, tiny things I do, I was able to bring to a stage like this. I casted it myself, along with my choreographer. We were able to bring our own styling teams.

Kwasi Fordjour (Parkwood Entertainment creative director; Black Is King director): She started at 14,15 years old and was sitting at tables at a young age where people would try to say that she didn't deserve [to be there] because she was so young. She brings that over into her leadership style. There's no limit to who and what age you can be to collaborate. If you have a vision and she sees the vision, she will rally. I was the first intern at her office in New York City and I worked my way up from intern to creative assistant, creative coordinator and manager. It was just doing whatever was necessary, taking the projects that weren't the most popular, trying to put your best foot forward in order to define your role and your position within a company. I think that has defined my journey into roles where I was taking the projects that were the most popular.

Beyoncé in 'Black Is King'

Beyoncé in Black Is King | Photo Courtesy of Parkwood Entertainment

Beyoncé's Evolution As A Visual Artist Has Pushed The Industry As A Whole 

Kwasi Fordjour (Parkwood Entertainment creative director; Black Is King director): It's been a very rewarding process to watch and how she's taken a more cinematic perspective to the visual album. When she first did it, talking about B'Day, Beyonce, there were music videos and then it slowly but surely involved into something more holistic, more narrative and more cinematic. I'm anxious to see how she furthers it and where she takes it next.

Erinn Williams (Parkwood Entertainment executive producer): I can go all the way back to the digital album because I [executive produced] on that as well. It was her first fully fleshed out visual album. She saw something that even the people on her team didn't see with that album. What I find remarkable about working with her is how much she elevates everything she touches. She directs the shoots. She directs in the edits. When we got to Black Is King, we imagined something that was going to be a real cultural stamp. It's what she does. She has a magic touch sometimes when it comes to being on the zeitgeist of something that is needed at that moment. She said it best when she said that if Lemonade was about generational curses, Black Is King is about generational wealth. That was behind every decision that she made.

Take A Closer Look At The Best Music Video Nominees | 2021 GRAMMYs

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Janelle Monáe performing in 2010

Photo by Noel Vasquez/Getty Images

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10 Years Of Janelle Monáe's 'The ArchAndroid' these-dreams-are-forever-10-years-janelle-mon%C3%A1es-archandroid

These Dreams Are Forever: 10 Years Of Janelle Monáe's 'The ArchAndroid'

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The Recording Academy revisits the singer/songwriter's wildly ambitious debut studio album
Jordan Blum
GRAMMYs
May 18, 2020 - 9:24 am

Over the past 15 years, Afrofuturist artist and activist Janelle Monáe has arguably become the Renassiance woman of modern popular culture. After all, she’s achieved a virtually matchless amount of professional success and eclecticism in several fields, such as acting, business and fashion. Clearly, she's a multitalented tour-de-force whose ambitions, skills and perseverance know no bounds. That said, while those ancillary achievements are undeniably remarkable, it’s always been her dazzlingly varied, targeted and clever music that reigns supreme.

In particular, her debut LP, The ArchAndroid, set the stage for all that’d she’d come to be. Released in May 2010 through a partnership between her label Wondaland Arts Society, Bad Boy and Atlantic Records, its fusion of star-crossed sci-fi chronicle, genre-splicing wonderment and interwoven social and personal commentaries signified Monáe as not only a wildly imaginative and capable creator, but also as a fearless spokesperson for external progressivism and internal agency. Unsurprisingly, it resonated with people from the get-go, and although she’s subsequently continued the narrative on 2013’s The Electric Lady—before abandoning her cybernetic veil to fully own her identity with 2018’s Dirty Computer—The ArchAndroid remains her magnum opus.

Conceptually, the record picks up where 2007’s Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase) EP—itself a brief but brilliant appetizer that overtly alludes to Fritz Lang’s 1927 film—left off. At this point, Monáe has already introduced listeners to the plight of her central protagonist and real life alter-ego, Cindi Mayweather (an android who faces oppression and termination in the midst of falling in love with a human, Anthony Greendown). Therefore, she expands Mayweather’s role as both victim and vindicator on The ArchAndroid, with Mayweather continuing to fight against bigotry, tyranny and inequality by becoming a messianic champion of unbridled love, co-existence and free will. Fascinatingly, scholars Daylanne K. English and Alvin Kim—in their text "Now We Want Our Funk Cut: Janelle Monáe’s Neo-Afrofuturism"—suggest that the even character’s surname is symbolic, as it "combines sunny spring and the possibility of death (she ‘may’ or may not ‘weather’ her trials)."

Of course, Monáe is far from the first visionary to tackle such storylines, parables and apperances. In terms of both plot and presentation, her early 2010s aesthetic mirrors that of David Bowie’s 1972 classic Ziggy Stardust, when he also wrote about a dystopic world through the eyes of a sexually fluid savior. (Likewise, his "look" was perhaps just as provocatively prophetic as Monáe’s; however, her famous tuxedo variants are rooted in her upbringing, as they represent a stylish nod to the working class jobs—janitor, maid, trash truck driver, etc.—she and/or her parents had). Similarly, you can’t overlook the parallels to George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic, whose visuals, sounds and messages were similarly colorful and liberating. Also, films like Terminator 2, District 9 and Blade Runner had previously explored the relationship being us and aliens or androids, all the while centering on the central question of what it means to be human. Hell, Monáe’s electronic/alt-rock hodgepodge "Make the Bus"—which also wears its Prince influence on its sleeve—directly references the last film’s inspiration, Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?

Beyond that, Monáe has never relented from her messages of acceptance, understanding and redefinition regarding the phenological Self and Other. Self-identified as bisexual and pansexual, Monáe’s main goal with every endeavor is to champion civil rights for all marginalized people, be they connected to race, patriarchy, class, faith, or the vast LGBTQ+ spectrum. In a July 2010 interview with The Guardian’s Hattie Collins, she even stipulates: "The ArchAndroid is a mythical figure who went around for centuries, similar to the archangel, or a Neo from The Matrix . . . [it] represents the minority, whether it's a black person, an immigrant, or coming from another country." Thus, the LP follows in the footsteps of other creative benchmarks—like the heavily allegorical X-Men—and solidifies Monáe’s aforementioned prominence in Afrofuturism.

It’s also worth noting the importance of Monáe helping to reestablish the concept album format as beloved and viable. Sure, the artform was quite popular from the late 1960s to the late 1970s; yet, outside of niche subgenres like progressive rock/metal and a few major exceptions (namely, Green Day’s American Idiot), they’re largely absent from the zeitgeist. With its immediate and sustained popularity, though, The ArchAndroid bucks that trend. Not only does it alternate between a multitude of styles—funk, pop, hip-hop, rock, neo-soul, R&B, and a bit of folk—as it houses weighty themes beneath a compelling narrative, but its use of symphonic "Suite" overtures and recurring motifs are just as striving and uncommon in mainstream music. Thus, The ArchAndroid evokes artists like Kate Bush, Madonna, Michael Jackson, James Brown and Simon & Garfunkel while connecting to everything from The Who’s Tommy and Quadrophenia to Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly and Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon series.

It’s no shock that a lot of work went into making the album. In fact, it was recorded between 2007 and 2010 at Wonderland Studios in Atlanta; produced by five people (Monáe, Nate "Rocket" Wonder, Roman GianArthur, Chuck Lightning, and Kevin Barnes); and featured many guests, including Saul Williams, Deep Cotton, Of Montreal, Big Boi (with whom Monáe worked on Outkast’s 2006 disc, Idlewild), and a host of orchestral players. As for its cover, John Calvert—in his Quietus write-up "Janelle Monáe: A New Pioneer of Afrofuturism"—wisely sees Monáe’s Egyptian headdress topped by the golden Metropolis as an "homage to free-jazz pioneer Sun Ra . . . who also declared himself a messianic savior and whose aesthetic was the first example of a black musician overtly appropriating sci-fi iconography."

Naturally, all of that effort—as well as the elaborate and intensive promotional period, which included many TV show apperances and a thought-provoking music video for "Tightrope"—paid off, as The ArchAndroid received praise from outlets like The A.V. Club, Entertainment Weekly, NME, Spin and Pitchfork. As a result, it earned her a GRAMMY Award nomination for Best Contemporary R&B Album, the top spot on several end-of-year music magazine lists, and her highest Metacritic score to date, 91. True, it didn’t dominate sales charts at first, but it nonetheless debuted at a respectable #17 on the Billboard 200, and it did comparatively well in Europe.

In hindsight, The ArchAndroid seems even more special and triumphant. Although every piece of the puzzle is essential, some certainly stand out the most. The Wizard of Oz-esque "Suite II Overture" is a marvelous and mysterious nugget of classical imperial instrumentation that foreshadows bits and pieces of the ensuing trek (such as the heavenly gospel fable “57821”). Smartly, its closing handclaps—which conjure another exceptional modern concept album series, The Dear Hunter’s Acts pentalogy—give way to the ingeniously hooky hip-hop/synth pop/R&B mash-up duo of "Dance of Die" and "Faster." We’re only three tracks into The ArchAndroid and it’s already showcasing a superlative level of songwriting, production and sequencing.  

Later, "Sir Greendown" feels like Monáe put a mid-1960s Beach Boys backing behind a classic Motown ode. In contrast, follow-up "Cold War" presents its battle cry of underground revolution ("All the tribes comes and the mighty will crumble / We must brave this night and have faith in love") via an irresistibly peppy and elegiac blend of new wave and Afro-funk. Its vocal-centric ending is beautifully harrowing, too. Delightfully, the LP takes another sharp turn with "Tightrope," a celebratory soul and rap declaration (with help from Big Boi) about keeping a level head throughout the ups and downs of life. Next, the surreal sound collage "Neon Gumbo" cleverly reprises "Many Moons" from the Metropolis EP.

There’s wonderfully folky and hip-hop sorrow within "Oh, Maker," whereas "Come Alive (War of the Roses)" is a sleek and raucous rocker that really swings. Then, "Neon Valley Street" adds delicate strings, invigorating beats and Hendrix-esque electric guitar licks to its core piano ballad yearning before the irresistible “Wondaland” adds intellect and innovation to what might otherwise be mere sugar pop excess. The penultimate "Say You’ll Go" is peppered with the melodic fluidity and altruism of Stevie Wonder, while closer "BabopbyeYa" wouldn’t be out of place in a 1940s jazz piano bar, especially with its interwoven noirish symphony. It absolutely works as a grand finale that leaves you eager to see and hear where The Electric Lady will take you next.

Ten years on, The ArchAndroid is as potent and poetic as ever, capitalizing on the potential of the Metropolis EP to reveal Monáe as master of her craft. The sheer amount of variety and novelty inherent in its arrangements and production is magnificent, perfectly complementing the splendor of her motivated melodies and lyrics. Best of all, her plot never falters from its dual purpose as totalitarian fiction and cautionary tale. Hence, she honors a longstanding tradition of using pop culture to educate and incite her audience, transporting listeners to a breathtaking fantasy so that they’re better equipped to fight injustice upon their return to reality.

Mortal Man: Author Marcus J. Moore Talks 5 Years Of Kendrick Lamar's 'TPAB' & His Forthcoming Book, 'The Butterfly Effect'

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Album Of The Year Nominees | 61st GRAMMY Awards album-year-nominees-revealed-2019-grammy-awards-nominations

Album Of The Year Nominees Revealed | 2019 GRAMMY Awards

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Albums by Cardi B, Brandi Carlile, Drake, H.E.R., Post Malone, Janelle Monáe, Kacey Musgraves, and music from and inspired by 'Black Panther' receive nominations.
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Dec 7, 2018 - 5:33 am

The 2019 GRAMMYs are just around the corner, and now the nominations are in for the coveted honor of Album Of The Year. While we'll have to wait until the 61st GRAMMY Awards air on CBS on Feb. 10 to find out who will win, let's take a look at which albums have been nominated for one of the most anticipated GRAMMY Awards each year.

https://twitter.com/RecordingAcad/status/1071034971920457728

🎉 Congratulations 61st #GRAMMYs Album Of The Year nominees: @iamcardib, @brandicarlile, @Drake, @HERMusicx, @PostMalone, @JanelleMonae, @KaceyMusgraves, and (@kendricklamar + Various Artists)!

Explore the category nominees: https://t.co/3VQX0frxgm pic.twitter.com/tmuDzqsG9A

— Recording Academy / GRAMMYs (@RecordingAcad) December 7, 2018

Invasion Of Privacy – Cardi B

With the success of her breakout single, "Bodak Yellow," which earned two GRAMMY nominations for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance at the 60th GRAMMY Awards last year, Cardi B set the stage for one of the most anticipated debut rap albums in recent memory. Invasion Of Privacy arrived on April 5, 2018, and showed the Bronx-born and raised rapper had a lot more to show.

In June, "I Like It" with J Balvin and Bad Bunny made it to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Cardi the first ever female rapper to earn two No. 1 hits. "I Like It" is also nominated for Record Of The Year, "Be Careful" received a nod for Best Rap Performance and Invasion Of Privacy is up for Best Rap Album this year. Tack on Cardi's nomination alongside Maroon 5 for "Girls Like You" for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance bring her total nominations this year to five.

By The Way, I Forgive You – Brandi Carlile

Since exploding from the folk music scene into the mainstream in 2007 with her the title track from her sophomore album, The Story, Brandi Carlile has released a string of quality folk/roots albums. Her latest, By The Way, I Forgive You, shows Carlile and longtime writing/singing partners, twins Tim and Phil Hanseroth, in top form. The album's lead single, "The Joke," encapsulates the spirit and power of love and forgiveness, two main themes of the album.

"I wrote 'The Joke' about a reckoning and a revolution and a time that's coming when we'll realize that love has already conquered the world and pick it back up," Carlile told us in July. 

The album, Carlile's sixth, yielded the same number of GRAMMY nominations—an impressive six—for the 61st GRAMMY Awards, including Best Americana Album as well as Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Best American Roots Song and Best American Roots Performance for "The Joke."

Scorpion – Drake

From the very beginning of 2018, chart titan Drake saw a groundswell of buzz for his fifth album, Scorpion. When it finally dropped in late June, the album already had three successful singles: "God's Plan," "Nice For What" and "I'm Upset." Shortly after the album's release, the album's fifth single, "In My Feelings," would climb to put Drake at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the third time of year. Simply put, the Canadian rapper spent the better part of the year shattering streaming and chart records, and the ambitious and hit-laden double-disc album Scorpion was well worth the wait for fans. The project was a hit for voters as well, as Drake clocked in with an impressive seven nominations for the 61st GRAMMY Awards.

H.E.R. – H.E.R.

With her soulful songs and jaw-dropping musicianship only further fueling the mystique of her persona, H.E.R. stepped into the light this year, releasing her widely acclaimed self-titled debut. Apropos of her moniker's meaning (Having Everything Revealed), H.E.R. showed the world her gift, with a breakthrough performance of "Focus" and "Best Part," both from her debut LP, at the BET Awards this summer alongside Daniel Caesar. After a string of successful EPs, H.E.R. gave her fans a new, more complete idea of H.E.R.'s musical ability and remarkable potential. In addition to the coveted Album Of The Year nomination, she's also up for Best New Artist.

Beerbongs & Bentleys – Post Malone

Not to be outdone online, Post Malone broke streaming records this year as well by earning the most streams in one week when Beerbongs & Bentleys arrived on April 27. Real name Austin Richard Post, the singer/rapper entered a new stratosphere of popularity with his sophomore album—and he brought many of this friends along for the joyride, as the album includes cameos by the likes of 21 Savage, Ty Dolla Sign, Nicki Minaj, G-Eazy and YG. Post Malone is nominated in a total of four categories at the 61st GRAMMY Awards.

Dirty Computer – Janelle Monáe

At the 60th GRAMMY Awards, Janelle Monáe delivered one of the most poignant and powerful speeches in recent memory, calling attention to the #TimesUp movement. Three months later, she made an equally powerful statement with her third studio album, Dirty Computer. With the catchy and bold singles "Make Me Feel," "Django Jane" and "Pynk" leading the way, Monáe set a new precedent for what it means to make infectious music with a message in 2018.

“[Creatives] have the power to create the culture and shape it to what we want it to be,” she told us earlier this year. “And we also have the power to undo the culture if it does not serve us well.”

Golden Hour – Kacey Musgraves

Country music might be the platform Kacey Musgraves has chosen for her music, but it certainly is not a constriction for the singer/songwriter. On Golden Hour, Musgraves takes her signature stir-up of crafty lyric turns, progressive social themes and authentic twang to a new level, all while opening herself up more candidly than she has in the past.

"This album feels very special and different to me because it feels like my most personal." Musgraves told us back in July. "I don't feel like I've really let people in on this scale previously."

Black Panther: The Album, Music From And Inspired By – Various Artists

Music has always played a key integral role in film, but for this year's transcendent blockbuster "Black Panther," the soundtrack took on a life of its own. Led by the Kendrick Lamar and SZA hit "All The Stars," which earned four nominations of its own including Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best Rap/Sung Performance, Black Panther: The Album, Music From And Inspired By looks to make history as just the third ever movie soundtrack to win Album Of The Year, joining the soundtracks for Saturday Night Fever at the 21st GRAMMY Awards, The Bodyguard at the 36th GRAMMY Awards and, most recently, O Brother, Where Art Thou? at the 44th GRAMMY Awards.

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Tune In To CBS And Apple Music For GRAMMY Noms cbs-apple-music-artists-team-reveal-61st-grammy-nominations

CBS, Apple Music, Artists Team Up To Reveal 61st GRAMMY Nominations

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Alessia Cara, Zane Lowe, Shawn Mendes, and Janelle Monáe will join to reveal nominees for the 61st GRAMMY Awards
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Dec 6, 2018 - 11:36 am

UPDATE: See the full list of 61st GRAMMY Nominations

On Friday morning, Dec. 7 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, Alessia Cara, Apple Music host Zane Lowe, Shawn Mendes, and Janelle Monáe will join the hosts of "CBS This Morning" to begin announcing the nominations for the 61st GRAMMY Awards. Simultaneously, on Apple Music, nominations will also be revealed in selected categories.

At 8:45 a.m. Eastern time, the complete list of nominations for the 61st GRAMMY Awards, held on Feb. 10, 2019, will be available right here on GRAMMY.com.

No stranger to the Awards, Cara went into the 60th GRAMMY Awards nominated in four categories, winning the coveted honor of Best New Artist. She also performed the anti-suicide anthem "1-800-273-8255" with Khalid and Logic on the broadcast.

Apple Music Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe was nominated at the 57th GRAMMY Awards for his work with Sam Smith on In The Lonely Hour. His spoken and musical insights became internationally admired thanks to his broadcasts on BBC Radio 1.

Speaking at the GRAMMY Museum, singer/songwriter Shawn Mendes said, "I think the most incredible part about … having this career is that all of the fans have been going through it with me." Last summer the Canadian performer had his third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200.

Janelle Monáe released her third album, Dirty Computer, in April 2018, continuing to demonstrate her ability to expand beyond expectations. Musically, visually, and in the movies, her ability to extend her range somewhere new is inspiring. She has had six GRAMMY nominations to date.

So get ready, take a look at what to expect and tune in tomorrow, Dec. 7 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time to find out who will be in contention on Music's Biggest Night, Feb. 10.

61st GRAMMY Awards Nominations Rescheduled To Dec. 7

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