Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Janelle Monae, Atlantic Records 2018.
Janelle Monae is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, producer, actress and activist who has released her third album, Dirty Computer, to rave reviews.
Janelle’s working-class roots are evident in much of the lyric content on the album (her mother was a Janitor and father a truck driver).
The track Americans suggests that people like her don’t have to face the future alone. They have strength in numbers.
The central rap tells us that until women doing the same work as men earn the same money as men, that until black people can go home at night without the fear of being shot by law enforcement officers etc. then this is not her America.
I really like her outspokenness. She’s articulate as well as gifted.
Janelle’s musical style mixes many influences from a broad palette including Annie Lennox, Michael Jackson, and even Judy Garland with soul, jazz and hip hop.
She has a beautiful voice that is as easily at home delivering an up-beat rap as it is grooving to soul or soaring through an emotional ballad.
The title track features the harmony input of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys while the track I Got The Juice features the rap of Pharrell Williams.
Amongst the other collaborators is Grimes who features on the wonderful track Pynk.
The album has an accompanying DVD Dirty Computer: An Emotional Picture By Janelle Monae which contains videos for the singles Make Me Feel, Django Jane, and Pynk giving an insight into the creative vision for her new music.
In 2016 Monae embarked on her film Acting career with highly regarded performances in two milestone films, Hidden Figures, and Moonlight.
Both films received Academy Award Best Picture nominations with the later winning the award at the 89th Academy Awards.
She has also just released a new music video for the latest single from the album, I Like That.
