Janelle Monae

Jon Sterngass

Description

Janelle Monáe sings, raps, dances, writes, acts, and produces. Critics rave about her albums, the internet lights up when she releases a video, and fans are astounded by her concert tours, yet she still has time to fit in acting work and political activism. Although only 35 years old in 2020, Monáe has already received eight Grammy Award nominations. This book traces Janelle Monae’s life from her childhood on the streets of Kansas City, KS, through the struggling years to break through in the music industry, to her rise to international fame as both a musician and an actor.

Sujets

• Ethnic Studies
• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• América
• Singing
• Musician
• Rapping
• African American
• Author
• American
• Singer

Informations

• Publié par: Infobase Publishing
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438197883
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Janelle Monae
Copyright © 2020 by Infobase
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For more information, contact:
Chelsea House An imprint of Infobase 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001
ISBN 978-1-4381-9788-3
You can find Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at http://www.infobase.com
Contents Chapters I Want to be a Leader in a New Movement Got to Take Control The ArchAndroid I Defy Every Label A More Authentic Self Representing the Underdog Support Materials Timeline Bibliography Further Resources About the Author Learn More About Quindaro Afrofuturism An Emotion Picture
Chapters
I Want to be a Leader in a New Movement
On February 9, 2020, Janelle Monáe was the opening act for the 92nd Academy Award show. The show, which honors films released in 2019, is a prestigious setting filled with sparkle, glitz, and glamor. Politics usually plays second fiddle to fashion, and reporters usually concentrate more on the stars on the 'red carpet' than on the content of anyone's speeches or performances.

Monáe performs during the the 92nd Academy Awards (Oscars), February 9, 2020.
Source: Newscom.
Janelle Monáe had other ideas. The eight-time Grammy nominee began her opening presentation with a song-and-dance medley as Mister Rogers, singing "It's A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood," the theme song from the children's show. Her backup dancers wore outfits honoring movies such as Us , Dolemite Is My Name , and Queen & Slim . All of these movies contained primarily black casts and none of them received a nomination at the Academy Awards.
She then moved into her own 2009 single, "Come Alive," with lyrics specially rewritten for the Oscars such as "It's time to come alive because the Oscars is so white." The line highlighted the fact that only one African American actor was nominated throughout the entire evening. She moved finally to Elton John's iconic "I'm Still Standing" in a duet with Billy Porter. 
Before leaving the stage, Monáe sarcastically noted, "Tonight, we celebrate all the amazing talent in this room. We celebrate all the women who directed phenomenal films," referring to the fact that in a year when women directed several high-profile films and commercial successes, the Academy once again nominated only men for the honor of best director. She concluded her performance by shouting, "I'm so proud to stand here as a Black queer artist telling stories. Happy Black History Month."
Monáe's dazzling performance at the Academy Awards encapsulated her career. She is not only a fabulous singer, a dynamic dancer, a creative lyricist, and a popular actor but she has long been an advocate of equal rights for all people. Since she burst upon the scene in 2007 with the concept EP Metropolis: The Chase Suite , she has spoken out against racism, sexism, and discrimination toward the LGBTQ community. "It's important for us to celebrate our differences while being united," Monáe has said. "There are too many forces in our lives that keep us segregated. When I look out into audiences, I want to see different shades and religions." She has come a long way from a childhood in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Kansas City, Kansas.
Multi-talented
Sometimes it seems as if Janelle Monáe can do anything she puts her mind to do. She sings; she raps; she dances; she writes; she acts; she produces. She's a fashion icon but also the head of her own label, the Wondaland Arts Society. Critics rave about her albums, the internet lights up when she releases a video, and fans are astounded by her world tours, yet she still has time to fit in acting work and political activism. It's exhausting just to list all of Monáe's accomplishments.
Despite all her talents, music remains her first love. As of 2020, she had released three albums, four EPs, twenty singles, and eighteen music videos. She has collaborated with Big Boi, Solange, Erykah Badu, Fun., and Prince, borrowing musical and lyrical themes from an incredibly diverse range of styles. "Music brings people together," she declared. "With music and lyrics, you can empathize more...You can communicate to all who have been ostracized because of who they love, which god they serve, or what they look like."
Although only 35 years old in 2020, Monáe already has a long resume. In Metropolis: The Chase Suite , she invented her own astounding science-fiction world with herself at its center. In lyrics, she often took on the identity of a messianic android (a robot with a human appearance) named Cindi Mayweather, who tries to liberate all enslaved androids. She continued to portray this scenario in The ArchAndroid (2011), her first full-length studio album, and The Electric Lady (2013).
Monáe's third studio album, Dirty Computer , was released in 2018 to widespread critical acclaim. In it, she discarded her alter ego and wrote personal lyrics about her own vulnerability as a Black queer artist, and then mixed in up-tempo songs of liberation. The album was a critical and popular success and Dirty Computer was chosen as the best album of the year by several publications.
Monáe has become an A-list actor as well as a popular music superstar. In 2016, she made her film debut in two high-profile productions. She starred in Hidden Figures as NASA mathematician and aerospace engineer Mary Jackson, and also starred in Moonlight , a film about growing up African American and gay in Miami. Hidden Figures was a huge box office success, while Moonlight won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 2016. In both films, she tackled African American stories that went far beyond typical Hollywood stereotypes. Welcome to Marwen (2018) and Antebellum (2020) continued her streak of provocative moviemaking.
She is also a fashion icon, having appeared numerous times in magazines such as Vogue , InStyle , and Essence . She has performed at the Ralph Lauren store in New York and filmed a holiday advertisement for Gap. Her live shows are filled with countless Janelle Monáe impersonators dressed in costumes from various moments in her career. She has worked with mainstream makeup brands such as Covergirl and Sonos since 2012, preaching to young people to be "more confident with themselves and realize that we don't all have to look alike or be the same size to be beautiful."
It is hard to see how Monáe has time to fit all of her activities into her limited time, but she has always had an incredibly strong work ethic. "I don't allow myself to get lazy, believing that I've made it," she once said. "I always work hard; it's in my DNA. Both my parents were janitors. I'm a big believer in turning nothing into something." And as befitting someone who loves science fiction, Monáe is relentlessly future oriented. Her ultimate goal, she once said, was to "be a leader in a new movement and redefine what it is to be a performer in music today."
Social Activism
If Monáe were simply another popular music star, she would hardly be worthy of a biography. What makes her special is her ability to include social commentary in even her most danceable work. In her early albums, her adoption of the role of Cindi Mayweather struck a chord with outsiders in U.S. society. Of course, they loved the music, but they also adored her androgynous appearance, her pompadour hair, her perfectly tailored tuxedos, and her message of the necessity to fight for freedom and individuality. "Cindi is an android," Monáe noted, "and I love speaking about the android because they are the new 'other'." Monáe's embrace of 'otherness' endeared her to Americans who refused to conform to the social norms of society.
Monáe has been especially vocal participant in the struggle for equality for African Americans. Since the beginning of her career, she has been at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement, calling for an end to police brutality and racial inequalities in the U.S. legal system. In songs such as "Hell You Talmbout," "Ghetto Woman," "Americans," and "Dear Mr. President," Monáe stepped outside her Cindi Mayweather persona to add a powerful voice for equality for all people. "My ancestors built this country," she declared. "They helped build the White House. And so that just says: I'm American and you will never take that away from me. And we're not running, we're not hiding. We're not allowing you to dominate us."
The movies in which she has chosen to act also support her belief that the arts have a social purpose. According to Monáe, these movies "reflect themes I've addressed in my music: the empowerment of women, the empowerment of the LGBT community, and the empowerment of 'the other'," she said. As an artist, she wanted to ensure that moviegoers saw different kinds of black women portrayed on the screen.
In her singing, acting, and political activism, Monáe has always promoted a woman-centric perspective. She advocated the idea that women, no matter how they otherwise identified, could express themselves without following traditional cultural stereotypes regarding femininity. Through firsthand experience, Monáe knows the pressure in the male-dominated music business to turn women into objects. "It's hard for young aspiring girls, who don't necessarily want to sell sex and strictly sing crappy R&B songs," she has said. "They need to understand there's a different blueprint that you can create."
Unlike many women in the public eye, she has never shied away from calling herself a feminist. "I am a woman. I am a feminist," she has said. "So, naturally, I feel my job is to stand up for our rights when they have been attacked. I also feel a responsibility to speak against marginalization of women through my music and messages."
For Janelle Monáe, music is not simply mindless entertainment or an endles