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Just over 5 years ago, Janelle Monae released The Electric Lady and now in just a few hours, I get to see her perform her latest album Dirty Computer live. With that said...

For the past 10 years Janelle Monáe has filled a deep hole in my musical library that I didn’t even know existed, which makes it all the more difficult to say what I’m about to. I’ve sat with it for a while and turned it upside down in my head and I’ve come to a conclusion. Dirty Computer is an overrated album.

Back in 2008 when kids at school would go around bbm-ing songs to each other and Flo Rida “Low (feat. T-Pain)” was the cream of the crop on the mainstream charts, a friend of mine pulled me aside to play me “Sincerely, Jane” at school. As soon as I was back at home that afternoon, even before I’d signed into MSN, I had begun my research into who exactly this “Janelle Monáe” was. The most unfortunate thing about listening to Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase) at the time that I did is that I was too young to fully appreciate it for what it was, but I knew there was gold in there nonetheless. It wasn’t until I’d grown up a little bit more and was blessed with The ArchAndroid that my eyes were truly opened. What. An. Album.

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of concept albums (when done well) and simply from the way that the first two tracks blend together so flawlessly I was captivated immediately. “Cold War” to this day is one of the most spine-tingling songs that I’ve ever heard, all with a sensational back beat and instrumental to match, and yet, when Janelle was breaking ground with these game-changing songs, forward thinking lyrics and booty shaking instrumentals, her fans were few and far between. She had fans no doubt, and although she was breaking ground she was still very much seen as an underground artist, particularly within the UK.

Then she gave us the absolutely phenomenal The Electric Lady. Once again, giving me one of my favourite album openings of all time - “Givin’ ‘Em What They Love (feat.Prince)”, and of course the anthem for fxmale, non-binary, LGBTQIA+ empowerment - “Q.U.E.E.N (feat. Erykah Badu)”. This album had so many layers and influences and still managed to mix the concepts of both musical theatre and radio successfully throughout. Even after all of this, not nearly as many people as I had expected were lauding her ability to turn song to story and paint vivid pictures for her listeners.

And now here we are at Dirty Computer. A great album indeed, but not so much a great Janelle Monáe album. When I first listened through, despite the spattering of some undeniable bangers like “Pynk”, “Screwed”, “Take A Byte” and “Django Jane”, there was something missing for me, linking all of these tracks together in one discernible narrative. It felt like there were a lot of unresolved thoughts and wonderings which in turn left me waiting for something to round them up and conclude everything. Despite this, the reception of Dirty Computer was incredible! People are still going crazy for the eMotion picture, and in a matter of weeks Janelle has become an overnight icon – I’d like to add that this is not the first time that Janelle has made a short film to go with her album *see Metropolis*.

So where was all of this when she was just Jane, the forward thinking Android? A large part of music in today’s climate is more to do with image than the actual music. I feel like this is why there aren’t truly any game-changers nowadays because we make music for now and not for later. Just like fast fashion, that new dance trend will be old news after a few weeks and we’ll have to churn out something new to keep up with demand. We’re pandering to the public and thinking less about what impact the music has beyond its sell-by date. In the case of Janelle, I don’t believe that her intention with Dirty Computer was to appease the crowd. I actually think that the reason for the change was because she herself is changing. The album from start to finish sounds like a flash in the pan of Janelle’s thoughts and influences spanning her whole career, whereas her previous projects have each been noticeably very well thought out moments in time.

The reason I can say with my entire chest that Dirty Computer is a great album is because it manages to skilfully highlight topics that push past the moment and stay with the listener beyond what’s in vogue now. However, Janelle’s not saying much that she’s not already said before so why are people only just listening in? I believe that people may have latched on more to the image of Janelle than the actual content of her most recent work. She’s come at her creative process from a different angle and maybe the reason the spark has dimmed for me is because it’s a little bit more commercial and a lot less experimental. Either way, I love that people love Janelle Monáe, I just wish they had loved Jane too.

A month ago today, I wrote a gig review about when I caught Basia Bulat at Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath here, and so I thought it only fitting that I post up my interview with her from after the show...

I’ve heard that you studied in London. I soon found out that this was not actually London, England but London, Canada. How do you find that the two cities differ?

They’re complete opposites, except for in name. We even have a Thames River, an Oxford Street and a Piccadilly Street. All the names are the same but it’s only 300,000 people. It’s a university town. It’s probably got more in common with Birmingham than it does with London, England, but it’s a very sweet town and there’s like a very cool and small but strong music community and even though the roots are disparate, they’re very interesting. Like history of the kind of avant-garde and like punk music in London which is cool. The biggest band that has probably come out of London, Canada is called The Nihilist Spasm Band, a cool kind of noise band.

Before I found out about your music I had never even heard of most of the instruments that you play. What inspired you to pick up instruments like the autoharp and the charango?

Everything kind of ends up being by happenstance. I want to say like “Oh, it was this grand plan!”, but it really wasn’t. I started playing piano when I was a kid – my mum taught piano – and when I was in school we had great music programmes. Then my neighbour was selling an autoharp out of his garage so my mum picked it up and she’s like “Oh, I think you’ll like this ‘cause it’s kind of weird”. I’d actually seen it before when I saw Will Oldham playing it. When I started researching it I realised that there were all of these women playing the autoharp so that was kind of cool so that’s how I fell into it. It’s a lot easier to play than it seems, I mean it says “auto” on it. Now it’s kind of cool because I’ve seen people like Grizzly Bear and PJ Harvey using it in their shows so now that you can plug it in and make it electric there’s a bigger range of possibilities. Then the charango, I ended up on a cultural exchange at the BANFF Centre for The Arts in Canada and there was this amazing charango player and I just fell in love with the instrument. I started seeing it everywhere and hearing it everywhere. I think I’m always drawn to things that look small but sound big. People think it’s a ukulele but when they hear it and it can be plugged into an amp, it can be a little bit fierce.

You’ve toured with a lot of different artists and in different countries. What is the most unexpected place that your music has taken you or the most unexpected collaboration you’ve had because of it?

I think the most exciting has been the response to my music in Spain. I was so lucky that I had the opportunity to learn Spanish when I was in school and to make friends from around the world like within the Hispanic diaspora, then to go to Spain and play and sing (a little bit) in Spanish – just there’s something that’s always kind of connected. I’ve always been interested in their literature and poetry so it still blows my mind. When I was first learning Spanish never in my dreams did I think “Oh, I’ll be playing in this theatre in Madrid and there’ll be all these people there and they’ll clap or sing along” – that was really out of this world for me you know.

Many have said that your latest record Tall Tall Shadow is more electronic than your previous albums. I’ve noticed that quite a few mainstream artists have also recently gravitated towards a more electronic sound. Did anyone of anything influence this decision for you?

I think like in general it was probably going to happen. I think this record’s still pretty folky but I think in general you always want to grow and change. For me anyway, to do whatever is a challenge so like my first two records, the challenge was that I’d never recorded before but I kind of fell in with a group of people where we had a similar aesthetic and the challenge was to record onto tape, like the old school way. I heard this amazing interview with Bjork and she was talking about how with electronic music, there was more space for women in that world. I don’t think that I’m making electronic music – I’m listening to more of it now, especially since listening to Bjork’s interview and hearing about the idea of the actual way of making it being a bit feminine and I’d never really thought of it like that. I don’t know so it’s kind of exciting in that way, it’s like “Oh the thing I don’t know or think about, I wanna go do that.”

Your brother Bobby plays the drums in your band. How do you think having a sibling in your band affects touring?

Right now we’re touring less – well obviously I’m playing solo right now – but he actually also has a whole other life in film and TV. He works on like film and TV crews with lighting and electrical departments; he’s working on a show called Orphan Black, so right now he’s not touring. But when we do tour and when we do make music together, it’s kind of weird. I feel like everybody has the same experience with their siblings where you can drive each other nuts but you also have the capacity to read each other’s minds. So it’s like just being aware of the fact that you’re with your sibling all the time, but at the same time I’m pretty lucky because he kind of knows, like sometimes when I’m writing a song he knows what it’s about before I even realise what I’m saying. I think it’s a pretty typical sibling relationship, but it’s a good one.

Arcade Fire’s producer worked on Tall Tall Shadow with you. Have you had the chance to listen to their new record Reflektor yet?

Yeah it’s great! It was myself and Tim (who plays like a million other instruments in the band) and Mark who engineered this record and the previous record and it was so fun. Working with my brother and Tim and Mark it was like I had three brothers basically – they were all making fun of me constantly and just finding all sorts of ways to tease me. But yeah, I feel like that’s something I really love with Arcade Fire – they do change with every record and they’re always doing something different, so that’s something I think I’m drawn to in a lot of artists like that now. I really admire that in people, just to keeping pushing yourself and trying different things. That’s not to say that it’s bad to just do your one thing and be the best at it but for me I’m hoping that I can keep trying something new.

What are some of the artists or albums that you’re listening to at the moment?

Well I am still listening a lot to Reflektor. I’ve kind of been going back through all the My Morning Jacket albums and this band from Canada called Braids. I’m listening to a girl that I love, her band is called US Girls, she’s a really amazing mix of analogue like old and new. It sounds like girl groups of the future but recorded with like tape and samples. It’s almost like the girl groups were from a different planet, but from the 60’s. Um, I really love the singer/songwriter Willis Earl Beal and he’s pretty much, I feel like, one of the best singers of ‘our generation’. The things that he says in his songs they just hit me really hard and that’s always a good thing. Listening to the newest Timber Timbre which is sort of like I guess if Serge Gainsbourg made folk music - it’s kind of spooky and moody and beautiful. Well, I’ve been listening to Prince actually like non-stop lately too!

Basia is definitely one of the nicest and most lovely musicians that I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Fabulous singer, and fabulous person - was definitely an honour to chat with her. Keep up with her via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram for news about more shows and hopefully albums.

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