Janelle Monae

The Electric Lady (Bad Boy)
16/20

While Janelle Monáe has accumulated many fair-weather listeners over the years, the Kansas born soul experimentalist’s full lengths are, in fact, pretty complex. The Electric Lady acts as the fourth and fifth installments of Monáe’s ‘Metropolis’ narrative (loosely based on Fritz Lang’s canonical sci-fi film of the same name) which was first brought to life in 2007 with The Chase Suite and follows the story of a rogue android who uses time travel to free her race from the chains of suppression and divide.

The Miguel collaboration Primetime is a perfect example of how Monáe adds colour to contemporary pop, a dazed ballad that has clear influences of gospel music and a backing track which transparently takes influence her most famous fan Prince, who turns up on Givin Em What They Love. Her mainstream potential is on show yet again on Electric Lady, which features vocals Solange and a slickly delivered rap verse. It’s this oiled flow and debonair execution that suits the Monae who people see on the cover of Vogue. The LP does have it’s share of filler, We Were Rock & Roll and Sally Ride and aren’t really integral to the album’s fluidity, however they do act as great pointers to Monae’s influences (Hendrix, Prince, Erykah Badu). Closer What An Experience sounds halfway between Michael Jackson’s Man In The Mirror and How To Dress Well’s & It Was U, summarising a record that that’s guaranteed to cement Monáe’s rep as one of today’s most credible pop stars.

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Words:  Duncan Harrison